TRENTINO CHEESES

Let's add another piece to our collective storytelling project Tasting cheese con la cheese storyteller Silvia Coletto, who tells us i cheeses from Trentino.

Silvia Coletto, author of the blog Dolci Mari e Monti

Silvia, Venetian by birth but thirty by adoption, is the author of the blog Sweet Seas and Mountains. She is "champion of typical products and Dolomite recipes", especially cheeses, which he describes on Instagram (platform on which we crossed because of our common passion) from his home which has the most beautiful window on the web, overlooking the peaks of the Dolomites.

We asked her what her preferences are for cheeses, and here are his answers.

– What is the cheese in your area to which you are most attached for sentimental reasons and why?

«The Trentino cheese to which I am most attached is certainly the Trentingrana, a cheese that I use daily and that can never be missing from our table and in the nutrition of my children ".

– Which cheese do you prefer to eat "absolute"? And which one do you prefer to use in gastronomic preparations?

"The cheese I prefer to eat isDrowned by Sabbionara, won me over from the first taste with its bright colors, its fruity aroma and its slightly spicy flavor.
It is precisely since I tasted and photographed it that I decided to talk about mountain and Trentino cheeses.

In my recipes, I have certainly been using a lot of L'Arin – The Fumè of Primiero, a cheese produced in our Valley by the Primiero Dairy.

It was born as a cutting cheese, sweet and slightly smoky, ideal to cook on the plate or in a pan. Thanks to this cheese I discovered that I can enhance my first courses, savory cakes and strudel ".

Drowned by Sabbionara

TRENTINO CHEESES
by Silvia Coletto

To understand the quality and characteristics of Trentino cheeses we can first of all think of a summer mountain pasture, green and lush, rich in biodiversity, of aromatic herbs and flowers.

The breeding of dairy animals in Trentino is generally traditional and in harmony with nature, a harmony that reaches its peak during the summer. During this period, most of the animals are raised in the mountain pastures, while in the other seasons they are fed with the rich hay produced in the summer.

From this type of breeding, respectful of animal welfare, naturally arises a milk with excellent qualitative characteristics, with different peculiarities in the individual valleys due to the different composition of the alpine meadows.

The Trentino dairy sector is also characterized by the presence of strict regulations, the modernization of some phases of the production processes, maintaining traditional curing methods. All these factors combined with mountain farming have made it possible to obtain small ones, in quantitative terms, but various and excellent cheese productions.

Most of the production takes place with cow's milk even if there are some niche productions with goat and sheep milk..

As a great lover of the sector, I will briefly describe some of the most popular cheeses, representative and well-known of Trentino.

Trentingrana

Il King of Trentino cheeses, also from an economic point of view, è il Trentingrana PDO. Produced only with semi-skimmed raw cow's milk, of the province of Trento and some neighboring municipalities of the province of Bolzano, rennet and salt without preservatives and additives.
The seasoning lasts from 18 ai 20 mesi but it can also go to 36.
It falls within the PDO of Grana Padano but has much stricter regulations, which, for example, do not include the use of silage, and from the point of view of the organoleptic characteristics it is closer to its brother Parmigiano Reggiano.
Its main feature is the perfect balance between sweet and salty.
The precious Trentingrana mountain pasture it is produced only with summer milk and is protected by Presidio Slow Food.

Trentingrana

Puzzone di Moena or Spretz Tzaorì DOP

Cheese a washed rind di tipo Our own, obtained by raw whole cow's milk.
Semi-cooked and semi-hard fat, its seasoning varies between 3 and 7-8 mesi and it happens in the traditional way on fir boards from Val di Fiemme.
Its name derives from its very strong and intense smell.
Spretz Tzaorì, its Ladin name, it means instead "Tasty cheese".
The production takes place in the territory of Val di Fiemme and Fassa and is mainly entrusted to Dairy of Predazzo and Moena.
Il Moena Presidio Slow Food stink, it is produced with the same production method but only in the summer, it has a particular flavor derived from the Dolomite pastures of its territory.

Moena's stink

Skinny PAT

Vézzena PAT is originally from the Altipiani di Vézzena Folgaria and Lavarone, area of ​​flat pastures on the border with Veneto.
It is produced with semi-skimmed raw milk Brown breed, Red Pied and Black Pied.
After the different stages of production, typical of Alpine semi-fat cheeses, it is seasoned on wooden boards. The forms are turned at least weekly and greased with linseed oil.
Tasty and slightly spicy, it can be used both as a table and as a grater.
Depending on the level of seasoning it is called Mezzano, Old and Stravecchio, respectively for 4 mesi, 1 year and 2 anni.
Il Vezzéna produced in the Lavarone area, during the summer it is a Presidio Slow Food and the forms are marked with the lettera M (of Malga).

Skinny

Spressa delle Giudicarie DOP

Spressa delle Giudicarie DOP è one of the cheeses oldest and most sought after in the Alps, it is a semi-fat cheese produced with lean part of cow's milk, the fat part in the past was reserved for butter which was more remunerated.
Its name derives from “Express”Juice which means depleted of fat, and from its production area the Valleys of the Giudicarie. Even today this cheese is produced with a low lipid content, even if he is not as thin as he used to be, it is indicated in a balanced diet. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the cows are fed exclusively with hay from summer pastures.

Spressa delle Giudicarie DOP

Casolét Val di Sole

Il Casolét Val di Sole is the typical mountain cheese raw and tender product with whole cow's milk, caglio e sale.
It is produced as well as in the Val di Sole, in Val dei Rabbi and Pejo.
Its name of Latin origin derives from "caseolus" what does it mean "small cheese”. The artisan shapes weigh about one kilogram and have a diameter between 10 e i 22 centimeters.
Il Casolét from Val di Sole made with raw milk it is a garrison Slow Food, makes up the wall ofArk of Taste for excellent productions. The Presidium's objective is to encourage the production of cheeses traditionally made with raw milk.

Casolét Val di Sole

I hope I have intrigued you by writing about some cheeses from the province where I live.

In my blog Sweet Seas and Mountains and Instagram profile you can find a column dedicated to mountain cheeses: #mattixiformaggi.

Silvia Coletto

All the shots are by Silvia Coletto.

Here our tale of the Cheeses from Campania on Silvia's blog: https://www.dolcimariemonti.it/2020/04/27/formaggi-campani/