Robiola

Let me tell you about Robiola, and why it behaves nothing like a hard cheese, my friend.

Press a hard cheese, age it, dry it out — that is why it holds its shape on a board. Robiola is a different animal. Cut into it and you feel it give under the knife, moist and yielding, nothing like the snap of an aged wheel. That is why it spreads like butter instead of slicing like a brick, and why it melts into warm pasta the moment you stir it through.

How do you choose a good one? Pick it up and smell it first — it should smell fresh and milky, with only a soft, clean sourness, nothing sharp or ammonia-like. If it bites your nose, leave it on the shelf. Look at it, too: the colour should be even, with no dry crust forming where there shouldn't be one. Trust your hands and your nose here, not a checklist.

Some people say Robiola is a single, fixed recipe, always from the same milk. No! It is made from cow's, goat's or sheep's milk, and each dairy has its own version. The mistake this leads to: buying one pack, deciding you dislike Robiola, and closing the door on a whole family of cheeses that deserves a second try.