SALVA CREMASCO  PDO

DESCRIPTION, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PDO
The Salva Cremasco PDO is a soft raw paste table cheese, with a washed rind, made exclusively with cow’s whole milk. It has a maturing period of at least 75 days.
Salva Cremasco cheese has the shape of a quadrangular parallelepiped, with a flat face between 11-13 cm or 17-19 cm, and a straight side from 9 to 15 cm. the weight is between 1,3-1,9 kg, or from 3 to 5 kg.
The paste cheese is compact, crumbly, and softer immediately under the rind.
The taste is aromatic and intense and it assumes more distinct features with increasing aging. It is not particulary salty and, especially near the rind, you can feel a slight bitter taste reminding of green grass.
The Salva Cremasco PDO can be recognized by the mark of origin, impressed on one of the cheese’s flat surfaces, containing the letters “SCCS”. As a guarantee to the consumer, at the time of purchase,the logo authorized and granted to the user companies by the Consortium is noted on the Salva Cremasco wrapper.
The Salva Cremasco cheese was recognized as DOP in 2011. The PDO production regulations guarantee the consumer a high-quality product, both in terms of the origin and provenance of the raw materials, and in terms of its production and food safety.
The name “Salva” in Italian means “to save”, and it comes from the traditional practice of saving the plentiful spring productions of milk.
The origin of Salva Cremasco PDO cheese dates from the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, when it is already possible to identify the profile of the cheese upon some decorative tiles. The Salva Cremasco PDO has a close relationship with the seasonal transhumance that “bergamini” (dairymen and drovers at the same time) undertook with their cows, down from the countries of the valleys of Bergamo and Brescia to the farms of the plains in the fall, and coming back in the next spring. During these trips, the excess milk particularly abundant in the spring, was converted to Strachì da Salva (northern Italian dialect for “Stracchino di Salva”) so they could save it for the hot season.
It seems that the leader Bartolomeo Colleoni appreciated so much the Salva that, whenever he returned to inspection the military fortifications in the city of Crema, he wanted that the citizenship gave him with some forms of it.
Salva Cremasco DOP is an extremely versatile cheese in the kitchen and is perfect both enjoyed as it is and as an ingredient for pastas, stuffed pastas and risotto.
Also delicious grilled or fried in batter, the typical recipe which sees it as the main ingredient is “Salva con le tighe”, that is Salva Cremasco DOP diced and served with “tighe” (dialectal name for pickled Lombard green chillies) and garnished with a drizzle of oil and pepper.