For centuries the stracchino produced in Taleggio Valley was considered the best, as pointed out in the first edition (1931) of the Italian Touring Club’s Gastronomic Guide. Consequently, all the cheeses of this type began to be called “Taleggio”, even if they were produced in different areas and/or with different techniques. To this day, stracchino all’antica (old-style stracchino) is produced using freshly milked milk, which in the past used to be immediately poured into square molds to be transported. The Slow Food Presidium regulations demand that the production area be narrowed down to the place(s) of origin: the Brembana Valley, and the Serina, Taleggio and Imagna side valleys.When you taste it, old-style stracchino is initially sweet and then salty and bitter, with a slightly spicy kick in some instances. It has a complex, highly persistent aroma that reminds one of cooked milk, melted butter, hay, fresh mushrooms, citrus fruit, stable, leather, meat broth, white pepper and other spices. It melts in your mouth and it is not very adhesive, nor wet.