Taleggio

Appearance & taste

Taleggio is a rectangular block with flat faces and a straight edge. The flat faces are 18 to 22 cm wide, and the edge is 4 to 7 cm high. At the end of the minimum ripening period of 35 days, a cheese weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg.

The rind is thin, soft and naturally pink. It may only be treated with water and salt. The paste is smooth, white to straw-coloured and has only a few tiny holes. In general it is firm, but softer just under the rind. The specification describes the taste as sweet and aromatic, with notes of milk and an aftertaste of truffle. Frozen or previously frozen Taleggio may not be sold.

After the second turning and before salting, the PDO mark is embossed on one flat face: four circles in a square, three of them with a T, the fourth with the number of the dairy. When sold, every cheese, whole or in portions, also carries a logo with a red inner, white middle and green outer border and the abbreviation CTT in the centre.

Production

At least half of the dry matter of the cows’ feed each year must come from the area of origin. They are fed cereals, dry and green fodder and silage, supplemented with concentrates or oilcake. The specification justifies the 50 % rule with the increasingly unpredictable weather: heavy rain delays or prevents sowing, and extreme droughts reduce harvests, so that farms’ own feed production varies greatly.

All steps, from rearing the cows through milking and cheesemaking to ripening, take place in the area. Salting is done dry and/or in brine. The “salinatura”, washing with water and salt, also contributes to the character of the cheese. Wooden crates and wooden boards, through which the cheese can breathe and release excess whey, are still often used for transport and ripening.

Taleggio usually ripens from the outside in. This is due to a natural mixed flora on the surface of micrococci, fungi such as Geotrichum candidum, Mucor and Penicillium, and yeasts. It comes from the dairy and the ripening room, a cave or a store. The micrococci give the rind its pink colour, and Geotrichum and yeasts form its “felt”. Protein is broken down mainly by Penicillium and Mucor, fat mainly by Geotrichum and yeasts.

Taleggio may only be portioned and packed in the area of origin, because pieces lack the mark of the whole cheese. Portioning in retail at the customer’s request or for takeaway is exempt.

Origin & history

The name refers to an area in Lombardy that extends over the Valsassina and Val Taleggio valleys; the village of the same name also lies there. Production spread to the other provinces with transhumance: in winter the animals and the farmers, the “Bergamini”, moved down from the mountains into the valley.

According to the specification, the cheese owes its characteristics to the expertise of the cheesemakers, passed on over centuries, as well as to the climate and the extensive irrigation system, which allows plenty of feed to grow. On wood, the cheese ripens just as it was done more than a thousand years ago.