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Mascarpone: history
Mascarpone is created by working cream from cow's milk, characteristic of some areas of Lombardy, especially Mantova, Cremona, Lodi and Abbiategrasso (MI). There seem to be two possible origins of the name of this traditionally Lombard cheese: one is from the Italianisation of the exclamation "mas que buono" (more than good) pronouned by a dignitary of the Spanish Court during their domination of the area of Lombardy; the other from the dialect term "mascherpa" or "mascarpìa" that denoted a sub-product from the formation of "Stracchino" cheese. Historically Mascarpone was only produced in winter, as it had to be stored at low temperatures and it was sold in bulk or in small gauze packets weighing 100-200 grammes each.
In Milan there is a saying: "he was like the mascherpa!" to mean that a person was surprised. The anecdote that this refers to is the story of an errand-boy who had to take cheeses from Lodi to Milan so they could be sold at the market. Because of the length of the journey (32 Km), or because he had wasted time in idle chatter … when he arrived at destination his basket was surprisingly empty as the heat had caused the mascarpone to dissolve completely and to leak out of the spaces in the wickerwork.
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