We all feel like we are down in the dumps sometimes. Another way of putting it, is that sometimes we are stuck in a pit that we can’t get out of.

The Italian word Fossa means just that, a pit. The interesting thing however about Fossa Cheese is that it is intentionally placed in a pit (hence Fossa pit cheese). Not the first place that you might think of for putting cheese into to ripen, but actually the time spent in the pit does the cheese a world of good, producing a delicious cheese worthy of being savoured.

How It All Came About

So, who first thought of the idea of producing great cheese by burying it underground? Or how did such a practise come into being?

Unsurprisingly, we need to look back into history to try and find the answers (Obviously, with today’s health and safety regulations it is unlikely that someone would think of maturing cheese by burying it in a pit!).

Necessity is the mother of invention and certainly this seems to have been the case for Fossa Cheese. It is said that in the late 15th Century there existed aggression between King Charles VIII of France and Ferdinand of Naples. When French soldiers passed through two Italian towns, Sogliano and Talamello, inhabitants buried their Sheep’s cheeses in holes and covered them over in order to protect them from being stolen. After a time, when the town’s folk unearthed their buried treasures, they found that the unusual conditions that the cheese had been exposed to, had caused some unexpected, but pleasant changes. In particular, a deformed shape, forest floor aroma, but most significantly a spicy taste.

From Then to Now

Whatever the origins of Fossa Cheese, it’s clear that people in part of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy realised that burying Pecorino (that is to say Sheep’s) cheeses in pits and leaving them sealed there for a time, resulted in a transformation of the cheese from standard fair into something a bit special.
The reason for this is that the lack of oxygen allows the microorganisms in the cheese to indulge in an anaerobic fermentation process, which changes and matures the composition of the cheese.

Over the years, the tradition developed of sealing small sheep’s milk cheeses in the fossas around mid-august and then getting them out again on the 25th November, the feast of Saint Catherine.

Obviously, having a limited period when cheeses could be produced resulted in a limited cheese yield. Since then production has been increased to include other periods of the year, but using the same traditional methods. This results in a higher annual yield of fossa cheese and cheeses with different characteristics depending on the time of year when they are produced.
Also, originally cheeses were considered ready for consumption after being removed from the fossa, but nowadays cheeses are often subjected to a further maturation process even after coming out of the fossa.

Who Wants Dinner out of a Pit?

After a long day’s work, probably food that’s been prepared down a pit is probably not the first or most appetizing option that is going to come to mind. However, in the case of fossa cheese a number of precautions are taken to ensure that the final product is of a high quality.

The fossa is prepared for use by being filled with straw. This straw is then burnt in order to sterilize the pit and reduce moisture content. Before being placed into the fossa, cheeses are placed in canvas sacks. The fossa is once again lined with straw and then it is stacked full of cheeses (it wouldn’t be a profitable business, unless the fossa is chockablock!). Finally, the entrance to the fossa is sealed with sand and covered (traditionally with cobblestones in order to hide the cheeses!). This once again protects the cheeses and the pressure created also contributes to the ripening process.

Two for the Price of One

There are actually two main types of fossa cheese.

Formaggio di Fossa is made in the town of Sogliano al Rubicone by placing sheep’s cheese in Fossa made out of tuff rock (which is actually not so tough, as it is formed from the remains of volcanic ashes and so lends itself to being hollowed out into fossa).

On the other hand, Ambra di Talamello is made in the nearby town of Talamello, where the fossa are made out of tufa limestone (harder than the rock at Sogliano, one would imagine, but nevertheless also suitable for digging out pits). Here, the final chees products is slightly different to that from Sogliano, in particular it has an orange color hence the name Ambra (Italian for amber).

Either way, the cheeses have a very specific sharp taste and are good for adding to regional soups (Cappelletti or passatelli), as ever great for grating over pasta or simply eating on their own with bread and maybe a little honey of balsamic vinegar.

Light out of Darkness

After our brief tour of the world of Fossa Cheese, one question remains. What is the life lesson that we can learn from it? Indeed, what can a cheese teach us about life?

We often think of pits as being negative places. Dark, dingy and not really where anyone would want to spend any significant amount of time. Although, as we have seen with the example of Fossa Cheese, spending time in a pit can actually have a beneficial effect. It’s this time in the pit that transforms Fossa Cheese from standard sheep’s cheese into a tasty, fragrant special cheese.
This then should give us hope that although sometimes in life we might feel like we are stuck in a dark pit, the things that we learn and the character that we develop in it can actually be positive and transforming to our life once we get out of the pit, and even while we are still in it.

If you want to know more about what to do in a pit, why not check out Psalm 40?

Further reading
The Oxford Companion to Cheese, p. 289