Mascarpone is a triple-creme cheese made from fresh cream. Traditionally, this was made from the fresh milk of cows that have grazing pastures filled with fresh herbs and flowers. Mascarpone originated during the Middle Ages in Lombardy. Lombardy, in the northern part of Italy includes the cities of Brescia, Cremona, Mantova, Milano and Sondrio, and it has a rich agricultural and dairy heritage.
In the 1500s and 1600s, dairymen in the region became famous for selling fresh cheese curds, known as mascarpone. The name Mascarpone may have originated from the word “mascarpa” which is milk made from the whey of stracchino cheese, or from the word “mascarpia”, the local Italian word for ricotta.
Mascarpone is an ingredient in tiramisu. Tiramisu is the most classic dessert when people think of mascarpone cheese. It's a rich coffee-soaked cake with mascarpone cream and cocoa powder on top.
The word tiramisu literally means “pick me up”. It comes from the Treviso dialect, “Tireme su”, Italianized into tiramisu in the latter half of the 20th century. Historical records state that tiramisu originated in Treviso in 1800. It is said that this dessert was invented by a clever “maitresse” of a house of pleasure in the center of Treviso.
History of mascarpone cheese
