Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Whether you’re in the mood for something sweet or for sultry, decadent cheeses, we have just the thing to spice up your holiday.

Traditional baked goods from Siena:
These decadent cookies and cakes are made by a small pasticceria in Siena, using traditional recipes and ingredients. Valentine’s Day just wouldn’t be the same without something sweet.

* Panforte - a rich, dense cake originating in medieval times, panforte is made with candied fruit and almonds. Available in three varieties: Pepato with a spice coating, Margherita with vanilla sugar, and Nero with Dark Cocoa. All three are wonderful and hearty.
* panforte margheritaBrutti e Buoni - Literally translated as “Ugly but Good” these cookies are truly delicious. Named for their irregular shape, these cookies are full of hazelnuts. They may not be pretty but they are one of our favorites.
* Cantucci - What many people refer to as “biscotti”, these biscuits take their name from cantuccio, the crusty end, and most delicious piece of a loaf of bread. Baked twice, cantucci are crisp and sweet, great for dipping into vin santo. Available with chocolate, hazelnuts, almonds, or pistachios.
* Ricciarelli - Sometimes called marzapanetti or morselletti, Ricciarelli have been beloved by the Sienesi since the 14th century. These tender, oval cookies are made with almond meal sweetened with honey and dusted with powdered sugar.

Truffle products:
Truffles are the ultimate culinary luxury. Their deep, musky aroma and high cost make them just about the sexiest food around. They lend these cheeses a sophisticated air of romance

* Caprino cremoso al Tarufo Nero - These small discs of fresh goat cheese are topped with diced black truffles. Elegant to the eye as well as the palate.
* Toma Trifulera - Another Piemontese gem, this cheese is a blend of sheep and cows milk studded with slices of black truffle. Creamy and mild, this cheese gives the truffle a lush backdrop for it’s earthy flavor.toma trifulera
* Tartufino - A semi-firm blend of goat and cows milk, these small cheeses are shaped into truncated pyramids before a short aging period. Though rustic in appearance, a speckling of black truffles enhances the finished product.
* Moliterno with Black Truffle - A real show-stopper, this Sardinian pecorino is made from raw sheep milk. Once the cheese is semi-aged, it is injected with black truffle shavings which run throughout the cheese in decadent veins perfuming the entire wheel.
* Truffle pate - Available with either black or white truffles, these meatless spreads are made of minced truffles and mushroom. A wonderful holiday pairing with cheeses and meats.
* Truffle honey - The sweet-savory combination of honey and truffles is a wonderful marriage. A perfect foil for strong blue cheeses like Gorgonzola Piccante and Blu del Moncenisio.

Washed-rind cheese
With their telltale red rind, these pungent cheeses are great not just for Valentine’s Day but also to get you through the final days of winter.

* Taleggio - The most famous of Italy’s washed-rind cheeses, this Taleggio is made from raw alpine cows milk. A two month aging in caverns gives this Taleggio its “soul”.
* Brescianella Stagionata - This cheese takes its name from the town of Brescia east of Milano. Duringtaleggio the aging period, this intense cheese develops its characteristic rind, aroma and melting center.
* Robiola Valsassina - A small cheese from the valley of the same name, this cheese is similar to Taleggio on a smaller scale. Due to its size, it ages a bit more quickly and firmer.
* Toma Maccagno Rosa - While not really a washed-rind cheese, this toma from Piemonte is rubbed with saffron to give the rind a red hue. Aged for approximately two months, the flavor of this cheese highlights the quality of the alpine milk with subtle notes of meadow grass.

Piave, the delicious cows milk cheese from the Veneto, has become a staple on many cheese counters - and for good reason. Approachable yet flavorful it appeals to both cheese novices and aficionados alike. But not every wheel of Piave is alike! It all starts off the same but the final product has a great deal of range. We feel that the Piave offered by Fresca Italia is a step above the rest.

Until the 1960s, Piave was made in small batches in local dairies in the Piave River Valley in the province of Belluno in Veneto. Today, the production of Piave has become industrialized yet, against the odds, the makers of Piave have maintained their high standards and their cheese is still excellent and one we’re quite pleased to carry.

What distinguishes one Piave from the next begins with the aging. Fresh Piave is aged from 20-60 days, semi-aged from 60-120, and mature or vecchio from 120 days to upwards of 12 months. While the young cheeses are pleasant, they lack the depth and complexity of the more mature wheels. After maturing for a year, Piave develops a hard, granular texture full of crunchy protein crystals. The mild milkiness of the young cheeses gives way to sharper, more pronounced flavors of pineapple, hazelnuts, and caramel. Some people even go as far as to compare aged Piave to Parmigiano Reggiano.

We only stock the vecchio Piave at Fresca Italia but our Piave goes one step further. Most Piave is treated with E235 (Natamycin), an anti-mold and yeast additive, and E203 (Calcium Sorbate), a antifungal preservative. The Piave we sell at Fresca Italia is untreated and all natural. The difference is dramatic. By leaving the cheeses untreated and all-natural, they continue to mature and the results are fantastic.

You’ll first notice the contrast in appearance. Rather than the bright yellow rind you might be accustomed to, the rind on the untreated Piave is a more natural tan color. It might have a bit of bloom, which to us just means that the cheese is alive and well. The real difference is in the flavor. Unhindered by chemical additives, the nutty, caramel flavors deepen and blossom into a truly exquisite cheese. We think you’ll agree.

Click here to read more about Piave.

You may have heard reports of a crisis threatening production of Mozzarella di Bufala. While the stories are true, you can rest assured that our Gustosella brand Mozzarella is perfectly safe and free from the troubles facing the farmers of Caserta.

The situation
Brucellosis, an infectious disease, has spread through a large number of the water buffalo in the plains of Caserta around Naples. In livestock, this highly contagious disease can cause infertility, kill unborn calves, and reduce milk production. If passed on to humans, it can cause intermittent fever and weight loss.

The local Neapolitan Mafia, known as the Camorra, is largely to blame for the problem. Using intimidation, the Camorra, who control a great deal of Mozzarella production, has covered up the gravity of the situation. Brucellosis has been present in these herds for the past 10 years though until recently, local officials were unaware of how far the situation had progressed. Some estimates say that up to 30% - about 30,000 animals - are now infected. Now that the government has been made aware, veterinarians accompanied by armed police will inspect the herds and destroy all infected animals.

To make matters worse, the area around Naples has a serious garbage disposal issue. Plagued by a lack of recycling and proper waste management, the streets became littered with refuse. Burning of the trash has led to contamination of the air, water, and soil which further threatens the buffalo herds.

Why the Mozzarella from Fresca Italia is safe
The issues with brucellosis and the trash are centered near Naples, Caserta. Our supplier, Gustosella, is located in Bellizzi, near Battipaglia in Salerno. Nearly 100 km to the southwest and separated from Caserta by ruggedbufala2 mountains, Salerno has been largely unaffected by the crisis. You can follow this link to see these areas on the map. As an additional reassurance, brucellosis is destroyed in the pasteurization process. All of the Mozzarella that we import, by law, must be pasteurized.

Our weekly shipment arrives with governmental documentation certifying the safety of the product. This certification states proof of milk origin, quality, safety, and treatment. When shopping you can easily check the provenience of your Mozzarella by checking the label. Find the manufacturers address. The name of the town will be followed by a two-letter provincial code in parentheses. Cheese made in Caserta will bear the provincial code (CE) while Mozzarella from Salerno will be labeled with (SA). All Mozzarella from Fresca Italia comes from Salerno.

Please rest assured, we take the quality and safety of all of our products very seriously. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Click for more info on DOP Mozzarella di Bufala

This year the NASFT Fancy Food Show was held in San Diego from Jan. 13-15. While we missed having everybody come visit us in our own backyard, it was a great excuse to get out of town and into a little Southern California sun.

As always, the Food Show is a whirlwind of old friends, fresh faces, and new products. Having the show in San Diego also gave us the opportunity to spend some time with Bob Stonebrook from Aniata Cheese, our distributor in Southern California. It was great to see him and to meet a number of his enthusiastic customers. It looks like our cheeses are in good hands down there and we’re looking forward to building the relationship in the coming year.

We were also joined by Soyoung Scanlon of Andante Dairy who helped us launch our own line of Italian-inspired American-made cheeses. The project is off to a great start and new additions are in the works. We’ll keep you posted on developments.

Thanks to everybody who came by the booth. If you missed us this year, feel free to send us an email or visit our web page to see more of our products.