Imagine finding an antique wooden spoon with some writing on the back of it. Upon closer examination, you find this flat, wide, spoon to have small drain holes. It’s a very old cream skimmer. Then, you realize that the message on the back is actually a recipe—step-by-step directions for making farmhouse cheese, exactly the way it was done by an anonymous dairy farmer who lived years ago in the Eastern Italian Alps.

If you were to follow that recipe (like we did!) you would end up with our Formaggio Lagorai (La-gor-EYE). This is a traditional cheese made for us in the Lagorai mountains of Trentino, Italy... from an actual recipe found on the back of a spoon. The milk comes from cows that feast on pristine Alpine grasses. Their fresh milk is shipped daily to skilled dairy artisans, who filter and chill it (to maintain it’s natural characteristics) and then process it—following the recipe, exactly as it appears on the back of that old skimmer. The curd is ripened on pinewood shelves in a cool, damp space. Once a week for two months, it is washed and turned until it has matured. The finished cheese has a delicate, semi-soft texture. It exudes the subtle aromas of herbs and mountain flowers, delivering a mild and pleasant taste.