Cheese of the Month

There is a pecorino for every mood in Italy, where the milk from sheep (pecora) is formed into hundreds of variations, from the famous hard grating cheese of Rome (Romano) to softer versions like foglie noce, a delicacy from Emilia-Romagna wrapped in walnut leaves.

When I'm craving a simple snack, I find this Rustico studded with black peppercorns to be irresistible. It's firm but softer than Romano, and the nutty, waxy paste tastes all the creamier when your teeth crack through the musky spice of a peppercorn. There's a crushed-red-pepper Rustico, too, for a hotter tingle, but the black peppercorn version is most widely available in local cheese markets.