Montasio

Appearance & taste

Montasio is a cylindrical wheel with a straight or almost straight side and a flat or slightly convex top. After 60 days of ripening it measures 27 to 35 cm in diameter, the side is at most 8 cm high, and it weighs 5.5 to 8 kg. The rind is smooth, regular and elastic, and the paste is compact with few holes and of a natural, slightly straw-yellow colour. The cheese contains at least 40 % fat in dry matter.

After two months Montasio is medium-firm and mild; its taste recalls the milk it was made from. As it ripens, the flavours become more pronounced and slightly sharp, and the paste becomes firmer and crumbly. According to the specification, it can ripen for up to 36 months and is then one of the few Italian hard cheeses with a long ripening period.

Depending on the length of ripening, the cheese carries an additional term: “fresco” (fresh) from 60 days, “mezzano” (medium-ripened) from 120 days, “stagionato” (mature) from ten months and “stravecchio” (long-ripened) from 18 months. The cheese moulds emboss the word “Montasio” diagonally, alternately upright and upside down, together with the dairy’s identification code, the abbreviation of the province and the date of production. If the cheese is made entirely in the mountain area, from the milk to the minimum ripening, it may carry the inscription “PDM” for “prodotto della montagna” (mountain product).

Production

The milk comes from farms in the area; the breeds kept there are mainly Bruno Alpina, Pezzata Rossa Italiana and Pezzata Nera and their crosses. At least 60 % of the feed comes from the area. Silage made from hay, maize and cereals is allowed; meat-and-bone meal and a number of fresh feeds such as vegetables, fruit and beet pulp are prohibited.

Raw milk without preservatives is processed; it may only be cooled to no less than 4 °C, but not heated or pasteurised. According to the specification, this preserves the bacteria from the area in the milk. Only natural starters, about 1 %, obtained from the milk of the area, or approved enzymes are added. The curd is cooked at a moderate 42 to 48 °C, then drained and pressed so that the paste becomes medium-firm. Cattle farming, milk production, cheesemaking, moulding, draining, salting and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

Much of the area lies in the mountains or at their foot, where alpine and pasture farming are still practised. Abundant rainfall in spring and autumn favoured pastures in eastern Italy and the cultivation of wheat and barley, the main feed of the dairy cows; later maize and finally soya were added.

As early as 1773/1775, Montasio was entered in the reference price lists of San Daniele and Udine; so it was not made only for the producers’ own use. Its production drove the founding of cooperative dairies, and a specialist school for cheesemaking helped to spread the technique in Friuli and eastern Veneto. In the 1960s there were more than 650 active dairies there.