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We’ve just unpacked a shipment of Gorgonzola and Taleggio cheeses from the amazing Mauri Formaggi in Valsassina—renowned as the “Valley of Cheese”—in northern Italy. It arrived by air so it’s beautifully fresh, and it’s also available in both wholesale and retail packaging.
Why should you care? Because Taleggio and Gorgonzola really don’t come much better than the Mauri Formaggi products. Thousands of litres of fresh, creamy local milk arrive every morning at Mauri’s factories for immediate processing. Cheeses like Taleggio and Gorgonzola are then whipped away to rest in the darkness and silence of the natural rock caves of the Grigna, where the unique cool and stable temperature and high humidity of the caves work their slow magic. That rest is only disturbed when Mauri’s master cheesemakers have to salt the cheeses, turn the wheels by hand, test and retest, and wait for the unique cave conditions to produce—over many weeks—the remarkable, intense flavours and aromas for which these cheeses are known. Finally, the cheesemakers select the best pieces and pack them one by one into a beautiful, quirky newspaper-style wrap, which also allows the cheese to breathe and mature further. Each Gorgonzola, each Taleggio consequently becomes a unique piece that cannot be replicated.
Starting out in 1920 as a family business, Mauri Formaggi remains immensely proud of its roots as a rough but real ‘mountain people’ committed to crafting honest, genuine cheeses in the local tradition.
Mauri is world-famous for its Taleggio, which is aged in the caves strictly between 2 and 6 °C for at least 45 days (over 45 days for the Bontàleggio di Grotta). Renowned since the 10th century and long known as “strachin” because it was made when the cows returned from pasture “stracche” (tired), Taleggio is not only an exceptional tasting cheese but also a superb ingredient in the kitchen. With a mild, tangy flavour at odds with its cheerfully pungent aroma, it’s great pressed into a panini, sliced into a salad, paired with fig or pear on a cheese board, or even added as a spectacular pizza topping.
Mauri produces its remarkable Gorgonzola with pasteurized Italian milk from a single milking, with the addition of enzymes and moulds selected for marbling, before aging the cheese destined to become Gorgonzola Dolce in its Grigna caves for about 60 days at 4-6 °C. The Piccante version stays on even longer in the darkness to grow the full spectrum of Gorgonzola flavours. Gorgonzola is of course a key ingredient in pizza quattro formaggi as well as a classic addition to pasta dishes. It also makes a flavourful addition crumbled over salads, but really, it crosses the whole flavour spectrum, from sweet (honey, figs, pears) to savoury (walnuts, prosciutto, mushrooms), and even spicy (chili flakes, hot peppers).
Buy the Mauri Gorgonzola and Taleggio for the romance, keep buying it for the quality of long and faithful Italian cheesemaking tradition embodied in every Mauri Formaggi product.
