Strachitunt 
Strachitunt is a raw cow's milk cheese from Val Taleggio, in the Bergamo province of Lombardy, made by layering a cold evening curd with a warm morning one. It has held PDO status since 2014, and its blue veining forms on its own, with no mold added.
Sistoiv, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Key Facts
| Country of Origin | Italy |
| Specific Origin | Val Taleggio |
| Protection | PDO (2014), PDO (2012) |
| Milk Type | Full-fat raw milk from Bruna Alpina cows |
| Milk Treatment | Raw |
| Fat Content | 32% |
| Rind | Thin, wrinkled, yellowish, turns gray with ripening |
| Texture | Creamy |
| Flavor | Sweet and fruity |
| Aroma | Very persistent and herbaceous, with ammonia notes when very mature |
| Colors | Pale to deep yellow, with green-blue molds along piercing |
| Forms | Wheel, 10–11 inches diameter, 6–7 inches height, 9–13 pounds weight |
| Age | More than seventy-five days |
| Rennet Type | Bovine |
| Also Known As | stracchino rotondo |
What is Strachitunt Cheese?
The name means round stracchino in Lombard, and the cheese belongs to the wide family of stracchini. It comes from Val Taleggio, in the Bergamo province of Lombardy, and the European Union granted it PDO status in March 2014, making it the valley's second PDO cheese alongside Taleggio. The consortium rules restrict production to the towns of Taleggio and Vedeseta and the neighboring areas of Val Brembilla, Gerosa and Blello. In 2015 the PDO was suspended for a while because wheel dimensions did not fit the specification.
The milk is raw, with no pasteurization, and comes only from Bruna Alpina cows that graze and live in the valley all year. Their ration must be at least 70 percent grass or hay, with no maize silage. No ferments are added. Each wheel takes two curds, one cold from the evening milk and one warm from the morning, layered in a mold and left to settle for twelve hours. The two pastes press together but never blend fully, so pockets of air stay trapped inside.
After a few days the wheels are pierced by hand with a copper needle. Air reaches those pockets and the blue molds grow there naturally, unlike Gorgonzola, where Penicillium is added. Aging lasts at least 75 days and can run to three months, still in Val Taleggio, with the wheels turned constantly and the rind washed with water and salt. Natural blooms of P. camemberti often appear and are sponged away.
Wheels are cylindrical, 25 centimetres (about 10 inches) across, with a side of 15 to 18 centimetres (6 to 7 inches), and weigh around 5 to 6 kilograms (11 to 13 pounds). The rind is wrinkled and gray-yellow, sometimes bloomy. Inside, the paste is marbled straw-yellow with uneven hazelnut patches, compact, and melting just under the rind, with green-blue veins that turn grayish late in the aging. The taste is firm and clearly blue, sweet and piquant together, with long herbaceous aromas and sharp ammonia hints in very old wheels.
How Does Strachitunt Cheese Compare?
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