PDO La Meiro Castelmagno cheese | shop online on www.italybite.it/en

Castelmagno cheese: a gem from the mountains

Castelmagno is a fatty, semi-hard cow milk’s cheese. It is a protected designation of origin certified product, as well as one of the most famous cheeses in Italy.

It was first born in Castelmagno, a very small municipality in the province of Cuneo. Almost 1,000 people lived there at the end of the 19th century, while current population has shrunk down to only 59 inhabitants. Industrialisation and rural-to-urban migration led to a progressive abandonment of mountain areas and the declining population of Castelmagno is proof of that.

That’s why it is so important to protect and promote this traditional cheese, as a symbol of the mountain, its pastures and stables, as well as of the craft and tenacity of herders.

Castelmagno di Montagna PDO mountain cheese - 6/12 months - 400g

The Castelmagno di Montagna PDO mountain cheese by La Meiro is produced between the months of October and mid May, when cows are kept in the barns and are fed with hay. Castelmagno cheese is marked with two different labels specifying the production period: the blue butterfly indicates that it is a mountain product, while the green butterfly indicates that it was produced in the summer time in alpine pastures. The Castelmagno cheese by La Meiro has a semi-hard and quite wrinkly ivory-white paste. Its flavour includes vegetal notes which get spicier and more persistent as ripening progresses. It is a traditional blue cheese from Piedmont made from cow’s milk; as ripening progresses, milk can even undergo a creaming process thanks to an increasing amount of proteolysis. La Meiro strictly follows PDO production specifications, but it lets cheeses ripe and refine well beyond the stipulated minimum ripening period, thus obtaining incredible results. Castelmagno mountain cheese ages in natural stone rooms with a constant temperature (10° C) and humidity (90%) all year round.

22,90€

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Castelmagno d'Alpeggio PDO from alpine pasture - Slow Food - 400g

The Castelmagno d’Alpeggio PDO cheese from alpine pasture La Meiro is produced in the summer time, when cows graze in alpine pastures at 1,600m above sea level. This Castelmagno cheese from alpine pasture is a raw-milk cheese and as such, it has a unique flavour conferred by the forages and the huge variety of plants on which the cows can freely graze, once they are released into the pastures. Their milk is the result of a completely natural nutrition; furthermore, no industrial enzymes are used to produce Castelmagno cheese, since the bacterial flora of raw milk is wholesome and healthy. The Castelmagno cheese by La Meiro has a semi-hard paste and a delicate flavour with persistent vegetal notes. It is a traditional cheese from Piedmont processed in the Alpine cottages and protected by the Slow Food Presidium. The layer under the rind is very noticeable and creamy; it can sometimes develop a nice natural marbling. La Meiro strictly follows PDO product specifications, but it lets cheeses ripe and refine well beyond the stipulated minimum ripening period, thus obtaining incredible results. Castelmagno cheese from alpine pasture ages in natural stone rooms with a constant temperature (10° C) and humidity (90%) all year round. Castelmagno cheese is marked with two different labels specifying the production period: the green butterfly indicates that it was produced in the summer time in alpine pastures, while a blue butterfly indicates that it was produced in the barns between the months of October and May.

26,90€

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Castelmagno d'Alpeggio PDO from alpine pasture - Slow Food - 400g

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Interesting facts

Food pairings

History

Interesting facts

How is Castelmagno cheese made?

Castelmagno is a PDO certified product: the area of origin is described in the product specifications, as well as each production step.

Let’s start by talking about milk; it comes from selected cattle breeds which are reared the traditional way, without using any chemical feed additives, and which are milked maximum twice a day.

Raw milk is simply heated to 38 degrees and then liquid calf rennet is added. After coagulation, the curd is cut twice: the first time it is roughly cut, while the second time it is cut into smaller grains, not bigger than a hazelnut.

It is left to rest for 35 minutes and then the curd is extracted. As tradition dictates, a dry and clean cloth is used. The curd is then pressed by hand and left to hang for at least 18 hours, to drain off excess whey.

Afterwards, it is put in special containers and plunged in whey once again at a least 17 °C. The fermentation step begins, which lasts 2 to 4 days. Then the curd is cut once again, finely minced and mixed.

It is time to mould the cheese: the curd is enveloped in specific cloths and placed in cheese strainers, where it is manually or mechanically pressed for at least a day. It then undergoes only a dry-salting process which helps the cheese rind develop consistency.

Ripening begins here; it lasts at least 60 days at a temperature ranging from 5 to 15 °C and a humidity between 70 and 98%. This is where the magic happens, and it is all thanks to the cool and humid natural caves, where the ripening takes place.

Mountains, land, La Meiro

Only few products are so deeply connected to their land as this cheese. Castelmagno is a synonym of mountains, pastures, alpine pastures and craft. They are deeply intertwined to each other.

With the purpose of bringing Castelmagno back to its former glory, Giorgio and Andrea Amedeo decided to move back to the mountains, to Chiappi, i.e. the highest district of the municipality of Castelmagno. The alpine pastures of their company - La Meiro - are located more than 1,700 m above sea level; that’s why the grass is so scented, the milk is so delicious and the cheese is simply extraordinary.

Nature dictates the pace of life here: cows live in the stables during the winter, where they are fed with hay, while in the summer they live in the wild and graze forage they find in the pastures.

The milk - and hence the cheese - is different. Castelmagno mountain cheese is produced between the months of October and May: its paste is ivory in colour and the cheese rind is brownish to red with a visible marbling.

The ripening period changes the flavour, too. Young cheeses taste like milk, while aged cheeses have long-lasting, vegetal notes. If the aging period is particularly long, the layer under the rind becomes creamy.

Castelmagno cheese from the alpine pastures is a Slow Food Presidium. It is only made in the summer time, when the milk smells like wild herbs and pasture flowers. The scents of flowers and herbs give this cheese a unique, long-lasting and aromatic flavour.

Castelmagno cheese by the company La Meiro is special, since it ages longer than the aging period required by product specifications, and it only ages in Roman turf caves which are located 5 metres underground with a constant humidity of 90 %. Nothing is left to chance here and the result is simply one of a kind.

Food pairings

Castelmagno in the kitchen

Castelmagno is a complex cheese with a rich and long-lasting flavour. Given its special consistency, it is ideal to make sauces and fillings for fresh pasta. It is also great for gnocchi, risotto or pasta, too.

It pairs exceptionally well with polenta and with mushrooms, too.

History

A little bit of history

The story of Castelmagno cheese is shrouded in mystery: there are only few proofs of its existence. It was first mentioned in a ruling in 1277 that obliged the municipality of Castelmagno to pay a yearly fee to the marquis of Saluzzo. How was the municipality supposed to pay? In cash? Bars of gold? By ceding lands? No, the marquis of Saluzzo wanted to be paid with seven Castelmagno cheese wheels - he got his priorities straight!

Castelmagno cheese was then mentioned in another official document only in 1722 and, even in this case, this cheese was part of a fee to be paid to feudal lords, as the King Victor Amadeus II ordered.

In the 19th century, Castelmagno cheese enjoyed considerable success: it spread all over Europe and could be found listed on the menus of the most prestigious restaurants in London and Paris.

Then, the beginning of the 20th century witnessed its decay which was to last until the 60s. Wars, industrialisation, the abandonment of mountain areas and the declining population in high-altitude small villages threatened the survival of this incredible cheese.

The early 80s finally witnessed a recovery in production. Gianni de Matteis - mayor of Castelmagno from 1970 to 1986 - promoted this cheese which obtained the controlled designation of origin in 1982 and the PDO label in 1996.