Macagn

Produced in small quantities in the valleys east of Biella and in the Valsesiana in Piedmontese Alps, macagn is a delicate cow's milk cheese, that can only be made from whole and still warm raw milk derived from a single milking, and heated in copper cauldrons. The summer cheese (in the green label) produced when the cows are in their mountain meadows, is the best.

Macagn's slogan, Il Formaggio di Regine e gentiluomini (the Cheese of Queens and Gentlemen) is derived from the 1931 edition of the Guida Gastronomica d’Italia published by the Touring Club Italiano, which referred to the cheese as the 'little tome of Maccagno', the favourite of Queen Margherita.

Another story recounts how it was also much loved by Quintino Sella (1827-84), statesman, financier and founder of Italian Alpine Club, who was born in the province of Biella and never failed to take several rounds of the cheese with him to serve on his table in Rome.

It's in the Slow Food Presidium, but still quite difficult to find. Also known as Maccagno.