Bitto DOP

Bitto DOP

Although it is currently eaten fresh, the Bitto (the name of one of the streams running through the Valtellina) was traditionally a ripened cheese that could resist intact for up to ten years. It is an exclusively alpine pasture cheese (the winter production is called “Valtellina Casera”) but, over the past few years, it has undergone a series of transformations and evolutions in which its taste has often suffered.

Organoleptic characteristics

Aspect and texture

hard, yellow, pinhole paste; slightly convex form (the paste is soft and elastic when fresh).

Taste

intense, rich and dry with faint traces of animals, grass and pleasant undertones of goat cheese

Serving suggestions

Full bodied, aged, red wines. Chestnut honey, blueberry jam. Rye bread, “pizzoccheri” and “sciatt” from the Valtellina (buckwheat Bitto filled pancakes)

Technical characteristics

Milk

full fat, raw cow and goats’ milk

Production method

Alpine pasture

Paste

cooked, pressed

Salting

dry and in brine

Ripening

at least 70 days (fresh); at least six months (aged)

Production period

summer

Fats

45% F-Dm

Weight

8-12 kg

Dimensions

30-50 cm diameter, h. 8-10 cm

Producers

Alpine dairies from the Valtellina

Whole cheese code

1002310

Cutted cheese code

1002311

Source

Type of milk

Buffalo

Cow

Goat

Mixed milk

Sheep

When man discovered how to store milk (by coagulating it), history took a precise direction. Among the historical cheeses, a place of honor is reserved for those characterized by the granular structure of the dough which lends itself, rather than cutting, to breaking into delicious flakes and grating. Sumptuous cheeses, respectful of the cycle of the two daily milkings - that of the evening and that of the morning - obtained by combining the two milks that necessarily have different stamps, widespread where grazing allows to obtain important daily quantities of cow's milk. So cheeses from well-defined orographic areas of the Po Valley and the result of rigorous processing for production of enhancement of the starting milk. The BuonaSorte Guffanti cheese is an example of this, heir to a solid and recognized tradition of the Lodi area to which we want to give testimony, in an appropriate way and in compliance with the updated technical / health dictates. So a cheese that no longer makes a drop, because today it is pressed so as not to leave too many whey residues. A cheese that no longer has greenish notes and hues in the color of the paste because today the rest of the evening milk to be skimmed cannot take place in non-tinned copper basins. And it does not even have a black rind, as it can no longer be treated, for protection during breeding, with the manteca that was used to consist of black smoke, cooked linseed oil and rice flour. But still a great cheese: with a natural and compact hard rind, to protect the internal golden yellow paste, slowly maturing, grainy and soft at the same time, very fragrant, with an aromatic flavor with a strong personality, great shelf life because it is capable of maintaining its characteristics unaltered for a long time. Guffanti's choice to enhance this cheese fell on a producer in the lower area of the Adda river who processes milk from animals fed with forage exclusively from that area. And among the habits that have remained unchanged is the jargon of the farmhouses who have always referred to their batches of cheese with the term "Sorte" (fate) to allude to the obvious fact that there could have been better or worse successful batches for reasons also due to chance. Hence the idea of the BuonaSorte cheese for games with an excellent outcome. Good cheese BuonaSorte Guffanti!!! The cheese has a cylindrical shape, weighing about 35 kg, about 40 cm in diameter and about 22 cm on the side. The production is annual, with a hard texture and a sweetly balanced and never spicy flavor (fats 28% Mgss). Salted in brine and aged for a minimum of 20 and generally over 24. The product is available in full shape (code 0606201) or cut (code 0606202).