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Cheesed off: Italian regions highly strung over mozzarella

Defenders of buffalo mozzarella in the Campania region of southern Italy have vowed to fight a decision made this week by the farming ministry which allows a cow mozzarella from neighbouring Puglia to be given special status.

Cheesed off: Italian regions highly strung over mozzarella
Stock image/Depositphotos

Even before Brussels has given its opinion over the DOP (protected designation of origin) label, the defence consortium of buffalo mozzarella announced an appeal at the administrative court.

“The cheese products of Puglia are delicious, but for the typical character of the local productions and the full interest of the value of the resources of all regions, the only DOP mozzarella is — and must remain — ours, exclusively made with buffalo milk,” warned the Campania region in September.

Buffalo mozzarella was awarded the DOP label in 1996, and following a difficult start in trading has had a record decade: some 44,000 tons were produced in 2016 — up 31 percent in 10 years — of which 14,000 tons were exported — up 168 percent in the same period.

Buffalo milk costs three times more than cow's milk, and even though the taste of both products is different and the ministry has set constraints for dairies in Puglia to clearly display that it is cow mozzarella, Campania fears confusion.

“The game is not over,” said Domenico Raimondo, president of the defence consortium of buffalo mozzarella.

“We will go to the end and we will use all the means at our disposal to avoid what appears to us clearly an own goal for Italy, that both the markets and consumers will understand.”

CHEESE

Why is everyone in France talking about Mont d’Or cheese today?

Mont d’Or cheese is a French treasure you can only find at a specific time of the year. But why's that?

Why is everyone in France talking about Mont d’Or cheese today?
A Mont d'Or cheese. Photo: AFP

Today is the day!

September 10th marks the beginning of the sale of the famous Mont d’Or cheese in France.

This rich cheese with a rich history borrows its name from the highest point of the Doubs département (located in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France) and goes way back since it was already mentioned in the 1280 Encyclopédie des Fromages (the Cheese Encyclopeadia).  

 

You can also find it under the name Vacherin, but rather in Switzerland than in its original region.

Though it is much loved, the Mont d’Or cheese is also much awaited as it can only be savoured from September 10th to May. Here’s why.

A seasonal cheese

The Mont d’Or was first created after peasants looked to create a smaller cheese with their “winter milk”, as the production was reduced during the coldest months. A raw milk that, according to the Fromagerie La Ferté, gives it a “texture that offers a soft and creamy consistency without being too runny”.

It can only be produced from August 15th to March 31st, hence why its appearances in dairies are seasonal.

Consequently, it became a winter cheese and could not be produced in the summer since it can’t handle hot temperatures. During spring and summer, where milk is more abundant, Comté cheese is made. 

READ ALSO: This is how much the French are obsessed with cheese

Specific production process

But other than being unobtainable during the sunny months, its making process also follows a list of specifications since it has both the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée and the Appelation d’Origine Protégée.

These designations attest to the authenticity of the product and of the savoir-faire of its producers while protecting its name not only in France but in the entire European Union.

The Mont d’Or can then only be produced in a designated area of 95 Haut-Doubs municipalities – all at least 700 metres above sea level – and made at of raw milk from grass-fed Montbeliarde or French Simmental herds.

A woman cutting the spruce straps that circle the Mont d'Or cheese. Photo: AFP

The cheese is also supported by a circle of spruce wood to provide it from running. After at least a 12-day maturing (during which the cheese is scrubbed daily with salted water), the Mont d’Or terminates its ripening process in a slightly smaller spruce box that gives it its wrinkled crust as a nod to the mountain it took its name from.

But these many specificities do not prevent producers from delivering (on average) 5,500 tonnes of Mont d’Or each year.

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