Basket Cheese Holds the Key to a Tangy, Fresh Easter Treat

Basket Cheese has long been an Easter staple for Italians and Italian Americans.

After having two baskets of cheese curds combined to make one basket cheese, the whey starts to drain at Lamagna Cheese in Verona, PA, April 7, 2014. Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette/TNS

PITTSBURGH—For many Italians, the 40-day Lenten season is punctuated not by sweets but by a smooth, bright-white cheese that comes in white plastic containers.

It’s called basket cheese—formaggio da pasta filata in Italian—and it’s long been an Easter staple for Italians and Italian Americans who’ve grown up celebrating Nonna’s Old World food traditions.