Toma di Gressoney — Mountain Cheese of the Lystal Valley

Gressoney valley (Valle del Lys), Valle d'Aosta — the Walser communities of Gressoney-La-Trinité and Gressoney-Saint-Jean have maintained their dairy tradition since the 13th century. The toma is produced from the milk of the local Valdostana Pezzata Rossa cattle.

Toma di Gressoney is the semi-hard mountain cheese of the Lystal valley (Valle del Lys) in the eastern Valle d'Aosta, where the Walser communities (German-speaking Alpine settlers) have maintained both their dialect and their dairy traditions since the 13th century. The toma is a semi-cooked, pressed cheese made from whole cow's milk, aged 2-4 months, producing a compact, elastic interior with a brownish-orange washed rind and a flavour that is simultaneously milky-sweet and slightly piquant — the 'mountain' character of the summer pasture milk. It is a table cheese, a cooking cheese (it melts cleanly), and the Walser community's primary dairy product.

Toma di Gressoney has a milky, clean sweetness from the mountain pasture milk, with a persistent piquant note from the washed rind — the Brevibacterium's contribution is subtle but unmistakeable. At room temperature, the paste is elastic and slightly moist. Melted, it flows cleanly without oiliness. It is the paradigm of the Alpine dairy tradition.