Description
BITTO PDO
The name Bitto derives from the Celtic term Bitu, meaning perennial. Probably the Celts attributed this name to Bitto as the processing of milk allowed the production of a food to be used as a food supply. The most important city for the marketing of Bitto was Morbegno, the center of the Lower Valtellina, where, since the early 1800s, an annual exhibition of this cheese was held.
For the production of Bitto, the cow’s milk must come from traditional cattle breeds of the production area, fed with pasture grass. Raw goat’s milk must also be obtained from free-grazing animals. The milk, bovine and possibly goat’s milk, must be processed within one hour; it is placed in traditional copper boilers in the shape of an inverted bell, where it is heated by a wood fire.
