What Is Taleggio?

Taleggio is a soft, smear-ripened cow's milk cheese originating in Northern Italy. The process of washing the flat, square wheels with a salt brine during the aging process gives Taleggio its characteristic pungent, earthy aroma and distinctive rind. This cheese is a good source of protein and calcium and contains roughly 48 percent fat. 

What Is Taleggio?

With its soft, lush interior and aromatic rind, Taleggio is one of Italy's most popular cheeses. Production in Val Taleggio, the Northern Italian mountain valley where this cheese was born, dates back at least as far as the 13th century. Taleggio is a stracchino cheese, meaning that it was traditionally produced in late September, when dairy farmers herded their tired cows back down to the valleys after a summer grazing on high mountain pastures. During this time of the year, the milk is high in butterfat, which makes for particularly lush soft cheeses. Taleggio is traditionally made with raw milk, although pasteurized versions are also available.

Taleggio's flavor is buttery and herbaceous, with a pronounced funk from its signature washed rind. The same microbes that give this cheese its aromatic pungency also create the peachy-pink color on its thin, soft rind, which may also have splotches of gray or green mold. 

Taleggio was given PDO (protected designation of origin) status in 1996, meaning that only cheeses produced in parts of three regions of Northern Italy—Lombardy, Piedmont, and Veneto—can legally be called Taleggio. The wheels are still aged the traditional way on wooden boards in the natural caves of Valsassina, a valley in Lombardy. In addition to being enjoyed as a table cheese, Taleggio is used in many Italian pasta and rice dishes. 

How Taleggio Is Made

Whole raw or pasteurized milk is heated in a large vat. Rather than adding starter cultures before the rennet, the cheesemaker adds both at the same time. After the milk coagulates, the curd is cut in two stages, resulting in small, hazelnut-sized grains. The curd is formed into eight-inch square molds, then dried overnight.

Next, salt is applied to the exterior of each wheel, either via dry-salting or brining. The cheese is aged on wooden boards for anywhere from 35 to 50 days, during which it is washed every week with a salt brine to maintain moisture and cultivate good molds, bacteria, and yeasts on its rind. These microbes are responsible for its signature pungency and pinkish-colored rind. The cheese ripens from the outside in, turning the interior of the cheese soft and lush, while the center of the wheel may be firm or crumbly. 

Substitutes

On a cheese board, other soft or semisoft smear-ripened or washed-rind cheeses can be a good substitute for Taleggio. For melting in recipes, those cheeses in addition to strong-tasting bloomy-rind cheese such as Brie or milder, firmer Italian cheeses such as Fontina or Bel Paese can be used instead. 

Uses

Taleggio makes an excellent addition to a cheese board along with cheeses of contrasting styles. In recipes, it melts exceptionally well while adding buttery, earthy, and tangy flavors, although it does not stretch the way mozzarella does. It can be melted into risotto or pasta, baked into casseroles, or sliced and melted atop a pizza.

Storage

Wrap taleggio tightly in parchment paper or waxed paper, then place the cheese in an unsealed plastic sandwich bag or plastic container and store in the cheese drawer or crisper drawer in your refrigerator. This will allow the cheese to breathe while keeping it moist and protected from the drying air of your refrigerator. If you purchased the cheese from a cheese shop wrapped in cheese paper, reuse the cheese paper, which is lined with plastic on the inside to keep cheese fresh, if possible. 

Taleggio is best eaten within one week of purchase, but it can be stored well-wrapped in your refrigerator for up to three weeks. 

Taleggio Recipes

• Extra Cheesy Potato Gratin
• Endlessly Adaptable Quiche
• Focaccia Pizza

Can You Eat the Rind?

Taleggio's washed rind is edible and adds essential earthy, mineralic qualities to the experience of eating this cheese.