Cheese or ricotta? That is the question! What if you don’t have to choose one and have them both? The answer is Cacioricotta pugliese, a traditional Apulian cheese with a compact and soft paste, manufactured with a hybrid technique, halfway between cheese and ricotta also in its taste and consistency, and it is obtained using cow’s or sheep’s milk. Murgella cacioricotta is made using milk coming from animals bred in certified local farms.
Cacioricotta is usually small and has a cylindrical shape with no rind. Its colour is white and the taste intense but never invasive.
The compact paste allows different use. In fact Cacioricotta pugliese can be eaten natural or grated on a typical dish of Puglia, probably one the most representative ones: orecchiette, tomato sauce and fresh basil.
It is also very popular in another traditional recipe called “crudaiola”: a cold pasta salad with raw tomatoes, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, pepper and of course grated Cacioricotta.
These are just two examples of the wide variety of dishes that this cheese can garnish and enhance. Cacioricotta is suitable for many preparations, perfect to add flavor to a salad or combined with honey as an appetizer.