Quartirolo Lombardo

Appearance & taste

Quartirolo Lombardo is a square block with flat sides and a straight base. The sides are 18 to 22 cm long, the edge is 4 to 8 cm high, and a wheel weighs 1.5 to 3.5 kg. The rind is thin and soft, whitish pink on the young cheese (“fresco”) and grey-green on the ripened cheese (“maturo” or “stagionato”).

The paste is homogeneous, slightly lumpy, sometimes with slight separations, and crumbly, without a yellowish edge under the rind. As it ripens it becomes more compact, softer and more melting. It is white to straw-yellow, and more strongly coloured in the ripened cheese. The young cheese tastes slightly sour and aromatic, the ripened one stronger. Cheese made from partly skimmed milk has at least 30 % fat in dry matter.

The mark of origin is printed on the top or bottom with a stencil: a logo with the letters Q and L at the top and L and Q at the bottom, with the number of the dairy in the middle. The packaging gives the name, where applicable with the addition “fresco” or “maturo” or “stagionato”.

Production

The cows are kept in the area and eat cereals, green and dry fodder and silage, supplemented with concentrates or proteins; at least 50 % of the dry matter of the feed in a year comes from the area. Raw or pasteurised milk from at least two milkings is made into cheese. The milk from the first milking is used as whole milk, that from the following ones as whole milk or partly skimmed. Calf rennet and salt are added.

The young cheese ripens for 2 to 30 days, the ripened one for at least 30 days. Rearing, milking, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area extends from the plain on the left bank of the Po to the Alpine foothill valleys between Bergamo and Lecco. In the higher, humid Po plain, the continental climate with its marked change of seasons provides plenty of good feed. According to the specification, the milk is suitable for both the young and the ripened cheese.

The taste comes from the milk and an old cheesemaking culture that has been passed on from generation to generation and uses strongly local equipment and techniques. The techniques handed down over centuries are just as fundamental to processing the milk as to salting and ripening, which still take place in typical traditional rooms today.