Cheese Database

Asiago vs Vézzena

Asiago, field guide plate
Asiago, photographed

Asiago

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Italy
Place
Veneto
Status
PDO

Asiago is a cow's-milk cheese from the Asiago plateau in Veneto and from the protected zone around it. Pressato is young, pale, and mild. D'allevo is aged until it is firm and sharper.

Vézzena

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Italy
Place
Trentino

Vézzena is a pressed cow's milk cheese from Trentino, in northern Italy. Makers start with raw milk that has been partly skimmed, then cook and press the curd into a wheel. The paste is firm and becomes hard and granular as it ages. A natural rind turns from pale brown toward gray. Young wheels are for the table, and well-aged wheels are for the grater.