Piave PDO Cheese is being renewed in tradition. An apparent oxymoron that hides a great result, which became official with the recent approval of the amendment to the product specification, coinciding with the 10 years anniversary of the PDO European recognition.
The changes go in the direction of enhancing even more the production area, with its native breeds and small mountain dairies, the most authentic ‘soul of this’ product recently protagonist of a photographic reportage (“Versanti di Gusto”), realized within the “Nice to Eat-EU” European project.
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“We have introduced changes for new milking technologies and innovation in the art of cheese-making” – says Chiara Brandalise, director of the Consortium. “We have also encouraged the entry into the Piave PDO cheese supply chain of small dairy farms, guaranteeing the possibility of using milk produced by cows belonging to the Grigio-Alpina breed, a typical mountain cow breed of these areas that has been rediscovered in recent years” – Brandalise says.
THE CHANGES TO PIAVE PDO’S PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
The amendment to the specification concerns in fact the issues relating to product’s description, production methods, cattle feeding, thermal reclamation, cheese-making, and salting.
The colour of the cheese is described in a more detailed way: it varies according to the maturing (there are five different degrees of aging) passing from a light and homogeneous colour in the Fresh type to a dark yellow in the longer maturing, with a texture that becomes drier, grainy and crumbly.
The local Grigio-Alpina breed has been reintroduced because it is particularly suitable for the exploitation of the natural resources of the territory. A characteristic of cattle breeding typical of mountain areas has also been made explicit: the frequent presence of crossbreeds between the permitted breeds.
Thermal treatment has been adapted to production standards, inserting the possibility to pasteurize the milk. The modification tries to meet the demands of some producers such as mountain pastures and small dairies that do not have the possibility to pasteurize milk autonomously.
THE CONSORTIUM’S GOALS
One of the main goal of the Consortium is online and offline communication to promote awareness and expand consumption. The Consortium is pursuing this goal with the Nice to Eat-EU project. By means of information and promotional actions that feature this excellent Italian cheese, Nice to Eat-EU brings all the taste, tradition, certification and uniqueness of Piave PDO cheese to European tables.