Ossolano

What is Ossolano Cheese?

Ossolano is named after the Ossola valley in the north of Piedmont, set between the cantons of Valais and Ticino in the Pennine and Lepontine Alps. The valley runs 70 km from north to south, reaches 35 km at its widest, and meets Lago Maggiore at its southern end. Production is limited to 38 municipalities in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Because the land is mountainous and the terrain irregular, farming stays fragmented: individual farms keep 10 to 70 milking animals and work together in small shared dairies for processing, cheesemaking and ripening.

The milk comes only from Brown Swiss, Holstein and Pezzata Rossa cows and their crosses. Grazing is not required for the standard cheese, though the cows are usually out on the valley meadows from April to October when weather allows. At least 60 percent of the grass and feed, measured on annual dry matter, comes from the production area. Ossolano is made all year from whole milk taken from two to four successive milkings, and the minimum ripening is 60 days counted from the day the milk is processed.

The d'Alpe version has stricter rules. Milk and cheese must both be produced on alpine pastures at 1,400 m or higher, only between 1 June and 30 September, with the cows at pasture through that whole period and at least 90 percent of their feed from the area. Those wheels weigh 5 to 6 kg rather than 6 to 7 kg. Breeding, milking, cheesemaking and ripening all have to happen inside the production area.

The rind is smooth and even, straw yellow at first and turning deep yellow as the cheese ages. Inside, the paste is firm and elastic with small irregular holes, and its colour shifts from pale yellow through strong straw to deep yellow depending on how much green feed the cows had in spring and summer and on how long the wheel has ripened. The smell is mild and intense at the same time, with floral to nutty notes. The taste is strong and full in the mouth, moving from a buttery diacetyl note into floral, berry and nutty flavours.

After the minimum ripening the cheese goes to market as a whole wheel or in portions, marked with a print and a brand on the rim plus a paper label on the top or bottom face. Portions must carry part of that paper label along with the name Ossolano on a sticker or printed film, and cutting into portions may be done outside the area of origin. Grated, cubed or sliced forms, where the rind is scraped away and the origin mark can no longer be read, may only be produced inside the production area so that traceability holds.