Quartirolo

This soft, full-fat cheese is made exclusively in Lombardy, in the areas of Como, Milano, Bergamo, Brescia and Pavia. The best, called Quartirolo di Monte, come from Valsassina (Sassina Valley) and from the Quartirolo, and are square in shape like taleggio.

The cheese is made with the milk from cows fed on the fragrant grass of the high pastures of the Quartirolo. The unpasteurized milk is coagulated in small copper cauldrons using rennet and milk enzymes. After the curds have formed, they are put in square moulds, where the whey is drained off. The salting of the cheese takes place after a few days’ maturation, when a white mould has formed. For the next 6 to 8 days, the cheese is repeatedly rubbed all over with salt, after which the cheese is ready.