19/11/2025
~ 🧀 STRACCHINO all’ ANTICA delle VALLI OROBICHE 🧀 ~
“Taleggio Antico”
Montagne Bergamasche - LOMBARDIA
🐌 Slow Food Presidia 🐌
The name stracchino seems to have come from the dialect word “stracch” (tired), and refers to the cheese that used to be made during stops along the transhumance routes, using small amounts of whole milk drawn from the cows who were exhausted from the journey. It had to be prepared quickly, without heating the milk and without much time for curdling and draining. The stracchino made in the Taleggio Valley was particularly famous, and from the early years of the 20th century, all the cheeses of this type began to be called Taleggio. Now that Taleggio has become an industrial cheese, it is necessary to use the old term stracchino to identify the authentic, artisanal, mountain product.
True Orobiche valleys’ stracchino is still being made in the traditional way in the Brembana Valley and the Serina, Taleggio and Imagna side valleys. The milk used for this cheese is the milk of Bruna Alpina cow.
The Presidium unites the small-scale farmers and cheesemakers who are determined to preserve this little-known tradition. In these valleys, the farmers are the true guardians of the environment, tending pastures rich in extraordinary grasses and herbs and helping to preserve this extraordinary landscape. Cheesemaking also offers an alternative to work in the towns and cities on the valley floor, helping prevent the depopulation of the mountains.
