The Lakes Kitchen - The Italian Lakes - page 486

The Perfect Cheeseboard
Counters in northern Italian alimentari (food stores) overflow with cheeses. They come in
every possible size, form, colour and texture, which isn't surprising considering Lombardy
produces nearly 40% of Italy's cheese.
One of the most widespread and best-known Lombard cheeses is stracchino . The name
is derived from stracca , meaning tiredness. It is said that the milk of tired cows (during the
seasonal move to and from Alpine pastures) is richer in fats and acids, giving this cheese its
tang. It is usually eaten as a dessert cheese. Bitto , from the Valtellina, is similarly dry and
sharp as it ages. Once known as green stracchino, gorgonzola is made of autumn cow's
milk (collected after the return from the Alps) and is one of several cheeses made laced
with blue mould.
Another popular autumn cheese is taleggio, a soft cheese originally made in the like-
named valley north of Bergamo. It is a mild cheese matured in six to 10 weeks and regu-
larly washed to prevent mould or a thick rind forming. Other mountain cheeses from the
Val Brembana, north of Bergamo, are generically called formai de mut (cheese of the
mountains).
Originating from the Lodi area is the soft cream cheese known as mascarpone, a versat-
ile product obtained from milk cream and used to make desserts (most famously tiramisu).
Lodi also produces pannerone (a soft, fatty cheese made without salt) and Grana Lodigi-
ano. The latter is similar to Parmesan and Grana Padano, but 'weeps' a drop of whey when
flakes of it are cut away.
From the province of Brescia comes bagoss , a well-matured, straw-coloured cheese tra-
ditionally made in cow herds' huts in the summer mountain pastures. Robiola is a soft pas-
teurised cow's milk cheese made in Lombardy and Ticino. It comes in small discs. A cool,
fresh alternative in Ticino is robiolino (tubes of pasteurised cow's milk cheese often
seasoned with herbs or pepper). Various types of formaggella (a semi-hard cheese with a
greyish crust) are produced throughout the region.
Several goat cheeses, such as cadolet di capra (from the Valle Camonica north of Lake
Iseo) and fatulì , are made in spring and summer and lightly smoked. Caprino Lombardo, a
generic name, covers a range of such cheeses. True goat-milk cheese ranges from the fresh,
soft white variety to those matured over several months in oil and laurel leaves. Cingherlin,
from Varese and Como, is drizzled with olive oil and vinegar and served with beans