Renato Brancaleoni doesn't make cheese -- he ages it. Originally from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, he now resides in New York City buying young cheeses, often pecorino, and carefully aging them in caves or in huge terra cotta containers.

But instead of sticking only to cheeses made nearby, as tradition dictates, he brings them in from elsewhere, often the high Dolomites. They may be coated with olive oil and ashes or wrapped in walnut leaves. Or he might enclose them in hay, chestnut leaves or even crushed blackberries or beeswax.

Read More
Photo by Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times