It is said that historically the current ` Valle d`Aosta Fromadzo DOP ' was consumed daily in Aosta Valley families. The home-made cheese, Fromadzo, has always existed on the table of our ancestors and, unlike Fontina, which required the use of whole milk, the `Valle d`Aosta Fromadzo DOP' allowed the milk to be skimmed for the butter production .
Fontina and butter, considered rich and precious, usually served as products intended for trade, made in mountain pastures and therefore rarely consumed by their producers or, even worse, by those who entrusted the cows for the summer. The production of Fromadzo took place, until the end of the 1960s, only in the shift dairies , widespread throughout the territory, especially in the more marginal villages that were difficult to access.
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Production ends with the salting operations, the wheels are placed on spruce shelves and subjected to brushing on a weekly basis for approximately 60 days. The initial straw yellow color of the surface transforms, as a result of brushing, until it reaches a shade tending towards gray with reddish shades which are the characteristic color of the matured cheese.
What is Fromadzo's life today? We talked about it with Danilo Crivon of Fromagerie Haut Val d'Ayas, a cooperative dairy and the only significant producer, certified by CSQA , which produces around 3,500 wheels with an average weight of 3.5 kg, in the semi-fat version (between 1120 and 35 percent of fat on the dry residue).
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Source: La Vallèe News