The name of this pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese shaped like a tear-drop means 'cheese on horseback' and in many ways it resembles provolone. The rind is edible.

The ancient Greeks are said to have invented the cheese (it resembles the modern Greek cheese kaiseri) when they colonised southern Italy. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, was the first to mention it in c. 500BC.

Today the finest version, Caciocavallo Silano, is made in Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, and Molise as well as in Puglia and has been given its protected status (DOP) to keep imitators at bay.

That said another special version is Puglia's Caciocavallo Podolico del Gargano, the so-called 'Parmesan of the South' made from milk from the Podolica cow that grazes on the grasses and herbs, then aged in caves. It has a hard texture and strong, quite pungent flavour that pairs well with full-bodied wines.