🧀 Spressa delle Giudicarie

Spressa delle Giudicarie is an Italian cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). According to the single document, it is a compact, medium-hard cylindrical cheese made from raw milk of Rendena, Bruna, Grigio Alpina, Frisona and Pezzata Rossa cows. The milk comes from two or three successive milkings and is partly skimmed by natural surface skimming.

The cheese weighs 7–10 kg, with a diameter of 30–35 cm and a heel of 8–11 cm. The rind is brownish-grey or dark ochre. The paste is white or pale straw, particularly elastic when young, with small to medium holes. The taste ranges from sweet to savoury, with a barely perceptible bitterness as it matures. Fat is 33–43% of dry matter.

The cows are fed on permanent pasture hay, mainly grasses; milk from cows fed any type of silage is not used. A young cheese is ripened for at least three months (moisture 32–40%), a mature one for at least six months (moisture 28–38%).

Milk production, curdling and ripening take place in the Giudicarie, Chiese, Rendena and Ledro valleys, in named municipalities of the province of Trento. The name is stamped on the heel, and the cheese may be sold whole or cut. The document cites the earliest historic reference in the Regola di Spinale e Manez of 1249.