🧀 Montasio

Montasio is an Italian cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), made from unpasteurised cow's milk. It is a cheese of medium or long maturing, cylindrical, with a straight or almost straight side and flat or slightly convex faces.

Milk and zone. According to the specification, the milk comes from farms in the production area, mainly Brown Swiss, Italian Red Pied and Black Pied cows and their crosses. No heat treatment is allowed: the milk may only be cooled, to a minimum of 4 °C. At least 60 % of the feed comes from the area; hay, maize and cereal silage are allowed, while industrial feed for medical use and meal of animal origin are banned. The whole process, from cattle rearing to maturing, takes place in the production area: all of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the provinces of Belluno and Treviso, and parts of the provinces of Padua and Venice.

Making and maturing. A small dose of lactic ferments (about 1 %) is used and the curd is cooked at low temperature, between 42 and 48 °C. Montasio must mature for at least 60 days. At that age a cheese weighs 5.5 to 8 kg, is 27 to 35 cm across, has a side up to 8 cm high, at least 40 % fat in dry matter and no more than 36.72 % moisture.

Look and taste. The rind is smooth, regular and elastic. The paste is compact with some eyes and a natural, slightly straw colour. The aroma is distinctive and the taste agreeable, becoming spicy in long-matured cheese.

Names by age. After at least 60 days the cheese may be sold as fresco, after 120 days as mezzano, after 10 months as stagionato and after 18 months as stravecchio.

Marking. Each cheese is marked in the mould with the producer's code, the provincial acronym and the production date, and the word Montasio is printed diagonally on it. The term prodotto della montagna may be used when the whole process takes place in the mountain parts of the area.

History. According to the specification, Montasio appears in the price lists of San Daniele and Udine in 1773 and 1775, and by the 1960s more than 650 dairies were active.