After a year of waiting, our mountain cheesemakers have driven their herds all the way up to the alpeggio pastures to produce unique seasonal aromatic cheeses.
At the beginning of July, the long-awaited first act of the "transhumance" performance, an ancient custom listed by UNESCO, took place in some corners of the Italian mountains. This involves moving herds and shepherds to the high-altitude (over 2,000 meters above sea level) lush clean pastures alpeggio full of diverse herbs, where they spend the whole summer grazing and making cheese, before the second act – the festive descent into the valley – takes place in September.
The milk from these pastures is very nutritious, fatty, and beautifully fragrant. The animals spend all days outside in the fresh air and stress-free, grazing on aromatic mountain herbs that are a little different in each meadow. Each cheese form is thus literally an explosion of flavors and aromas, and it tastes slightly different each time. Moreover, the milk does not have to travel anywhere complicated; it is processed right after milking directly in the mountain huts malga and is never pasteurized to keep it "alive" and full of health-beneficial substances. The production is traditionally done by hand, so cheesemakers manage to produce only a few forms daily, which are then left to mature for several weeks to months (depending on the type of cheese). In autumn, a very small amount of these unique cheeses labeled d'alpeggio or di malga arrives on the market and usually sells out by Christmas, leading to another year of impatient waiting for the pastures to turn green again.
In our counters, you can taste several cheeses made from high-altitude milk in the autumn:
Vezzena di Lavarone Caseificio Vezzena
A cheese made from the milk of cows grazing on the plateau at an altitude of 1,400 meters around the Millegrobbe and Krojer huts above the town of Lavarone in Trentino. It matures for at least 12 months during which it is regularly turned and rubbed with linseed oil.
Castelmagno Tino Paiolo
The king of Piedmontese cheeses made on the last few pastures around Castelmagno in Piedmont. Thanks to a special production technique lasting 5 days, during which the cheese mass is cut several times and reshaped, it has a crumbly structure that is excellent for seasoning dishes.
Fontina Jotaz
A famous cow's milk cheese from Valle d'Aosta, which can be used both cold and in the preparation of Valdostan fonduta (fondue). The Jotaz family makes it at over 2,000 meters in the Ollomont valley from the milk of their 60 cows and produces only six forms daily.
Bettelmatt Alpe Regina
A cow's milk cheese that matures for two months, it has been made in the valleys of Valle Antigorio and Val Formazza at an altitude of around 2,200 meters for at least since the 13th century. Today, only 8 cheesemakers make it!
Bagòss La Malga del Re
A Lombard cheese flavored with saffron from pastures above the picturesque town of Bagolino at an altitude of around 2,000 meters. It matures for at least 12 months and is rubbed with linseed oil throughout that time.
Nostrale La Meja
A cow's milk cheese made by the Colombero family in the La Meja mountain hut in the Piedmontese valley of Valle Maira at an altitude of 2,086 meters. During the season, they produce only 120 forms of this cheese, which matures for 35 days to 1 year.
Goat Cheeses La Servaja
Various matured goat cheeses from Gian Vittorio Porasso, who grazes and makes cheeses at the Paraloup mountain farm in the Piedmontese valley of Valle Stura at an altitude of 1,360 meters during the summer.