For Cheese lovers : restarting from milk in Val Seriana

In spite of the European Parliament threatening Italian small farmers from producing and commercialising dairy products, the trend of self-made Cheese is spreading out all over the country. Italian cheese making tradition offers a variety of milk derivatives, including those unbelievable cheese that season in tiny cellars and caves were they develop their unique taste.

According to the EU these jewels of local cuisine should be wiped out since they are produced in unhygienic and uncontrolled conditions.Let me disagree: men and women,children and elders have lived and sometimes survived eating these delicious artifacts and none of them ever died or even developed a sickness from eating them!

The suspicion I have is that powerful countries like Germany,influenced by the will of their industrial food corporations, are trying to kill other countries small business in order to impose “clean and cheap to produce” average food.

Last weekend we visited a very small farm up north in Valle Seriana, which is 50 Km away from Bergamo (Lombardy).The owner Maria Grazia Colotti a former secretary, five years ago decided to change her lifestyle and along with her husband bought a small farm with cows and pigs with the goal of becomimg a cheese and salami producer. She attended several courses and started her new adventure.

They produce local cheese like taleggio and caciotte with diverse levels of seasoning,as well as salami and bresaole that you can buy as you tour the cave like conservation cells. You should try a very bitter cheese that can only be sampled during the early summer weeks. During this period the cows start eating fresh grass in the fields after spending the long winter enclosed in the barns and their milk taste changes completely due to the variation in the food supply.

On Saturday and Sunday at midday you can stop by and have lunch with home made polenta and pork ribs and sausages BBQ.

So if you pass by the village of Onore check this place out and enjoy your food shopping with these brave Bergamaschi who started their life again from milk!

Azienda Agricola Colotti Maria Grazia
Via Val di Sclave 1100 ONORE (BG)
[email protected]