The Alto Val But Social Dairy

We’re in Sutrio, in the middle of the Carnic Alps. If you don't know what I'm talking about that’s bad, very bad, because it means you missed all the previous articles (but I'm nice and I'll leave you some crumbs here, as Thumbelina would do). Over the past few years, I have had and written about many different experiences around here, together with as many pleasant discoveries. Undoubtedly, one of these is the Sutrio Cheese Factory.

Today there are fifty businesses that have merged into the Alto Val But Social Dairy, but originally there were about six hundred small ones. Silvio really is telling me a beautiful story, which began in the late 1960s, early 1970s, when the decision was made to close all the smaller dairies in Val But and open a single central one, where milk could be brought in order to have a major mass of cheese, while maintaining the artisan spirit of processing of the past.

The dairy only uses the milk brought by suppliers, which is therefore a product of the highest quality that is now processed with innovative machinery. From December to June, one hundred and fifteen quintals of milk are processed every morning for six days out of seven. On the other hand, from July to November the number drops to sixty, because at that time the majority of the livestock is stationed on the alpine pastures (where it will be transformed into excellent alpine cheese).

The milk is processed in several steps, from pressing to brine. This will result, for example, in the exceptional Pastorut of Sutrio. Other wheels might rest for 3, 6, or 12 months; others, to give you an idea, will be smoked for eleven hours with beech wood. All this to get twenty thousand wheels of cheese jealously guarded in cells that I like to call real caveaux.

What do we find in this place of perdition, I hear you ask? The fresh Alto But cheese, which is typical of Carnia and has a semi-cooked paste; its aging period ranges from 60 to 180 days and the processing has been handed down for more than a hundred years by the old dairies in the villages of the valley. Alto But Vecio, on the other hand, is the result of the aging of fresh cheese, kept at a constant temperature and humidity. After one year of aging its paste is still semi-hard; aftrer two years it can be called Stravecchio (Italian for Extra Aged), and it has a hard, compact paste and is high in digestibility.

There are also fresh and smoked caciottas, stracchino, fresh and smoked ricotta, Pastorut (lusty soft fat cheese made from pasteurized milk to which a lactoferment and Penicillium mold flavor are added), Ubriaco, Formadi Frant and Val Dolce. Closing this roundup are butter and yogurts, the latter of an old-fashioned goodness (if you remember, I enjoyed them at breakfast in several multibuilding hotels in Carnia).

I don't want to bore you too much, but if you are interested in learning more, I suggest you take a look on their website (and click here if you want to know where to buy their products).

Lastly, I would like to tell you that the cheesemaker is always ready to welcome you in the Dairy, where you can get lost in the large space dedicated to sales (not only of these spectacular cheeses, but of an endless variety of local products). You will be happily surprised not only by the great selection, but also by the excellent prices. You have my word.

Until the next adventure!