Iniziativa realizzata nell'ambito del bando Wonderfood And Wine di Regione Lombardia e Unioncamere Lombardia per la promozione di Sapore inLOMBARDIA
The Valtellina experience means savouring its typical products, above all its DOCG wines made from nebbiolo grapes (Sforzato, Valtellina Superiore, Sassella, Grumello, Inferno, Valgella and Maroggia). Accompany your wine from Valtellina with other specialities: Bitto DOP and Valtellina Casera DOP, cheese from the mountain pastures, Valtellina Bresaola (cured beef) and PGI apples, buckwheat pizzoccheri and much more!
Bresaola
The region’s name is irrevocably linked with its most famous and best-loved product, Bresaola della
Valtellina PGI. The ultimate symbol of Valtellina, this cured meat is low in fat and high in protein and is produced using an ancient method of salting and drying beef. The valley’s unmatched climate with its clean air from the Alps creates the ideal conditions for gradual ageing and is the secret behind this product’s unique and inimitable taste.
Info: www.bresaoladellavaltellina.it
Apples
The permeable soil and ideal climatic conditions – in terms of the amount of rain, exposure to sunlight and temperature range – create the perfect conditions for Valtellina PGI apples to grow. This fruit ripens at an altitude of between 200 m and 900 m, with all the wonderful flavours and qualities you’d expect from an apple grown in the mountains.
Produced in small quantities, with a great deal of attention given to the apples’ quality and environmentalimpact, there are three main varieties: Stark Delicious, a bright red apple that’s wonderfully crisp and aromatic; Golden Delicious, which has a sweet and aromatic flavour; and Gala, a sweet and juicy apple that ripens in August.
Info www.melavi.it
Cheese
Like all the mountain regions in Italy, Valtellina also has a proud cheese-making tradition that dates back
hundreds of years. Its alpine pastures produce unique cheeses protected by the PDO designation.
One of these is Bitto, a cheese made only in the summer from raw milk produced in the mountain pastures at an altitude of over 1,500 m. The method of making this cheese dates back to the Celts.
Valtellina Casera is a medium-fat cheese that’s produced in the basin of the valley from semi-skimmed cow’s milk and matured in traditional “casere” (cheese huts) for at least 70 days. This cheese was first made in 1500, when several dairy farmers would share the work of processing the milk in community dairies.
Info: www.ctcb.it
DOC and DOCG wines
Check out the history and taste of wines in Valtellina, which has been a land of vies and wines since Roman times.
Take a trip through the valley and you will be surprised by the extraordinary terracing system with its myriad of low dry-stone walls that make it possible to grow the fines in even the steepest, sunniest areas of the Rhaetic Alps. Valtellina wines are made with Nebbiolo grapes and have great personality.
Two DOCG wines to be tried absolutely are Sforzato, a dry red made from dried grapes and Valtellina Superiore divided into the five sub-appellations Maroggia, Sassella, Grumello, Inferno and Valgella.
Info: www.vinidivaltellina.it
Pizzoccheri
Pizzoccheri is a type of pasta which has a light or dark brown colour. It is worked into flat noodles that are then cooked with Savoy cabbage and potatoes and finished with a generous amount of alpine butter and local cheese.
The main ingredient is buckwheat, which has been grown widely in Valtellina since ancient times. Despite the fact that it was gradually replaced by more profitable crops from 1800 onwards, today there are still around 20 hectares of buckwheat fields in Valtellina for family use and for selling to end customers.
Info: www.accademiadelpizzocchero.it
OTHER VALTELLINA DELICACIES
Valtellina’s
food and wine offerings go far beyond its PDO and PGI products. The local honey
comes in an astounding number of varieties, such as rhododendron, chestnut,
linden, Alpine multiflora and acacia – one to suit everyone’s taste! There
are around 350 apiculturists with a total of 6,000 hives in the province of
Sondrio, generating an annual average production of approx. 78 tonnes.
Another
local delicacy is rye bread. There is evidence that rye was present in Valtellina as early as
the Copper or Bronze Ages and it has been cultivated in the region for many
centuries thanks to its resistance to the cold, temperature extremes and arid
soil.
Pesteda is an aromatic condiment originating in
Grosio. Bisciola, is a well-known Valtellina
fruitcake that in 2013 obtained a collective mark with a geographical designation,
and many more products have done so, including Valtellina milk;
Scimudin, a semi-hard cheese with a delicate, fresh, milky
flavour; prosciutto fiocco and Valtellina porcino mushrooms.
The
province of Sondrio boasts several specialities, including violino
di capra, which is goat prosciutto cured on the bone. It
appears dry but is meltingly soft in the mouth. This delicious cured meat is
aged in traditional grottoes called Crotti.
Lastly,
any list of Valtellina’s gastronomic delights would not be complete without
mentioning the excellent artisanal beers that
are now being produced around the valley.
- The local rye bread
- The Violino di Capra
