Raschera profile, a sliceable cheese without preservatives

• The origin of Raschera
• How it's produced
• Where it's produced
• Who produces it
• Who seasons it
• Where it can be bought
• The profile
• Raschera on the table

• Back

Raschera: Raschera profile, a sliceable cheese without preservatives.

Raschera is a cheese which is matured for at least one month. It has a raw, pressed and semi hard paste. It has a fine and delicate flavour, slightly spicy and salty if well matured. The texture is consistant, elastic, with small irregular holes dotted throughout the cheese.

The colour is white or ivory.

Raschera is a very good table cheese which is produced and matured without preservatives;

it is also reccomended for various dishes, for example melted in rissottos, vegetables and special dishes or diced in salads.

Following the decree of the President of the Republic on the 16/12/1982, the RASCHERA cheese was given the Controlled Origin of Denomination label (C.O.D.) which guarantees a genuine product of high quality, an improvement in distribution and protection against imitations. It distinguishes in it two kinds of Raschera cheese, namely:

“RASCHERA D’ALPEGGIO”, which can be produced and ripened over 900 m above sea level in the area of the following towns: Frabosa Soprana, Frabosa Sottana, Garessio for the side of Casotto Valley, Magliano Alpi for the side bordering with the town of Ormea, Montaldo Mondovì, Ormea, Pamparato, Roburent and Roccaforte Mondovì;

“RASCHERA”, which can be produced in the whole area around the province of Cuneo.

This differentiation is due to historical reasons: every summer for ages “malgari” (breeders of transhumant ovines and oxen) have been leading their herd to pasture on high places (named “malghe”, from here the name of “malgari”) in the mountains around Mondovì (the Maritime Alps), which are situated between the Po plain and the Ligurian sea. The climate is here quite rainy, but becomes mild thanks to the closeness to the sea. As a result, there is a rich vegetation, which makes these pastures very interesting from the botanic point of view, since you can find in it many kinds of grass (more of hundred endemics!). Both richness and variety of this grass let milk assimilate a particular taste and scent, which are exclusive of these places.

As a consequence, cheese coming from this milk assume itself an unmistakable flavour, typical only of this area.