Traditional products
One of the most special traditional products from Val d'Arzino is Asìno cheese, made since the 18th century. This is a soft cheese made in the traditional way: a mixture of cream, milk and salt is placed inside large oak vats or in stone basins (called salmueries). This mixture, once fermented, produces a soaking liquid where the cheese is placed to season.
Balote (literally meaning ball, a name which derives from the shape of the dough) is a traditional Clauzetto dish, the result of the combination of two types of food typical of traditional poor cooking, polenta and cheese. The dish is probably connected to an ancient custom: the groom-to-be when asking for the hand of his beloved in marriage used to take some balote as a gift to her family. If it was appreciated, then the family would place it over the fireplace as a sign that the marriage proposal had been accepted.
Balote
Pitina is a traditional product from Tramonti di Sopra and Val Meduna. They consist large meatballs made of goat and mutton – although originally they were made of chamois meat – mixed with aromatic herbs, then smoked. The Pitina Feast in Tramonti di Sopra has helped this speciality to be known even outside the region, arousing the interest of specialized food magazines.
Pitina
The Formadi tal Cit
Another traditional product from Val Meduna is the Formadi tal Cit, a soft cheese that is mixed at the end of its manufacture in a stone vase (called “the cit”) after having been cut into small pieces and covered with milk, cream and aromas. This cheese was originally made in order to use up the cheese that had not come out properly because it had not been blended correctly.
The pistùm is a recently rediscovered local dish – turnip leaves are grinded and kept in wooden cases or small barrels, then boiled with the addition of polenta stock, salt, pepper and garlic or, alternatively, with lard or butter. This dish is served with polenta.
Finally, we would like to list the water of Pradis among our local products, famous for its excellent qualities of purity and lightness (low sodium content and a moderate concentration of magnesium). The spring rises in Pradis di Sotto, in the Clauzetto area, on the slopes of Mount Dagn. Guided tours to the water bottling plant are allowed.