The Piave DOP Cheese is renewed within tradition. An apparent oxymoron that hides a great achievement, which became official with the recent approval of changes to the production regulations, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of DOP status. The changes made are aimed at further enhancing the production area, with its native breeds and small mountain dairies, which are the most authentic soul of this product—recently featured in the photo reportage “Versanti di Gusto,” created as part of the European Nice to Eat-EU project.
“The modification of the Piave DOP production regulations required a long time and considerable effort but it proved necessary to adapt to the evolving production needs of our member breeders as well as to cheese-making demands – says Chiara Brandalise, Director of the Protection Consortium -. In addition to new milking technologies, innovation in cheesemaking was also important and we could not ignore that. We also introduced changes to enable even small mountain dairies or creameries to enter the Piave DOP supply chain, and allowed the use of milk produced by cows belonging to the Grigio Alpina breed, a typical mountain breed of these areas that has been rediscovered in recent years.”
The modification of the regulations (Reg. (EU) No. 2020/1198 of 07/08/2020 – OJEU L 267 of 14/08/2020) concerns the sections relating to product description, method of production, cattle feeding, heat treatment, cheesemaking, and salting. More precisely, regarding the “product description” chapter, the change defines the sensory profile of Piave DOP more appropriately by specifying that the color of the cheese varies according to its aging stage (there are 5), ranging from a light and uniform color in the FRESCO variety to a dark yellow in the more advanced aging stages, with a texture that becomes drier, grainier, and more crumbly over time. In the section “method of production”, the local Grigio Alpina breed has been reinstated because it is particularly suitable for making use of the region’s natural resources.
A specific trait typical of cattle breeding in mountainous areas has also been made explicit: the frequent presence of crossbreeding among the permitted cattle breeds. The possibility of milking for up to three consecutive days has also been introduced, eliminating the concept of two or four milkings—now outdated thanks to the spread of automated milking—so the number of consecutive milkings possible within the day can be adapted based on each animal’s specific needs. Regarding heat treatment, the method has been adjusted to match actual production capabilities, eliminating strict parameters because they may vary depending on the equipment used, and allowing for the milk to be pasteurized. This change aims to accommodate some producers like small mountain dairies that do not have the equipment to pasteurize milk.
Finally, in the paragraph “cheesemaking” and “salting” some steps have been simplified, with only the cooking temperatures now specified, removing the time requirements related to the cheese-making process and eliminating the minimum brine immersion time, all highly restrictive constraints that prevented these steps from being adapted to different production realities.
Among the main objectives of the Piave DOP Cheese Protection Consortium Piave DOP Cheese is the promotion of the Piave DOP cheese brand and the dissemination of correct information about the specifics of the product, as well as communication both online and offline to increase awareness and broaden consumption; an objective the Consortium is pursuing with the Nice to Eat-EU project co-financed by the European Union. Through informative and promotional actions featuring an excellence of Made in Italy, Nice to Eat-EU brings to European tables all the taste, tradition, certification, and uniqueness of Piave DOP cheese and all the values it represents.
