Strachitunt

Appearance & taste

Strachitunt is a cylindrical wheel with flat faces 25 to 28 cm in diameter and straight or slightly convex sides 10 to 18 cm high; it weighs 4 to 7 kg. The thin, wrinkled rind is medium-firm, sometimes covered with mould, and turns from yellowish to grey during ripening.

When cut, the paste is firm, melting directly under the rind and marbled, with creamy streaks and green-blue veins of mould. How strongly the blue mould develops depends on the mould spores naturally present in the milk. The taste is intense and aromatic, from mild to sharp, and becomes stronger with ripening. The cheese contains at least 48 % fat in dry matter.

On the side, each wheel bears the symbol “STV”, the producer’s approval number and the production date. Whole wheels have a round label on top with a brown ring, the logo and the “STV” symbol. Portioning and packaging are also allowed outside the area.

Production

At least 90 % of the milk comes from Brown Swiss cows. At least 65 % of the dry matter of their feed is green fodder or hay, and at least 80 % of that comes from the area. It is supplemented with cereals, oilseeds such as flax, soya and sunflower seeds, and minerals; maize silage is prohibited.

Raw whole milk from two milkings is used, with calf rennet and salt; starter cultures are prohibited. The curd from the evening (cold “cagliata”) and the morning milk curdled about twelve hours later (warm “cagliata”) are mixed and shaped into a wheel. During ripening the wheels are pierced so that blue mould can form with the spores from the milk and the ripening rooms. Vats and tools are traditionally cleaned with sour whey, which according to the specification preserves the natural microflora of the rooms. The dairies mostly have underground ripening rooms and cool them mainly with the low outside temperatures. Everything from rearing the cows to ripening takes place in the area.

Origin & history

The Taleggio valley lies in the Orobic Prealps, largely in the Parco delle Orobie Bergamasche regional park, far from the industry of the Lombard plain. The whole area is mountainous and lies at an altitude of at least 700 m. The many pastures allow six months of grazing a year; mainly Brown Swiss cows are kept, which are well adapted to mountain conditions. Milking and processing take place directly on the mountain pastures or at dairies in the valley, with short distances. On the right bank of the mountain river Enna there is little sun even in summer, which according to the specification encourages the formation of blue mould.

In the mountain villages small farms emerged that made cheese for their own needs. Because the copper vats were heated only with wood, the milk could not be heat-treated, and without cold rooms it had to be processed immediately after milking. This gave rise to the two-curd method, in which the cold curd from the previous day is combined with the freshly curdled warm milk.