It hangs as a modest, nearly round form, finished with a rather soft little head bound in plant fibre. A thin, smooth rind wraps a paste that stays yielding, so the first impression is of something compact yet ready to give under the knife.
Inside, the body is pasty, scented only lightly, and the flavour stays delicate and sweet. Colour moves from ivory toward a faint straw yellow. Time does the rest: ripening can run from sixty days to well beyond a year, deepening the same quiet profile rather than shouting over it.
Milk from podolica cows, still found especially across the provinces of Salerno, Avellino and Caserta, is the starting point. Cheeses made when the animals graze in spring are the ones most sought after. A whey starter, checked in a simple way, lends a particular taste. In the Benevento country around Miscano and Castelfranco, that smoked caciocavallo is remembered as especially fine.