Formaggella del Luinese: a traditional goat cheese

The "Comunità Montana Valli del Luinese" stretches from the inland areas of Lake Maggiore up to the borders of Switzerland. This charming Alpine setting is the home of many farms which specialise in breeding Nera Verzasca, Saanen and Apline goats. It is here in this heavenly spot that the symbol of Varesina farming, the "Formagella del Luinese" cheese, has been produced for centuries, frequently being made by marginal farmers who adopt traditional technology in their small-size milk production and processing activities. This mountain pasture cheese is made solely with whole, fresh goat's milk to which natural rennet is added. The milk is from three milkings, at the most. Since March 2006 this cheese has been granted transitory recognized protection at the national level while it awaits the approval of the European Community for Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO). The cheese is cylindrical in shape and weighs, on average, 700-900 grams. The rind is natural, not hard, with the possible presence of mould while the cheese itself is soft and compact with a pleasantly sweet flavour; the colour is mainly white. Salting is done by immersion in brine or it is salted on the surface with coarse grained salt. The cheese undergoes a short term drying process at room temperature and is then left to mature for at least twenty days. To better characterize this cheese, 9 different dairy farms in the province of Varese were selected and were followed throughout a production period of six months. Several cheesemaking technologies and microbiological analyses performed on the milk, curd (SBC, lactic acid bacteria, contaminating microorganisms, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus; yeasts, moulds; Salmonella spp and Listeria monocytogenes) and ripened cheese were studied and compared. At the end of the ripening chemical and sensory analyses were performed on the cheeses.