Formaggio Toro Ubriaco (Drunken Bull)

La Casa dei Formaggi is featuring a new cheese exclusive for Wine Authorities labeled Toro Ubriaco. This cheese was first released on December 12 2008 in Bull city, Durham. It is made using the skins of Sangiovese grape from Grove winery.

The Formaggio Toro Ubriaco (Drunken Bull) has its origin in Eastern Italy. Several folk stories describe the genesis of this cheese. Some stories link its origin to WWI when the farmers, trying to defend their stocks from soldiers’ raids, would hide the cheese under grape skins. Other stories trace the origin to the lack of resources among farmers as being the main reason why the cheese was born. The oil to treat the cheese rinds was very expensive; hence, some farmers used the grape skins to keep the rinds moist and clean. The result was a very aromatic cheese that would last much longer. There is also a story about a crooked cheesemaker who tried to hide some wheels from his boss by dumping them into a fermenting must barrel. This cheese became the ‘forte’ of that dairy and soon the trick of aging the cheese in grape skins proliferated among many dairies of the area and beyond.

Terra Madre 2008

La Casa dei Formaggi partecipated at the Terra Madre event held concurrently with Salone del Gusto in Torino from October 23 to 27-2008. The meeting brings together food communities, cooks, academics and youth delegates for four days to work towards increasing small-scale, traditional, and sustainable food production. There were 20 cheesemakers representing the USA from Indiana, Connecticut, California, Oregon, Vermont, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin. These cheeses are part of the American Raw Milk Cheese Presidium, designed to help protect endangered American raw milk cheeses and to encourage their production while adhering to a protocol consistent with the values of Slow Food.