🧀 Raschera

Raschera is an Italian pressed cheese made from cow's milk in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont and in the municipality of Villafranca Piemonte. The name is protected in the EU as a PDO, registered in 1996 (eAmbrosia PDO-IT-0023).

According to the specification, Raschera is a full-fat or medium-fat table cheese made from cow's milk, which may be supplemented with small amounts of sheep's and goat's milk. The animals are fed mainly on green or conserved fodder or hay from meadows and pastures, mostly from the defined area. If animal rennet is used it must contain at least 80 % chymosin; non-animal coagulants are allowed. The cheese ripens in natural cave cellars or in climate-controlled stores that reproduce the humidity and temperature of natural caves.

There are two shapes. Round Raschera is 30-40 cm across with an edge of 6-9 cm and weighs 5-9 kg; square Raschera has sides of 28-40 cm, an edge of 7-15 cm and weighs 6-10 kg. The rind is thin, grey and/or reddish, springy, smooth and not edible. The paste is white or ivory, rather firm and springy, with very small eyes scattered irregularly and sometimes delicate natural veining near the rind. The flavour is fine and delicate with a distinct aroma, and moderately strong and full-flavoured when ripened. Fat in dry matter is at least 32 %.

Raschera d'Alpeggio is made from the milk of grass-fed animals during the move to mountain pasture between 1 June and 15 October, only in nine named municipalities and above 900 m. The cheese is marked with a paper label (green for the normal cheese, yellow for d'Alpeggio) and a hot brand in the shape of a stylised R. Cheese ripened for at least 120 days may carry the wording Oltre quattro mesi.