Puzzone di Moena
Puzzone di Moena is a semi-cooked cheese that has always been produced in Val di Fassa, the land of the Ladins. As a matter of fact, the original name of the cheese is Spretz Tzaorì, a term linked to the Ladin tradition. It has the classical shape of the mountain cheese but during the maturation stage, its rind is treated with mild water in order to maintain it wet and to give the cheese its characteristic perfume. Perfume and not smell, despite its name ("puzzone" means stinking): an intense and penetrating perfume. It is a processing recalling in some ways the technique used to produce washed rind cheese, very widespread in France, less in Italy.
Puzzone differs from Langres, Époisses, Munster - famous "washed rind cheese" coming from beyond the Alps - for its consistency: French washed rind cheese is a soft-texture cheese, Puzzone is a hard-texture cheese. And this feature makes it unique both in Italy and Europe.
