Description
The Montébore Piemontese from the Vallenostra Agricultural Cooperative Society is a true delicacy! It is a truly unique cheese that has managed to survive the passage of centuries and overcome difficult times when it was at risk of disappearing forever. This cheese takes its name from the village of the same name, a hamlet of the municipality of Dernice, in the Val Curone in the province of Alessandria, a watershed between the Grue and Borbera valleys, where it has been produced for centuries. It is made using a mixture of raw cow's milk (75%) and sheep's milk (25%), which gives it a unique and inimitable flavor. Its curious shape, resembling a classic multi-tiered wedding cake, is thought to have been inspired by the ancient ruined tower located in the Montébore castle and is created by stacking generally three robiolas of decreasing diameter. The Montebore: Its History A cheese with a centuries-old history, it is believed that its origins date back to the Early Middle Ages, more precisely to the 9th century, and are linked to the cheese-making art mastered with great skill by the monks of the Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria di Vendersi located on Mount Giarolo. However, the production of Montébore Piemontese suddenly ceased in the post-war period, a time that saw a massive migration from the valleys to the cities, a phenomenon that threatened to cause the loss of all those rural traditions that had long been a symbol of the identity of an entire territory. Only in more recent times, and more precisely in 1999, Maurizio Fava, head of the local Slow Food Presidium, managed to track down Carolina Bracco, the last custodian of the traditional recipe and cheese-making technique, and finally restored Montébore to its former glory, reviving its production. The Vallenostra Agricultural Cooperative Society was the first producer in Italy, according to the regulations, to market the Slow Food Presidium Montébore.