Alpine cheese: excellence from mountain pastures!

Mountain cheese: an Italian excellence produced with cow's milk coming exclusively from mountain pastures, where animals enjoy better health thanks to clean air, sunshine, and fresh grass from the meadows. These are the reasons that make mountain cheese so unique and appealing, a true Italian excellence.

Mountain cheese is produced in Lombardy, Veneto, and Friuli, and is characterized by a typical aroma of fermented or slightly fruity vegetables, with a slightly bitter taste. What is made in the mountain pastures is truly a precious purchase, which you can also make here on our portal, which showcases some of the most characteristic mountain cheeses.

From June to September, farmers bring their cattle to altitude to let them live outdoors, eat fresh grass and herbs; in this way, their milk is enriched with all the floral notes of the fresh herbs, resulting in a unique and prized cheese. Consortia have specifically regulated the production of mountain cheeses, and products that strictly adhere to these specifications regarding raw materials, processing, and aging are recognizable by the DOP mark.

Mountain cheese: a return to the origins

When farms followed completely natural practices, even before modern transportation, the task of leading the cattle to graze at high altitudes in the mountain pastures during the nice season was entrusted to herdsmen, who then processed the milk and produced cheese.

The herdsmen collected the freshly milked milk in wooden or metal buckets and let it settle to facilitate the rising of the cream. This was then collected with a ladle and used to produce butter. Next, the milk was heated in copper cauldrons, and rennet was added. The resulting curd was placed in specific molds to produce the cheese, while the whey was used to make ricotta.

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Even today, mountain cheese is produced directly at the pasture and then transported down after about 20 days. The cheese produced in this way has unique peculiarities due to the local vegetation; thus, mountain cheese conveys all the sensations and flavors of the place from which it comes, flavors of specific pastures and certain mountains.

Mountain cheese: what does it mean?

Mountain cheese is so well-known because it comes from a series of agricultural and livestock activities practiced in the mountain pastures during the summer months. As we have seen, mountain pastures are alpine pastures. The grazing activity involves bringing herds up in May or June, and ends with the transhumance in September, when the herds return to the plains. From the milk produced during this grazing period, mountain cheese is born, a true experience in terms of taste!

Types of mountain cheeses: what are they?

Italian mountain cheeses are found in the Venetian, Lombard, or Friulian Alps and possess typical vegetal, fresh or fermented, bitter or fruity aromas from their area of origin. More typically, mountain cheeses, although delicately fruity, have a strong, decisive characteristic flavor, with a bitter aftertaste: flavors that make them unique in their kind.

Among the mountain cheeses, there is Malga Novezza, available in various aging profiles from 4 to 12 months. Coming from Lessinia, this cheese is particularly aromatic, yellowish in color, produced with only summer milk from pastures. A cheese with a strong, sweet, and savory flavor, releasing a beautiful sensation of dried fruit and a hint of milk and almonds in the finish. On the palate, it is rich and creamy: truly a must-try! Malga Novezza is ideal to serve in shavings for a dessert course or to grate over first courses; it pairs perfectly with mustards and chestnut and dandelion honeys, and for those wishing to pair it with a wine, a soft Italian red such as Amarone della Valpolicella or a Merlot is recommended. It also pairs well with an aromatic sweet wine.

The Malga Mariech aged in tuff, typical of the high mountains and aged for at least 30 days: a true work of milk, a rarity obtained with raw milk that encapsulates all the pleasantness and genuineness of the mountain, woods, and flowering green meadows. Originating from Pianezze, at 1500 meters high, where brown cows graze. Malga Mariech produces extraordinary cheeses, aged by the pure air of the Belluno Dolomites. This cheese is excellent for gourmet charcuterie boards and pairs well with corn polenta; pleasant as a dessert thanks to its intensity and spiciness, with a creamy and inviting bite.

The Malga Speloncia aged, a cheese made from Alpine brown cow's milk, processed with raw milk, aged for at least 60 days and refined for six months. Malga Speloncia is located among the peaks of Monte Grappa, where this cheese adorned with multiple category medals is produced. Malga Speloncia has a uniqueness: on one side, it bears the numbers 3, 3, 9, and 12, the hours of a clock. History teaches that shepherds, who often did not have a scale, weighed by hours. Malga Speloncia has a strong taste of melted butter; it is pleasant and creamy, with a spicy final sensation. Excellent paired with corn polenta or as an appetizer on gourmet boards. The suitable wine to pair with it is a Veneto Merlot, with a soft flavor.
 

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The Malga del Brol aged, a toma made from summer milk from alpine pastures, aged for about 14 months on wooden boards, where the cheeses are periodically turned. Here, the rind thickens, and the paste becomes compact, enriched with all the mountain aromas. Malga Brol is located in Alta Lessinia, in the Venetian Prealps or Little Veronese Dolomites. This important hard cheese is excellent on a charcuterie board, paired with corn polenta, or to be grated over first courses and risottos. It pairs well with structured red wines such as Nebbiolo, Valpolicella Superiore, or Cabernet Sauvignon.

We also recommend the Monte Veronese DOP mountain cheese aged under straw, produced with raw and partially skimmed milk, aged for at least six months on wooden boards and covered with straw from the Lessinia pastures. This technique was used as it ensured better preservation of the product over time, contributing to the particular aroma of this cheese with a compact and decidedly aromatic paste, creamy on the palate, with a buttery and acacia honey sensation. Excellent for a charcuterie board, as an appetizer, accompanied by fig jam or jelly made from white grape passito.

Mountain cheese: all the flavor of the pasture, directly to your home! Follow our recommendations to experience all the sensations of the high mountains with the alpine cheeses you will find on our site, and of course, enjoy your meal!

Antonella Iannò

S&M