🧀 Raschera

Raschera is a pressed Italian cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), made mainly from cow's milk in the province of Cuneo and in Villafranca Piemonte. Its name comes from an Alpine pasture near Monte Mongioie, and its square shape, unusual for a cheese of this kind, began as a way of stacking it on a mule. ³⁴

Milk and area. The Maritime Alps sit between the Ligurian Sea and the Po Valley, so their pastures are rainy and mild, with more than a hundred endemic plant species. ³ According to the EU text, that variety carries into the milk's flavours and aromas. ³ Animals eat mainly green or conserved fodder and hay, most of it from the area. ³ Small amounts of sheep's or goat's milk may be added, which ONAF says makes the cheese sharper. ³⁴ Milk may be sanitised or used raw and is sometimes partly skimmed by letting the cream rise. ³⁴ The neighbouring commune of Villafranca Piemonte joined the area in the amendment published in 2021. ³

Making. Rennet, if animal, must contain at least 80 % chymosin, because producers found it gives better cheese that keeps its quality longer; non-animal coagulants are also allowed. ³ ONAF describes the traditional tools: a wooden paddle and a beater made from a fir tip break the curd to the size of maize grains, a hemp cloth drains it, and wooden moulds press it. ⁴ This cutting matters, since the EU text links it to the springy paste and small eyes that develop later. ³ Salting is in brine, dry, or both. ³

Why it is square. Most Raschera is shaped in a wooden frame called a conca, under weights for four or five days, which gives an irregular square. ⁴⁵ Square cheeses were steadier and stacked better on a pack saddle when carried down from the pasture by mule. ⁴ The shape has now won: round cheeses are under 3 % of output. ³ Round ones measure 30–40 cm across and weigh 5–9 kg; square ones have sides of 28–40 cm and weigh 6–10 kg. ³

Ripening and taste. Mountain cheeses traditionally ripen in a sella, a room dug into the earth with a constant temperature and humidity; lower down, cellars copy those conditions. ³⁴ These rooms encourage the moulds that colour the rind grey or reddish and shape its thickness. ³ The paste is white or ivory, rather firm and springy, with very small scattered eyes. ³ The taste is fine and delicate, becoming moderately strong and full with age. ³ Delicate natural veining near the rind is allowed: it was added in the 2021 text after inspectors had often judged such cheese non-compliant, though buyers saw it as a sign of quality. ³

D'Alpeggio and labels. Raschera d'Alpeggio comes from grass-fed animals during the pasture season, 1 June to 15 October, with no more than 10 % supplements. ³ Milk and ripening must stay above 900 m in nine named communes, and it may taste of mountain herbs. ³ Look at the paper label: green for ordinary Raschera, yellow for d'Alpeggio. ³ Both carry a hot-branded stylised R with a three-digit dairy number, and d'Alpeggio has a small a inside the R. ³ Cheese ripened at least 120 days may add a strip reading Oltre quattro mesi, more than four months. ³

History. ONAF cites a lease from the late 15th century in the Pamparato archive, in which a local lord demanded rent from herders on the Raschera meadow in the form of "that good cheese". ⁴ The Alpe Raschera, about 620 hectares, belongs to the plain commune of Magliano Alpi, which owes the word Alpi in its name to these pastures. ⁴⁵ Herds wintering on the plain took production there. ³ People in rural areas came to call any very good cheese "a raschera". ³ When the cheese risked disappearing, a brotherhood formed at Frabosa Soprana in 1976 to defend it; the Italian designation followed in the early 1980s, the consortium in 1984 and the EU name in 1996. ²⁴⁵

At the table. It is a table cheese, good sliced into salads or melted into risotto and vegetable dishes. ⁴ ONAF suggests young red wines such as Nebbiolo d'Alba or Dolcetto d'Alba, and lists Gavi as a traditional match. ⁴ Cheese aged five or six months has a stronger taste that ONAF says suits those who like it bold. ⁴ The province of Cuneo gives 341 kcal, 28.5 g fat and 21.1 g protein per 100 g. ⁵

Raschera or Raschera d'Alpeggio? They are not the same product. Ordinary Raschera, with a green label, may be made all year in the province of Cuneo and Villafranca Piemonte, while d'Alpeggio, with a yellow label, comes only from grass-fed animals during the pasture season, 1 June to 15 October, with milk and ripening above 900 m. Against other pressed cheeses, compare the process: a wooden paddle breaks the curd to maize-grain size, wooden moulds press it, and a sella or cellar ripens it into a springy, white or ivory paste with small eyes.

Look for the name Raschera with the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin). The paper label is green for ordinary Raschera and yellow for d'Alpeggio, and the rind carries a hot-branded stylised R with a three-digit dairy number; d'Alpeggio has a small a inside the R. A strip reading Oltre quattro mesi marks cheese ripened at least 120 days. You will find it as square-sided wedges at a supermarket cheese counter or a delicatessen.

Why it matters to you. The label colour tells you what you are buying, because only yellow means pasture cheese. ³ Do not eat the rind: the EU text calls it not edible. ³ If you avoid raw milk, animal rennet, or sheep's or goat's milk, check the label, since the rules allow all of these. ³⁴ Young and older cheeses differ a lot, so look for Oltre quattro mesi if you want the stronger taste. ³⁴