By infopadweb 4 April 2024
SALVA CREMASCO DOP
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DESCRIPTION, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOP
The Salva Cremasco DOP 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 DOP 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 DOP 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 DOP 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 DOP 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.
Consortium
The Consortium for the protection of the Salva Cremasco
The Consortium for the protection of the Salva Cremasco was established on November the 21st, in 2002, and it is the institutional reference body for associated companies that produce, mature and marketing the Salva Cremasco DOP cheese.
The Consortium is involved in several activities to protect its cheese, including supervision and monitoring of the marketing, the promotion and dissemination of the Salva Cremasco DOP to the general public. Furthermore, the commitment in the scientific field is constant through analysis activities aimed at greater knowledge of the characteristics of this cheese, looking for a continuous improvement of the production standard.
The Consortium owns the matrices necessary for branding the Salva Cremasco DOP cheese. These matrices report the square “SCCS” logo identifying the DOP and The Consortium are distributed under concession to operators included in the Salva Cremasco DOP production chain, certified by the appointed Control Structure.
Each matrix, made of plastic material for food use, is imprinted on one of the two flat sides during the cheese production process, and it also contains the identification number of the dairy.
The Protection Consortium is appointed to carry out its activities by the Italian “Ministero dell’Agricoltura, della Sovranità Alimentare e delle Foreste”.
Recipe
PUMPKIN FLAN WITH SALVA CREMASCO DOP FONDUE AND AMARETTO CRUMBS
| 4 people Preparation: 30′ Cooking: 45′ |
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Ingredients:
– 150 g Selva Cremasco DOP
– 5 g potato starch
– 1.6 dl milk
– 800 g Delica pumpkin
– 2 eggs
– a pinch of grated nutmeg
– 40 g butter
– a bunch of parsley
– 10 g amaretti biscuits
– a bay leaf
– black pepper
– salt
Peel the pumpkin, cut it into chunks and steam it for 10 minutes or until soft. Pass it through a potato masher and let it cool. Combine a handful of chopped parsley leaves, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, the egg yolks and beaten egg whites and mix with a spatula. Butter 4 smooth pudding molds, divide the mixture, and bake in a preheated oven at 180° for 30 minutes. Pour milk except a tablespoon into a small saucepan, add bay leaf and heat over low heat. Remove the bay leaf, add the Selva Cremasco DOP grated with a coarse-hole grater and the starch diluted with the remaining milk, and cook the fondue over a very low flame until the sauce is smooth and homogeneous. Remove the flans from the molds and serve with the fondue and crumbled macaroons. Decorate to taste with parsley leaves and a slice of Selva Cremasco DOP.
Regions
SALVA CREMASCO DOP
| Lombardy |  |
