Home » Visiting the Park

Local Products

A borderland between Piedmont and Lombardy, the valleys of Ossola area including Val Grande had and still have an important cold cut tradition: in the past, they were famous for the ham obtained from pigs and goats, for their salami and dried beef, for mortadella. The valley was famous for the pigs bred in a wild state that, during the summer, were brought to the summer pastures with a ring in their nose, so that they could not damage the pastures while rooting around. Cheese-making is an even more ancient tradition, documented before the year 1000. Ossolano d'Alpe cheese (whole milk) and Ossolano or Mezzapasta or Spress cheese (partially skimmed milk) are important products. Also very good goat's milk cheese is produced. Goat breeding, taking place for at least eight-nine months a year in the pastures, is also important for the production of meat and cold cuts. Last but not least, bread production (the most ancient are Coimo brown bread and pan dolce), as well as honey, mushrooms, and berries are worth a mention. The latter are used to prepare top-quality jam.
The Park Authority combines the safeguard of its environmental and cultural heritage with the safeguard of its local products promoted, among the other things, through the gastronomy festival "I Sentieri del Gusto", a traditional event held every autumn in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola.

Producers: All Producers | Bakeries | Bee-keeping Activities | Butcher's Shops | Others

Products: All Products | Autochthonous Breed and Meat | Bread | Cheese | Cold Cuts | Further Products | Honey | Preserves | Wine

Preserves
	Extra Jam Extra jam is prepared with fresh season fruit and is processed at temperatures not over the 65°C in order to maintai...
Cheese
	Val Grande Goat Cheese In the past, when the subsistence of the mountaineers living in the Alps exclusively depended on their own territory, al...
	Ossolano Cheese (or Mezzapasta or Spress) It is the founder of all the mountain cheese produced in Ossola and Sesia Valley. It is a fat cheese characterized by a ...
Honey
	Valgrande Honey The richness of the vegetation and the variety of flowers given by the thermal influence of Lago Maggiore represent one ...
Bread
	Coimo Brown Bread Coimo brown bread has very ancient origins. In the past, it was produced with buck wheat flour, while today it is produc...
Autochthonous Breed and Meat
	Val Grande Beef The meat comes from a small herd of cows climbing every summer the northern slope of Val Grande to Scaredi Pass, to go d...
Cold Cuts
	Ossola Valley Cold Cuts Ossola Valley cold cuts maintain in their meat a great richness of perfumes and tastes linked to their land of origin: a...
	Vigezzo Valley Local Ham Vigezzo Valley local ham is characterized by its ancient processing method which originally took place also in the Munic...
Wine
	Prunent Wine The legendary Prunent is the characteristic local wine whose presence in Ossola is historically documented since the 14t...
Further Products
	Vigezzo Mineral Water Used since 1895 to supply Malesco waterworks, in the early 1970s the spring aroused the interest of a group of entrepren...