🧀 Silter

Silter is an Italian hard, semi-skimmed cheese with a protected designation of origin (PDO), made from raw cow's milk in Valle Camonica and part of Sebino Bresciano, in the province of Brescia, Lombardy. It takes its name from the silter, the cool rooms where it traditionally matures. ¹³

The name and the habit of keeping it are old. Slow Food links the word to a Celtic term for the ageing place, a cave cut into rock and finished with brick vaults, and dates written traces of the name to the 17th century. ⁶ Because the cheese keeps for a long time, it fed valley families all year round. ³ Today the producers' consortium has 24 cheesemakers and 5 affineurs. ⁴

It became a PDO in 2015. The EU registered the name in September 2015, with protection applying since 2014. ¹² A minor amendment in 2020 updated the single document. ³

The area runs from Lake Iseo to the Gavia and Tonale passes. It covers 47 municipalities, from the lake (65.3 km²) up to the Adamello massif, with 120 summer mountain pastures. ³ The consortium counts 170 dairy farms on the valley floor and the alpine pastures. ⁵

Mountain cows and no silage. At least 80% of the lactating cows on a farm must be mountain breeds (Bruna, Grigio Alpina, Pezzata Rossa), and Bruna at least 60%. They eat grass and/or hay; silage and haylage are banned. At least 50% of the fodder comes from the area and concentrates stay below 40%, and on mountain pasture all fodder comes from the area with at most 30% concentrates. ³ The Slow Food Presidium covers only cheese from grazing cows, which move from winter stables to spring huts and in summer up to alpine huts at 1,500–2,500 m. ⁶

Cream rises slowly before cheesemaking. The milk comes from several milkings and rests at least 8 hours in a cool room until the cream rises; the cream is skimmed off for butter. ³⁶ The milk is warmed and curdled with calf rennet and a starter of milk or whey, the curd is broken to the size of rice grains, cooked and left under the whey for at least two hours, which gives the crumbly, barely springy paste. ³⁶ Native lactic flora, studied in research projects, is also available to cheesemakers as a starter kit. ³

At least 100 days in a silter. The cheese matures at a natural 7–20 °C and 70–90% humidity on wooden planks, where it is oiled, scraped and turned. ³ Slow Food notes that linseed oil is used. ⁶ After 100 days one face is hot-branded with SILTER in an arc, two edelweiss flowers, D.O.P. and a Valcamonica rock drawing of ploughing, while the heel bears a band of 80 mm human figures from the same rock art. ³

A wheel is 34–40 cm wide and weighs 10–16 kg. The heel is 8–10 cm, fat is 27–45% of dry matter, sometimes under 30%, and moisture at most 40%. The paste is white in winter and bright yellow in spring and summer, as carotenoids from the flowering pastures pass into the milk. The taste is mild, with notes of nuts, butter, hay and chestnut flour. ³

What sets Silter apart from the many hard mountain cheeses is how the milk is skimmed. It rests at least 8 hours in a cool room until the cream rises, and the cream is taken off for butter, so the cheese is semi-skimmed with 27–45% fat in dry matter. The cows are mountain breeds fed on grass and hay, with no silage. The curd is cooked and left under the whey for at least two hours, which gives a crumbly, barely springy paste, white in winter and bright yellow in spring and summer. It ripens at least 100 days.

Look for the name “Silter”, the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin) and the ochre logo with “Silter D.O.P.” After 100 days one face is hot-branded with SILTER in an arc, two edelweiss flowers and a rock-art ploughing scene. A pre-packed piece must include part of the heel or face that shows the origin, and grated Silter may be made only from whole branded wheels. A wheel from a mountain pasture may also name it. Look at a cheesemonger or delicatessen.

Why it matters to you. Pre-packed pieces must include part of the heel or face that shows the origin, grated Silter may be made only from whole branded wheels, and the label carries the ochre logo and "Silter D.O.P."; a wheel from a mountain pasture may also name it. ³ Locally the cheese is eaten on its own or used in tortelloni, risotto and gnocchi, including gnocchi from the black-beaked spinusa maize of Val Camonica. ⁶