Caciofiore aquilano

Caciofiore aquilano is an Italian cheese made from cow's milk and produced in Abruzzo

This cheese has a medium maturity, whose production is linked to the deep sea grasses of the province of L'Aquila. This is a "historical" cheese, almost impossible to find.
It is a traditional product of transhumance, and owes its unique flavor to the use of vegetable rennet.
The shepherds, while traveling along the roads the sheep had no difficulty finding wild thistle flowers (Cynara cardunculus) and letting them dry in the sun.
It was something easy that in general they dried and consumed as an infusion and made it act like rennet. 

This is a cylindrical cheese, creamy, smooth, with a very slight aroma, with almost absent holes, a milk-white color and a delicate flavor. The breaking of the curd is done to divide it into pieces the size of a tangerine. During ripening, thanks to rennet enzymes, proteolysis occurs which makes the pasta creamy. Weight: 2 and 4 kg.
It has a typical rolling marked surface left by the containers (baskets), where the curd is forming.

Source: Atlas of traditional products of Abruzzo - Abruzzo ARSSA Region, 2004