Cheese — Provolone — Gourmet Gastronomer

A pasta-filata cow’s-milk cheese with a stringy texture, drier than mozzarella in U.S. identity — 45% fat-in-solids, 45% moisture cap — then brine-salted, dried, and given extra cure.

Provolone is a named stretched-curd cheese, not a synonym for “Italian melting slices.” 21 CFR 133.181: a pasta filata or stretched curd-type cheese with a stringy texture; minimum milkfat 45 percent by weight of the solids; maximum moisture 45 percent by weight ¹. The craft path is Pasta filata. Mozzarella is the wetter cousin in U.S. identity: pasteurized dairy ingredients required, moisture more than 52 percent and not more than 60 percent, same 45 percent fat-in-solids floor ². Provolone is allowed to start from unpasteurized dairy ingredients if it is then cured at not less than 35 °F for at least 60 days ¹. Mozzarella’s identity does not offer that alternative. That is a legal difference, not a flavor ranking. See Raw-milk cheese and Food safety.

The make in the standard: lactic culture; clotting enzyme; cut, stir, and heat to separate whey; drain; mat and cut the curd; immerse in hot water; knead and stretch until smooth and free from lumps; cut and mold while warm enough to seal the surface; firm in cold water; salt in brine; dry; give some additional curing ¹. FAO’s pasta-filata teaching still applies as craft, while 21 CFR 133.181 defines the named product: acid and heat make the paste plastic ³. FAO’s stretch-water temperatures are training figures, not the legal identity standard.

Provolone may be smoked. The label must say “smoked” or “not smoked” in letters at least half the height of the name ¹. The name may include a shape, such as “salami provolone.” Optional blue or green color to neutralize yellow curd, calcium chloride at not more than 0.02 percent of the dairy ingredients, and antimycotics during stretch or on the surface are in the standard ¹. See Coagulation and Salting cheese.

What to notice #

Hot paste should pull into ropes, the same observation as mozzarella. Cool, aged provolone should be firmer and drier than a fresh mozzarella ball — the moisture cap is why. Flavor runs from mild lactic to sharper on a longer cure. Smoke is a process you can taste, and the label has to admit it. See Cheese.

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21 CFR § 133.181 — Provolone cheese — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (text via Cornell LII) — U.S. identity: pasta filata / stretched-curd type with stringy texture; milkfat at least 45% of solids; moisture not more than 45%. Curd immersed in hot water, kneaded and stretched, molded, firmed in cold water, brine-salted, dried, given additional curing. Label must say smoked or not smoked. If dairy ingredients are not pasteurized, cured at not less than 35 °F for at least 60 days.
21 CFR § 133.155 — Mozzarella cheese and scamorza cheese — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (text via Cornell LII) — U.S. identity: pasteurized dairy ingredients; milkfat at least 45% of solids; moisture more than 52% and not more than 60%; curd heated and stretched.
Small-Scale Dairy Farming Manual — Technology Unit 10.3 Small Scale Cheese Making — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — Technical notes on coagulation (acid vs enzyme), casein vs whey proteins, syneresis after cutting, salting, and ripening. Training-course material, not a U.S. safety regulation.

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Provolone

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