Best Piedmontese Pasteurized Milk Cheese Types
Tomino is an Italian cheese originating from Piedmont. It is made from cow's milk and has a compact and soft paste on the interior that is pale yellow in color. The cheese is small and round. When fresh, it has a pleasant, milky aroma with bitter notes, and when mature, its characteristics become stronger.
The flavor is delicate and slightly sweet. It is recommended to serve Tomino as an appetizer, preferably grilled and paired with vegetables on the side.
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First produced in 879 CE in Gorgonzola, a Lombardian town settled just outside of Milan, this type of blue cheese is made with cow's milk and distinguished by green or blue marbling of mold. To induce blue veining, the milk is inoculated with penicillin spores.
Depending on its age, this Italian cheese is available in two varieties. Matured for about two months, Gorgonzola Dolce is quite soft, creamy and has a mild flavor with notes of butter, sour cream, and a less pronounced lactic tang, whereas Gorgonzola Piccante is a firmer, more crumbly version and must be aged for at least three months to develop its strong, pungent flavor.
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VARIATIONS OF Gorgonzola
THE BEST Gorgonzola Cheeses
Caves of Faribault
Amagorg Gorgonzola
American Cheese Society Judging & Competition Awards - 1st Place 2018
Named after the Lake Raschera which is located at the foot of Mount Mongioie in the Ligurian Alps, and also a type of Alpine hut, this semi-hard fat cheese is traditionally made in the municipality of Magliano Alpi, settled in the province of Cuneo.
It is produced using skimmed cow, goat, and sheep milk. This Piedmont delicacy has quite a distinctive shape because in the past dairymen used mules to transport the cheese from the Alps down to the valleys, so it was more convenient to stack the square-shaped cheeses on top of each other.
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Produced in the Grana Valley since the early 1200s and found only in the Piedmont's province of Cuneo, Castelmagno is a semi-hard blue cheese with a crumbly texture, made from cow's milk and sometimes a small addition of sheep's and goat's milk.
It is aged between 2 to 5 months, during which the subtle flavors of Castelmagno become stronger, sharper and more piquant. In the summertime, while the cows are on the pastures in the Alps, this delicious cheese can be found marketed as Castelmagno d'Alpeggio.
Paglierina is an Italian cheese produced in Cuneo and Turin. It's made from cow's milk and has a thin natural rind. The name paglierina is derived from paglia, meaning straw, referring to the old tradition of maturing Paglierina cheese on a bed of straw, which drains and distributes the butterfat through the cheese and also imprints a typical pattern on the rind.
The texture of Paglierina is creamy and soft, while the flavors are buttery, sweet, and aromatic, with hints of almonds. The cheese ages for 10 to 20 days. It is recommended to pair it with sparkling whites and light reds.
Once known as Tuma or Robiola, Murazzano is a fat, soft cheese made with sheep’s milk. It is traditionally produced in the Piedmont province of Cuneo, namely the lush rolling hills of Langhe, a UNESCO World Heritage site nestled along the Tanaro River.
Fresh Murazzano exudes a delicate aroma of sheep's milk and has a mild taste, while more aged cheese tends to become stronger and more piquant. This table cheese is typically enjoyed as an appetizer, often used for Focaccia filling or for preparing the so-called Brus di Murazzano, a type of fermented cheese spread eaten with toasted bread or hot polenta.
Bettelmatt is a rare toma cheese hailing from Piedmont, particularly the Val Formazza. The cheese is produced exclusively during summer months. It's made from the milk of local cows which graze on high pastures, and it's believed that the special flavor of the cheese comes from a herb called mottolina that grows only in the area.
Bettelmatt is aged for 3 months and has a natural rustic rind. The texture is soft, oily, and compact, with irregular eyes. The aromas are reminiscent of ripe fruit and wine, while the flavors are complex and rich, with notes of wild herbs, flowers, and butter.
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Named after its town of origin, Bra is a sheep, goat and cow's milk cheese produced in the mountainous Piedmont provinces of Cuneo and Villafranca Piemonte in Turin. Bra is often used as a grating cheese and it is available in three varieties: Tenero (tender, soft), Duro (hard), and Bra d'Alpeggio - the Alpine version of Bra produced only during summer pastures and the most prized one.
Bra has an intense aroma and quite a piquant flavor which becomes even more pronounced as the cheese ripens.
THE BEST Bra Cheeses
Robiola incavolata is a less known but more interesting type of Robiola cheese hailing from Piedmont. It's made from pasteurized goat's milk and comes wrapped in cabbage leaves that are tied up by hand. The cabbage leaves give the cheese extra creaminess and a unique aroma.
They also speed up the maturation process and provide a humid environment for the cheese. Robiola incavolata is wrapped when 10 days old, and it's then matured for 20 more days. The aromas are earthy, mushroomy, and truffle-like. The rind is delicate and thin, while the texture is nearly melting and firm at the center, but it can also be silky and spreadable.
Bonrus is an Italian cheese hailing from Piedmont. The cheese is made from a combination of pasteurized sheep's and cow's milk. It's typically left to age for 3 weeks before consumption and it comes in oval and brick shapes. Underneath its bloomy rind, the texture is semi-soft and smooth, runny on the exterior and firmer near the center.
The aromas are sweet and reminiscent of straw, while the flavors are mild, milky, and pleasantly herbaceous, with hints of dried fruit at the finish. It's recommended to serve it at room temperature.
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