We discovered this ricotta in La Tradizione (+39 081028437), a store located in Vico Equense, on the Sorrentine peninsula, which offers the best delicacies of the Campania region: cheeses, cured meats, pastas, etc. It also happens to be frequently used by the great chef Gennaro Esposito of “Torre del Saracino” (see restaurants section) in an infinity of dazzling dishes, taking on relevant, even transcendental roles. Its production is very limited and utterly artisanal – made from the milk of approximately 90 cows in a small village presided over by Tommaso di Gennaro who inherited the spirit and technique from his father.
So that there are no misunderstandings: this is cream and creaminess in unerring splendor. A fresh “butter”, substantial, concentrated, dense, full of personality and character, converted into the quintessence of milk. There is no rind, only radiant, granulated and unctuous white cheese. It smothers the palate with its delicious evanescent cream.

Andrea Paternoster practices an almost nomadic apiculture: he selects all the most apt zones in Italy to take his bees, following a floral cycle throughout the year, in order to produce monofloral honeys (acacia, orange blossom, chestnut, heather, alfalfa, eucalyptus, sunflower, rhododendron, rosemary, dandelion, clover) or multifloral varieties (millefleurs, millefleurs of the Alps and dandelion and apple blossom). Quintessenza is the finest selection of the house: the honey comes from a specific zone, almost an appellation, and it is indeed a “cru”, obtained from the nectars that bees collect when flowering is at a maximum, giving an incredible purity to the honey.
Dandelion Quintessenza 2007 is made of nectars from the high plains in Asiago, in Lavarone. It has a stunning, lively yellow color with dazzling white reflections. An intense, floral perfume with aromas of fresh hay and ammonia. Exquisite in the mouth with an involving flavor, suggestive, sweet but not sickly so, with a faint bitter note on the finish. A perfect texture, neither too pasty nor too hard, it melts in the mouth without sticking to the teeth or palate. It has a long, floral persistence in the mouth. The bees have given way to a cream worthy of haute patisserie! Paternoster recovers the maximum quality of an ancient, archaic product, a base of our daily delight brought from his youth.

Azeitao cheese, with or without a Denomination of Origin, is produced by people who continue to bring out the finest this cheese has to offer instead of merely hiding behind their product; it is our favorite in all of Portugal. It is, in fact, a version of a common cheese produced on both sides of the border of Spain and Portugal: Torta del Casar, Torta de la Serena, Torta da Serra are a few of the names given to this variety of cheese. All of them are characterized by their incredible creaminess and substantial flavor, made with ewe’s milk and curdled with cardoon flowers. The type in question here is offered in small quantities that facilitate consumption without affecting the characteristics or quality, though the 250 gram piece is preferable.
Intense flavor of ewe milk, very concentrated, fatty, filling the palate with nobility and natural purity, with a light acidity and a minimum amount of bitterness that gives it character. Substantial but very balanced. When fully ripened the consistency is fluid – liquid delicacy hidden within its distinguished density.

Up until Christmas of 2007, the Joselito company did not sell morcón (kind of chorizo). A little over a month ago they launched these two varieties, offered together in a single package. One, the traditional morcón, which is similar to chorizo, and another, a new morcón inspired by sausage, which is, in reality, a fat sausage itself. The difference is that the first has paprika and the second is perfumed with black pepper. Both are made from noble parts of the animal, including the tenderloin and other choice cuts of the famed acorn-fed Iberian pig. They are as good or better than the chorizo and sausage, and perhaps even a bit juicier. They also gain in presence, appearing in beautiful irregular slices.