‘Quartirolo’ literally means ‘made with the fourth grass’ – grass grown after the third hay cutting at the beginning of the autumn. Quartirolo was awarded with denomination of protected origin (DOP) status in 1993 and is a close relation of ‘Taleggio’ and the differences between the two cheeses are mainly due to the skimming of the milk. The Quartirolo version that is currently called ‘mature’ is ripened for at least 40 days and its appearance is very similar to Taleggio. However, today, the fresh or ‘soft paste’ version is better known to the public due to its low fat content.