Ossolano

Appearance & taste

Ossolano is a cylinder with a straight or slightly convex side and a flat top and bottom, 29 to 32 cm in diameter and 6 to 9 cm high. It weighs 6 to 7 kg, as “d’Alpe” 5 to 6 kg. The rind is smooth, even and straw-yellow and becomes deeper with ripening. The paste is firm and elastic, with small irregular holes, smaller than a grain of rice, and from pale yellow to deep yellow; a more intense colour depends on the feed in spring and summer and on ripening. The cheese contains at least 40 % fat in dry matter.

The smell is mild but intense, with floral notes that turn into walnut and hazelnut. The specification describes the taste as full-bodied and strong from the start: at first a buttery taste predominates for a long time, then come notes of ripe or dried fruit, vanilla and rose hip, alpine flowers such as buttercups and small berries such as gooseberries and yellow currants. With ripening it becomes more intense and aromatic.

The name “Ossolano” is embossed on the side, together with the number of the dairy; after the minimum ripening period a brand is added. A paper label is stuck on the top or bottom, bright green for Ossolano and dark brown with the words “d’Alpe” for the alpine cheese. Pieces bear part of the side and of the label.

Production

Only whole milk from cows of the Bruna, Frisona and Pezzata Rossa breeds and their crosses is processed, from two to four consecutive milkings. At least 60 % of the annual feed dry matter is grass or feed from the area, concentrates from cereals and pulses at most 40 %. From April to October the cows graze regularly on the valley meadows when the weather allows. For Ossolano d’Alpe the milk comes, from 1 June to 30 September, from cows that must graze on the alpine pasture; at least 90 % of their feed comes from the pastures of the area.

A step at low temperature makes the cheese a semi-cooked cheese and lets the whey drain better. Together with pressing, according to the specification it favours a particular microflora that shapes ripening in the dairy and in the ripening rooms and produces the small holes and the firm, elastic paste. The cheese ripens for at least 60 days from the day of production. Keeping the cows, milking, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area; so do grating, dicing or slicing without visible rind.

Origin & history

The Ossola valley lies in the far north of Piedmont between the cantons of Valais and Ticino, in the Pennine and Lepontine Alps. It is around 70 km long and up to 35 km wide and borders Lago Maggiore to the south. The terrain is mountainous and steep throughout, with acidic, poorly permeable soils. Rainfall is high and steady, and temperatures are lower than in the neighbouring areas; this favours the typical meadow plants and a microclimate suited to ripening cheese. According to the specification, aromas of alpine lovage (Ligusticum mutellina) pass via the milk into the cheese.

The rugged terrain has led to small farms with 10 to 70 dairy animals, which include small cooperative dairies for cheesemaking and ripening. The method goes back to the Walser, who came from Switzerland centuries ago and settled in the Ossola valley. Because of the heavy rainfall and the not too high temperatures, they introduced the step at low temperature that still characterises the cheese today.