by Mara Bivone

Cheeses of Piemonte

As my father used to say “Il formagio è il prodotto che più si avvicina al vino”, as he would cut large pieces of cheese to accompany his summer afternoon repast of cheese, black truffle slices drizzled with virgin olive oil, olives, tomato quarters, fresh baked bread, and a large tumbler of red wine.

I grew up in Piedmont’s wine country and, after I married, I moved to Venice with my husband and baby, when he was named General Manager to one of Murano’s largest art glass manufacturers. But, on a warm summer afternoon, we still have a Piedmontese farmer’s lunch, even in a town where everyone else drinks Prosecco.

If you are one of these people that obsess with fat-free, sugar-free, sodium-free products, please don’t read any further. The rest of the story will be of no interest to you and, frankly, we don’t want you to be tempted by the full taste, full of goodness cheeses that I will be talking about.

I grew up with cheese, and my love for cheese brought me to the Bra “Le Forme del Latte” show, one of Italy’s largest autumnal culinary events organized every two years by the Slow Food Association. This year (2005), for example, there are over 130 different types of goat cheese here, from all over the world. Goat cheese is one of the most ancient milk products, as goats were one of the first animals domesticated by man.

There is a good reason to hold a cheese show in Piedmont. Here, many animals still graze in mountain pastures and their milk is of the highest quality. Thousand-year old traditions are relied upon by modern small producers to create outstanding cheeses; the secret details are passed on from father to son or mother to daughter. Since 1470, cheese production’s general procedures have been codified by Pantaleone da Confidenza in his “Summa Lacticinorum”. Today, Piedmont has six DOP cheeses made exclusively in the Piedmont region and three other quality products also made here. The cheese names might or might not be familiar: Bra, Murazzano, Robiola di Roccaverano, Toma Piemontese, Gorgonzola, Grana Padano, and Taleggio. But, whenever you see one of these names, you can be assured that what you will taste is a cheese of the best quality.

Every year, 30,000 quintals of cheese are produced in Piedmont by large producers that mainly create the DOP designated varieties for the tables of families in Italy and abroad. However, there is also an immense underground of artisanal producers that create in “malghe”, out of the way alpine huts, from animals freely grazing under starry summer skies, masterpieces of mountain pasture cheeses such as the Nostrale of Cuneo, the Maccagno of Biella, the Ossolano in the Val d’Ossola, to name but a few.

Then all these cheeses go to “affinatori”, top-level professionals that mature cheeses in the most appropriate environment for each style, turning them, oiling them, brushing them, and rotating them to ensure that each head has the maximum taste possible.
 

© June 2006 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.