Dairy Products

The milk used in South Tyrol for the preparation of many dairy products derives from the diminutive Tyrolese Grey Cow, a small and typical Alpine breed of cattle. Its milk has an excellent quality and is adequate either for direct consumption or for processing into other high-quality products (cheese, butter, yogurt). Among the mountain cattle breeds in Italy the Tyrolese Greys have the best milk quality ratio (as a source for fat and protein) and delivers a higher amount of content for processing into other products.

In regional alpine dairies and cheese factories the milk is carefully made into butter, yoghurt, quark, different kinds of cream cheeses, semi-hard cheeses and soft cheeses. Special ingredients such as wine leaves, herbs and spices, like fenugreek and pepper, give each brand of cheese its own particular flavour.
Cheese is an important component of the traditional diet, for example in the typical South Tyrolean "Marende", the traditional afternoon snack consisting of bread, cheese and cold cuts.

Yet the idea of refining local cheese types gained ground only in the years after the Second World War, when prosperity arrived. Today, the highest quality milk from this Alpine breed is doubtless generated in South Tyrol, as is the cheese, especially in the mountain dairies of Merano and its environs.

Tip:

Try the mountain goat’s milk cheese from the Passiria dairy or the red wine cheese Nosse otto with its typical dark burgundy rind, that is refined in wine marc from the Algund Alpine Dairy.

Traditional South Tyrolian recipes:

Tyrolean cheese Spaetzle
Cheese dumplings

For more information
Roter Hahn: the organisation for Farm Holidays will offer detailed information about holidays and also local quality farm products.