As is the case for Caciocavallo from the Sila, the Sila Provola is not produced only on the Sila or in Calabria but in a number of southern Italian regions. The reason for this is that, in the past, many cattle herders used to take their animals up the various pasture paths from many, many miles. ‘Provola’, ‘provolone’ and the old expression ‘provatura’, all derive from the word ‘prova’ (test) – the sample of curd that was immersed in water to establish if the latter was hot enough for stringing out the paste.
