Matüsc

Matüsc is a soft cheese from Valtellina in northern Lombardy. It is referred to as ‘poor,’ as it is made from partially skimmed (instead of full fat) cow’s milk. With the production of each cheese form weighing up to 2.5 kilograms, the producer is also able to produce half a kilogram of butter. The butter is also sold, and helped to boost families’ meager earnings in the past. The cheesemaking process starts by leaving the milk from several milkings to rest for 48 hours. When the cream has been skimmed, the milk is mixed in a cauldron with raw milk from the last milking. Coagulation occurs when the milk is heated to 35-36°C and rennet (liquid or powdered) is added in sufficient quantity to obtain a firm curd within 25-30 minutes. After being broken up into small, rice-sized pieces, the curd is cooked at around 38- 40°C for ten minutes. Following this the curd is rested briefly and removed with a pata (cloth) or a caròt. The decision to use a pata or caròt is made based on the size of the curd mass; when farmers worked with large volumes of milk they used the pata, and tended to use the caròt at the end of the summer when the milk yield was much less. The curd is then pressed immediately after being extracted from the whey, either in cheese rings or directly in the caròt. At the end of this period the cheese is moved to the cellar where it is manually salted within the first 24 hours. The cheeses remain in the cellar for the duration of the aging period.The finished matüsc is a semi-fat, cylindrical cheese, with a semi-cooked pressed paste. It has an even or slightly curved top, with a height between 7 and 10 cm. The rind is thin and flexible, and may vary in its smoothness according to the cheesemaker’s care. The interior is white tending to pale yellow the longer it has been aged, and has a uniform spread of very fine holes. The cheese is produced in spring, before the animals are taken to the alpine pastures, and in September when the cows return from the mountains. Matüsc was a poor (low-fat skimmed milk) cheese that farmers kept for home consumption, while selling Bitto cheese on the market. It is ancient product: its name is thought to have derived from ‘matte,’ a German word meaning ‘cloth.’ It was traditionally produced by small-scale family farms and is still produced still today in the community of Albaredo, where the women are traditionally the cheesemakers. Few shepherds continue to practice traditional transhumance methods. The introduction of the use of trucks to transport animals, for example, means they no longer stop for a few days before going up into the mountains and therefore no longer produce cheese during that period of time.