Casolet is a small, soft, raw-milk table cheese from the Val di Sole, Val di Rabbi and Val di Peio in Trentino, its name from the Latin caseolus, 'little cheese'. Unusually for the Alps it is made from whole, unskimmed milk, giving a tender, pale, mild paste full of milky and grassy notes. It is eaten fresh or barely aged, from about twenty to thirty days. Historically it was the autumn-and-winter 'house cheese', made from the scant daily milkings once the herds had come down from the high pastures, in wheels only as large as that day's milk allowed.
Casolet takes its name from the Latin caseolus, 'little cheese', with an echo of casa, 'house'; the farmers who made it were nicknamed casoletti. It belongs to the Val di Sole and the side valleys of Rabbi and Peio, where it was long the autumn-and-winter house cheese: once the herds had descended from the summer pastures, the scant daily milkings were turned straight into small wheels sized to whatever milk the day yielded. The raw-milk version, 'Casolet a latte crudo della Val di Sole, Rabbi e Pejo', is a Slow Food Presidium.
Casolet is soft and delicate, almost melting on the tongue, tasting of fresh milk with a clean sweetness and a light note of alpine grass. The salt is barely there and the flavour carries almost none of the sharpness of an aged cheese. Gentle and unassuming, it suits dark bread, polenta or a light mountain white wine, and is often served young as an opening bite before a meal.
Casolet stays soft and mild because it is made from whole milk and barely aged. Keeping all the cream gives a fat-rich, tender, pale paste. The raw milk is set with rennet at around 35°C, and the cut curd is only briefly rested rather than cooked hot, so it holds a lot of moisture and stays supple. Light pressing and sparing salt, together with a short ripening of only twenty-odd days to a month, let the lactic bacteria and the milk's native flora ferment just long enough to build fresh milky and grassy notes without the accumulation of strong aged flavours.
Variations
The everyday version is eaten fresh or aged only about a month; a little longer ageing firms the paste and concentrates the flavour. The raw-milk 'Casolet a latte crudo della Val di Sole, Rabbi e Pejo' is a Slow Food Presidium. Beyond the cheese board, locals melt it into polenta, tuck it into dark bread, or pair it simply with mountain honey and walnuts.
On the Palate
Where Casolet della Val di Sole sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Gently warm raw whole cow's milk to about 35°C, stirring in a little natural whey starter.
Watch outKeep the milk at hand-warm, around 35°C — hotter and the rennet sets a tough, rubbery curd instead of the soft, tender one Casolet needs.
- 240 min
Add calf rennet and let the milk set undisturbed into a soft, tender curd, about 30–40 minutes.
Watch outIt's set when the curd holds a clean break — tilt the pot and the surface splits with a sharp edge and clear whey seeps in, not milky liquid.
- 315 min
Cut the curd into walnut-sized pieces and let them rest briefly in the whey without cooking, keeping the paste soft and moist.
- 420 min
Ladle the curd gently into small round moulds, letting the whey drain by gravity.
- 530 min
Press very lightly and turn the small wheels a few times over several hours to firm them without expelling too much whey.
- 615 min
Dry-salt the surfaces lightly by hand, then let the wheels dry.
- 743200 min
Age in a cool, humid cellar for about twenty to thirty days, turning regularly, until the pale paste is tender and mildly grassy; eat young.
Watch outYoung Casolet is done when the pale paste gives softly under a thumb and smells of fresh milk and grass — push aging further and it turns firm and sharp.
