Piave Cheese

A cow's milk cheese that is made in the Piave River valley region of Belluno, Italy that is very similar to Montasio cheese. Like Montasio, Piave is made from the milk of two milkings. The evening milking is semi-skimmed in a natural skimming process to remove the cream before the milk is mixed with the milk from the morning milking. Produced as a wheel, Piave cheese has a dense texture without holes that is straw-yellow in color and slightly sweet with a delicate tasting flavor. When produced as a fresh cheese, which has aged for several months, it is semi-soft and easily cut. It ripens to a semi-matured cheese at 6 months and becomes a fully matured cheese after being aged for 10 months. Once fully aged, it becomes hard and well suited as a grating cheese. The aged cheese is referred to as Piave Vecchio or Stravecchio.

Piave cheese can be a snacking cheese if matured to 6 months or less. When matured, it goes well grated over salads and pasta or as it is commonly used, as a garnish to oven-baked polenta.