Toma Ossolana is a traditional cheese of the northern Piedmont alps: Toma is a term that refers to a medium sized semi-firm cheese and Ossolana is the name of the valley (Val d’Ossola).

Guffanti Formaggi organised this visit to the tiny town of Oira for me so I could observe local cheese-maker Remo following the traditional process in his small dairy atop of an underground maturation cave.

This is how cheese has been made for millennia, before modern factories: raw milk, a copper cauldron, an open fire and the skill of the artisan. Be sure to check out the second video in this series, to see Remo make ricotta from the left over whey and tour the underground maturation cellar.