Bitto

Appearance & taste

Bitto is a regular cylinder with a smooth rind and a concave, sharp-edged side. The wheel measures 30 to 50 cm in diameter, is 8 to 12 cm high and weighs 8 to 25 kg. The rind is 2 to 4 mm thick and straw-yellow; the colour deepens with ripening. The paste is compact, has a few “partridge eye” holes and is white to straw-yellow depending on its age. The cheese contains at least 45 % fat in dry matter.

In the year it is made, Bitto tastes mild and the paste is soft as butter. With ripening, the flavour becomes more aromatic and intense, and the cheese loses moisture and becomes slightly grainy. According to the specification, it can ripen for several years without its texture or flavour changing. The aroma comes from the plants in the animals’ feed; goat’s milk strengthens it.

After the minimum ripening period, each wheel is branded on the side: the word “Bitto” above a stylised round cheese with a piece cut out of it; the gap forms a “V” for Valtellina. A round paper label with a red ring and the yellow lettering “BITTO” may be stuck on one face. Only cheese subject to stricter rules may bear the name of the mountain pasture: the cows eat only mountain pasture grass, no starter cultures are added, and the milk is processed within 30 minutes of milking.

Production

The cows eat the pasture grass of the mountain pastures in the area; at most 3 kg of dry matter from maize, barley, wheat, soya and a little molasses may be added, plus livestock salt. Only when snow or hail makes grazing impossible is some hay from permanent grassland also permitted. From June to September the animals are outdoors day and night.

The raw milk of a single milking is processed immediately after milking and without any treatment, on the mountain pasture, with calf rennet, salt and native starter cultures. Most steps, from filling the vat through cutting and stirring the curd to lifting out the cheese mass, are done by hand. The traditional moulds give the wheel its concave side. Ripening begins in cheese rooms on the mountain pasture, usually in cellars with a steady temperature and humidity; the wheels are repeatedly turned, cleaned and scraped. After at least one year of ripening, the cheese may also be grated. Milk production and processing and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area is a mountain region between the Rhaetian and the Orobic Alps. 70 % of it lies above 1,500 m, and the valleys are steep. The mountain pastures are traditionally divided into several sections at increasing altitude, so that each section can be grazed at the right time. The pastures on acid, siliceous rock carry mainly perennial grasses, along with composites, legumes and umbellifers rich in aromatic compounds. The climate is marked by large temperature swings, dry air, strong sun and summer rain.

Making the milk into a long-keeping cheese right on the mountain pasture used to be the only way to preserve it there. At the end of the summer the cheese was brought down to the valley. According to the specification, the craft methods have been passed down from generation to generation.