What is Asiago cheese?

by Cookthink

Asiago is a hard Italian cow's milk cheese that is easy to grate or crumble by hand. Just as true Champagne must come from the Champagne region of France, true Asiago must be made in the alpine regions of Veneto and Trentino, Italy. Asiago cheese is an Italian PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), which means that it has to produced in a designated region in a particular way to be considered the real thing. If you buy Asiago that bears the brand of the Asiago consortium on the rind, you know that the cheese was made with milk from cows that graze on the grassy hillsides of the Dolomite Mountains. Cheesemakers in the United States use the same techniques and cultures to create an unofficial version of Asiago that shares the name and flavor of its Italian twin.