Formaggella del Luinese

Appearance & taste

Formaggella del Luinese is a cylindrical wheel with flat faces, 13 to 15 cm in diameter, with a side 4 to 6 cm high and a weight of 700 to 900 g. The natural rind is thin and may carry mould. The paste is soft, compact, uniform and mainly white, sometimes with fine holes. The cheese contains at least 45 % dry matter and at least 41 % fat in dry matter.

The taste is mild, delicate and pleasant and becomes stronger with ripening, as do the smell and aroma. The texture is elastic, moist, soft and melts readily in the mouth. According to the specification, part of its aroma comes directly from the plants the goats eat. It is sold only as a whole wheel, with a round label: a goat’s head shaded in black with a golden-yellow collar and bell on a red background. A goat’s head and an identification number of the producer are branded into the side of the wheel.

Production

Only raw whole goat’s milk from the Camosciata delle Alpi, Nera di Verzasca and Saanen breeds and their crosses is used. The herds spend seven to eight months on pasture. There they eat heather, spring shoots of hazel, ash and chestnut and wild grasses, plus concentrates and sometimes hay; in the shed mainly hay and concentrates. The hay comes mainly from species-rich meadows on the valley floors; silage is prohibited.

The milk may be stored for at most 30 hours at no more than 4 °C. Natural or selected whey and natural calf rennet are added, and it coagulates at 32 to 34 °C in 30 to 40 minutes. The curd is broken up to the size of maize grains and filled into moulds 14 cm in diameter. The wheels drain for at most 48 hours at room temperature and are turned two to five times. They are salted dry or in brine. The cheese ripens for at least 20 days, in ripening rooms at 85 to 95 % humidity and no more than 15 °C or in cellars with a natural climate. Copper vats, cloths and racks with wooden boards are permitted, grids are not.

Origin & history

The area in the Varese Prealps is rugged and rich in woods and pastures. According to the specification, the goat grazing practised since time immemorial has shaped the landscape: meadows on the valley floors for winter feed, pastures with goat huts on the slopes, high alpine pastures, droving paths and watering places. The climate is pre-alpine, with plentiful, well-distributed rainfall; Lago Maggiore moderates the temperatures. On the acidic soils purple moor grass, bracken, broom, heather, birch, beech, hazel, ash and chestnut spread, on which the herds traditionally feed.

Goats have been kept in the area for a very long time by families for whom processing milk was an important source of income. Old techniques have survived, such as quick coagulation with rennet in less than an hour and breaking up the curd finely, as have old tools: curd breakers, formerly made from a wooden board with iron and copper wires, the cheese harp, skimmers of woven grass and small wooden moulds. According to the specification, records of the cheese go back to the 17th century.