🧀 Montasio

Montasio is a cooked, semi-hard Italian cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), made from unpasteurised cow's milk in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and eastern Veneto. The same cheese can be eaten mild at two months or kept past three years, when it turns firm, crumbly and slightly spicy, which is what sets it apart. ³

Milk and zone. The milk comes from farms in the production area, mainly Brown Swiss, Italian Red Pied and Black Pied cows and their crosses. At the farm it may only be cooled, to no lower than 4 °C, and pasteurisation is banned, so the milk keeps its natural bacteria. ³ The consortium describes the milk at the dairy as raw or thermised, never pasteurised. ⁶ At least 60 % of the feed comes from the area, and medical-use industrial feed and meal of animal origin are banned. ³ The whole process, from rearing the cattle to maturing, stays inside the zone: all of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Belluno and Treviso, and parts of Padua and Venice. ³

Making. Calf rennet sets the milk at 32–34 °C in 20–25 minutes, and the curd is cut to the size of rice grains. ⁷ It is then heated gently, to 42–48 °C under the EU text, with only about 1 % of lactic starter. ³ This matters because the mild treatment leaves the milk's own microbes working, and they drive the slow change in flavour over the months. ³⁶ Lysozyme (E1105) may be added to prevent late swelling of the wheel during maturing. ⁷ Wheels weigh 5.5–8 kg, measure 27–35 cm across and contain at least 40 % fat in dry matter. ³

Four ages, four cheeses. Montasio may be sold as fresco after 60 days, mezzano after 120 days, stagionato after 10 months and stravecchio after 18 months. ³ The consortium describes fresco as milky and delicate, with notes of fresh milk, yogurt and cream; mezzano as fuller, with melted butter and hay; stagionato as savoury, with dried fruit, hay and meat broth. ⁶ As the rind dries, the paste moves from compact to granular and crumbly. ⁵

Marking. Each wheel is marked in the mould with the producer's code, the province and the production date, and the word Montasio runs diagonally round its side, the right way up and upside down. ³ After 100 days the consortium may add a fire-branded Quality Gold mark to wheels with no maturing defects. ⁶ The letters PR mean milk only from Italian Red Pied cows, and prodotto della montagna means the whole chain stayed in mountain territory. ⁶

History, and where the sources disagree. The firm evidence is written: price lists of San Daniele and Udine from 1773 and 1775 show a traded cheese, priced well above similar ones. ³⁵ The earlier story is less certain. The consortium's history page credits Benedictine monks of Moggio Udinese with refining herders' techniques from the 13th century, while its English home page says the 17th. ⁴⁵ The name is also explained in two ways, from the Jôf di Montasio massif or from Mont d'Asin near Vito d'Asio. ⁷⁸

From monastery to cooperatives. The method spread through Carnia and then the plain. From about 1880 village cooperative dairies took it up, reaching about 350 by 1915. ⁷ A cheese-making school opened at San Vito al Tagliamento in the mid-1920s, and by the 1960s more than 650 dairies were active. ³⁷⁸ Protection began in 1955, the consortium followed in 1984, and the EU registered the name in 1996. ¹⁴

At the table. Fresco and mezzano are table cheeses, good with fresh salads; mezzano and stagionato suit maize polenta and meat dishes. ⁷ From about 12 months it can be grated over pasta and soups. ⁷ The best-known regional dish is frico with potatoes, and pears or dried fruit are the classic companions, with local dry reds such as Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso or Schioppettino. ⁷

Montasio or Asiago, Parmesan? Montasio is a cooked, semi-hard cheese from unpasteurised cow’s milk, made only in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and eastern Veneto. By process, calf rennet sets the milk at 32–34 °C and the curd is heated gently to 42–48 °C with only about 1% of lactic starter, so the milk’s own microbes keep working. What sets it apart is that one name spans four ages, from milky fresco at 60 days to stravecchio at 18 months, and a wheel kept past three years turns firm, crumbly and slightly spicy.

Look for the name Montasio and the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin), and read the age on the label: fresco, mezzano, stagionato or stravecchio. The word Montasio runs diagonally round the side of the wheel, the right way up and upside down, together with the producer’s code, the province and the production date. A fire-branded Quality Gold mark may be added after 100 days. You will find it as wedges at a supermarket cheese counter or a delicatessen.

Why it matters to you. The name alone does not tell you what you are buying, so check the age on the label: a two-month and a two-year Montasio are used differently. Look for the diagonal lettering on the side to confirm the origin. ³ If you avoid unpasteurised cheese, egg or animal rennet, this cheese needs checking: pasteurisation is banned, rennet is from calves, and the permitted lysozyme comes from egg white. ³⁷⁹