profile: carlo fiore
picking the partners that Guffanti work with. Once they’ve got that quality of cheese in their possession, that’s when they can start pushing the boundaries.” One example is the stretchedcurd Caclocavallo Podolico, from Basilicata in southern Italy’s Campania region, which Guffanti sources from a single farmer with 1,000 rare-breed Podolico cattle. “They live on 1,000 hectares of pasture,” Fiore tells Good Cheese, “so that’s a hectare for each animal!” Another is the intensely flavoured raw milk Toma Bettelmatt, a scarce alpine cheese, produced only in July and August at high altitude, close to the border with Switzerland. “Italy’s geography means you can find very specific - and unique – cheeses in any region,” says Fiore, reeling off some examples worth tracking down, like the cows’ milk Formaggio del Ticcio in Valsesia, north of Piedmont; Sicily’s Tuma Persa; and Formaggio di Pecora di Bitti, which he describes as “an extraordinary example of sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia”. Not that Guffanti has turned its back on Parmesan and Grana Padano. A video of Fiore making the first cut of a Parmigiano
cheeses, refined with the addition of other ingredients, that he opts for, including some specifically developed by Guffanti. They include Erborinato Sancarlone al caffè: a blue cheese made with cows’ milk from Novarra, which Guffanti cures in a coating of coffee for at least three months. Another is Mormaggio - an umami-laden fusion of Italian cheese and Moromi soy sauce, created jointly by Guffanti and Japanese affineur Yoshitomi Miyamoto. Both are as likely to appeal to Millennials as the more traditional consumer, and Fiore – who is gradually handing over control of Guffanti now to sons Davide and Giovanni – seems confident about the appeal of specialist cheeses to the next generation. “More and more young people in Italy are getting involved and interested in aged cheeses,” he says. “There are universities here dedicating courses to the subject, and we’ve had PhD students working on their theses in our caves.” It’s important, he says, for a company like Luigi Guffanti to help spread knowledge and appreciation of “well chosen, well aged” cheese, the people who make it, and its place in a healthy diet
When I started, in 1970, the only ‘aged’ cheeses were Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padana Guffanti holds some 300 cheeses in stock, 90% of them from its home country
of an Italian food icon himself in the process – is Carlo Fiore, who joined his family’s business in the 1970s. “When I began in this market, the only aged cheeses in Italy were Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano,” he tells Good Cheese, “and they were mainly used as ‘table’ cheeses, just to accompany pasta and risotto.” Fiore set out to rediscover the roots of cheese, not just as a means of preserving milk in the farmhouse but as an expression of the land it came from and the animals that produced the milk. Now he says - helped by greater interest in the world of chefs and 30
GOOD CHEESE 2019-20
fine cooking generally – there is much more appreciation for the ‘message’ that particular cheeses can deliver. “Ageing helps underline and enrich the characteristics of the milk, and so of the cheese.” Hinds, for whom Carlo Fiore is something of a food hero, says it’s part of the veteran affineur’s special contribution to the sector that he has ventured deep into Italy’s community of small farmers, tracking down cheeses that will respond best to maturing for four years, five, six or, on occasion, upwards of 10 years. “Carlo’s spent a lot of time
aged for a staggering 13 years has received nearly 2.5 million views on YouTube. But stretched cheeses like Caclocavallo and Provolone, and even little soft goats’ cheeses like Robiola, can respond equally well to the affineur’s art. Interestingly, when Good Cheese asks which products he is most proud to have championed during his long career, Fiore doesn’t opt for a rare alpine variety or a delicate soft cheese from a tiny producer. Instead – reflecting Hinds’ comment about the fearlessness of Italian affineurs – it’s the more complex
and a healthy environment. “Customers need to be aware that traditional, artisanal cheeses aren’t just ‘cool’ as an idea they’re also healthy. They need to know about the effort put in by artisan producers, working in an unpredictable, natural environment, respecting and caring for their animals, and all the other elements that contribute to a unique, hand-crafted product. “In a fast-growing, fastchanging society, that’s what we need to underline as a way to live better: quality, not quantity.” guffantiformaggi.com