Donkey cheese Montebaducco,  is the first cheese in the world produced exclusively with donkey milk. It was presented for the first time at Milan Expo in September 2015 with the nickname "Asinino Reggiano" because produced with 100% of donkey milk in the famous Reggiano territory.

Characteristics

Ingredients: donkey milk, camel chymosin, cheese ferments, salt

Its color is ivory white, the texture is tender, its shape is cylindrical.

It has a flavor of barley, coconut, almond and hazelnut, with a slightly wild aftertaste.

History

Cheese from donkey milk was never produced by traditional way. Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences 2nd edition (2011) reported that no cheese is made from donkey milk, due its particular casein that makes inefficient the traditional rennet coagulation.

However in 2014, an italian food technologist, Giuseppe Iannella, has discovered a new method to clot donkey milk.

Until his discovery, the only cheese-like product able to made from donkey’s milk was a ricotta style produced through thermal acid coagulation. However, even this did not have the structure or characteristics of cheese and did not fall under the conventional definition of cheese, which results from the simultaneous action of a milk clotting enzyme and lactic souring. In addition donkey milk due to the low fat and protein content with an acid thermoagulation they would have given an inconsistent product compared to the other milks.

Afterwards this found dr Giuseppe Iannella, for Montebaducco, has developed the recipe of the first defined donkey cheese, Montebaducco-Donkey Cheese, who was affectionately nicknamed for the presentation at Milan Expo 2015 "Asinino Reggiano". Previously no one in the world has presented a defined donkey cheese made with only donkey milk.