As Italy prepares to host the Winter Olympics in the Dolomites, I traveled to Trentino to document how some of its most traditional foods are made. In this episode, I follow the making of Trentingrana, a giant alpine Parmesan-style cheese produced in cooperative dairies using raw mountain milk, copper vats, and long aging, to understand how scale, time, and alpine conditions shape one of Trentino’s most important cheeses.
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00:00 Trentingrana: a giant alpine Parmesan-style cheese
01:34 The grana family of cheeses and copper vats
03:11 Cutting the curd: precision and speed
04:29 Cooking the curd and controlling texture
09:25 Lifting the cheese from the vat: a two-person job
11:36 From vat to wheel: brining and first markings
13:02 The impressive aging rooms (over 5,000 cheeses here)
13:55 Tapping the wheels: detecting defects by sound
15:29 What is the Grana Padano marking doing here?
16:31 The art of opening a 24-month wheel + tasting
20:37 Stay tuned for Road to the Winter Olympics, Ep. 4: Speck
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I’m a journalist and producer with over 10 years of experience covering traditional dishes, food culture, and culinary craftsmanship. Originally from Bari, Italy, and now in London, I’ve built my career exploring how food reflects the identity of people and places. On this channel, I document iconic foods, meet local producers and artisans, and explore the relationship between land, culture, and cuisine. Previously, my work featured on Business Insider’s Regional Eats, So Expensive, and Food Tours.
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23 Comments
Grazie Mille! Finally someone tells the world about the most under appreciated cheese in the world. Enjoy your videos. Great promotion of fine foods especially Italian.
Another great video!
thank you Claudia, i wonder what a whole wheel would cost
Always a delight.
Ooh, another hidden gem I will absolutely be seeking out. Mille grazie, Claudia!
I have just been invited to the FuoriVinifera event in Mezzacorona (21 e 22 marzo) and will make a point to see if I can get my hands on some Trentingrana. Yum.
No even a partial secret. Everyone knows about the cheeses of Italy. It is essentially legend.
Fascinating video, brava!
il cheesemaker e' proprio un tipico trentino!!!😁 grandissimo!!!
I would use a butchers electric bone saw the open the cheese wheel. Much easier, i know its a tradition/art the open it up.
Thinking at a much deeper level, whilst I think that it is important to remember and practice traditional method and skills as a matter of personal interests, however, it would seem that the current world human population is intent on self-extermination, which will result on remote communities with traditional skills to survive?
Makes me want some nice Grana Cheese.
Is he a native Italian speaker?
I think you are Italy’s best kept secret my Bellissima
Your reaction to the brine tanks made me think about how many different processes, new or old, you encounter in your ever-increasing visits to places. Of course, key processes are mostly universal, ie vats, curd, etc., but there is still room, in the smaller outfits that keep traditions and natural flavors alive. Just a silly whim that went through my head. Trentino on!
Mouthwatering. Have to find that next time I'm in Italy.
Cant beleive I missed a bunch of your uploads over the last few months. Lots of good stuff to catch up on!
What is great about Trentingrana is that the milk is mostly from mountain grazing cows
Nice video🎉
Yum! I guess it must be similar to Swiss Sbrinz cheese.
So much work to process one wheel of Cheese. No wonder it so expensive.
I would have liked a taste comparison. Not as in "which is better" but more like "these are the differences". Not sure where to find this one in Northern Germany. You can find many small Italian food stores and every super market has the well known Italian cheeses but the food stores here are always South Italian, usually Sicilian.
Why don't you open a cheese shop 🙂 It seems like you would be happy in there.
That copper is also going to play merry hell with any bacteria that show up for a free ride.