FONTINA CHEESE
In summer the grass of the mountain pastures, in winter the hay of the thalweg: semi-cooked fat cheese, Fontina can only be produced in Aosta Valley, where flowers, herbs and water give whole cow's milk a special aroma.
Agriculture and livestock farming have shaped the territory by finding the right balance among man and nature in the recurrence of the seasons. The flavours of this territory accompany your journey and feed your memories.
Farm restaurants, trattorias, food and wine festivals... so many occasions to live your gourmet experience along the Cammino Balteo.
Taste the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products and the other local gastronomic specialities!
At the top right of the map, the funnel-shaped symbol allows you to select the points of interest:
use "shop" to find farms and local crafts producers that can be visited (dairies, wineries, etc.) where you can book tastings and other exciting experiences
use "eat" to locate restaurant service.
The wine production is extremely rich and valuable.
The single DOC zone "Valle d'Aosta" or "Vallée d'Aoste" is divided into 7 sub-zones, all of which are crossed by the Cammino Balteo trail: Donnas (stage 3 and stage 23), Arnad-Montjovet (stage 4, stage 21 and stage 22), Chambave (stage 20), Nus (stage 9), Torrette (stage 16, stage 17 and stage 18), Enfer d'Arvier (stage 15), Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle (stage 13 and stage 14).
You also crosses vineyards along stage 10 (especially in the area between Saint-Christophe and Quart).
The vineyards are often on very steep terraces but the difficulties of the territory have not prevented the winemakers from producing genuine and quality wines by wisdom and tenacity.
Discover local products in the showcase below and savor them during your stops along the way ...
In summer the grass of the mountain pastures, in winter the hay of the thalweg: semi-cooked fat cheese, Fontina can only be produced in Aosta Valley, where flowers, herbs and water give whole cow's milk a special aroma.
Semi-sweet when fresh, it has a more pronounced taste when it reaches a longer seasoning. It is produced in different types: semi-fat, with the addition of aromatic herbs (juniper, wild cumin, etc.), low-fat, mixed cow-goat.
It has a fragrant aroma and a flavour reminiscent of the herbs used in its preparation: garlic, salt, rosemary, bay leaf. It is kept in a handmade chestnut wood container. The lard festival is held in Arnad on the last Sunday of August.
Seasoned raw ham with mountain herbs, produced at 1600 meters above sea level, in the town of Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses, in the Gran San Bernardo Valley.
The production of goat cheese is limited but extremely varied and of a very high degree of quality. There is also mixed cheese made from cow's milk to which goat's or sheep's milk is added.
During the winter, the cheesemakers produce the appreciated rich, creamy butter, while in the summer, in the high mountain pastures, the brossa butter is processed. To preserve it, it is melted, filtered and placed in glass or terracotta containers.
Fresh cheese, small in size and with a soft and elastic structure, made from whole milk to which rennet is added, which maintains the aroma and taste of the milk.
Low-fat and grainy, séras, the local ricotta, is obtained from heated and acidified whey. With the addition of oil, garlic, juniper, fennel or other spices, the séras becomes solignoùn, a tasty specialty from the lower Aosta Valley.
A pleasantly grainy and soft "cream" obtained from heated whey to which vinegar or citric acid is added. It is a delicious combination for polenta.
The milk produced in the Aosta Valley is mainly used for the production of the renowned local cheeses. It is on sale at many dairies and in Gressan there is an automatic vending machine for fresh milk.
Dried meat of bovines, chamois, deer or wild boars, it was born to preserve meat for the winter for a long time. Prepared with whole, compact and lean raw cuts, it is left to macerate with mountain herbs, salt and spices.
Each family has its own recipe: saouseusse can be pure bovine, pure pork or mixed. The basic ingredients are Aosta Valley breed of beef (red spotted or black-brown spotted), pork and lard.
The color of this sausage is due to the presence of pig’s blood. In the Upper Valley, and in particular in the Valdigne, it is customary to add beets, while in the Lower Valley potatoes are used.
Cooked ham, slightly smoked, with aromatic herbs and spices. It is cooked for several hours in a dry stove, then sprinkled with water and honey before going on to the grill to be cooked, moistened with white wine.
The pan ner, literally black bread, is obtained from the mixture of rye flour and wheat flour in varying percentages, but always with a prevalence of rye, and it is produced throughout the region.
Sweet bread made from whole wheat and rye flour, chestnuts, raisins, butter, eggs, salt, sugar. On December 8, Hône devotes a traditional gastronomic festival to this specialty.
At the time of baking, flantse or flantsòn were made for children. They are flattened rye breads to which a little sugar and butter, raisins, almonds and candied fruit are added and to which the shape of animals is sometimes given.
"Shingles" are round and crumbly biscuits based on hazelnuts, sugar, egg whites, flour. Created by the Aosta Valley pastry chefs in 1930, they have become the confectionery specialty of this alpine region.
They are mainly grown in the areas of Gressan, Saint-Pierre, Sarre and Villeneuve. The traditional varieties are Renetta, fragrant and with a rust-yellow skin, and Golden delicious, juicy, sugary and crunchy with a yellow-pink skin.
Eighty percent of the chestnut woods in the region are concentrated in the area between Châtillon and Pont-Saint-Martin and at the mouth of the Lys Valley. Chestnuts are often dried to then be consumed throughout the year.
In the past, walnuts were essentially used to produce oil, a condiment still in use today.
The Aosta Valley honey is processed still today as it was done in the past, without undergoing any heat treatment: from rhododendrons, dandelions, chestnuts or mountain wildflowers, which varies according to the sources of the nectar.