Razza Maremmana
Maremmana Cattle
A grey-streaked, heavily built native ox: lyre-shaped horns on the cows, crescent horns on the bulls. The breed peaked between the wars, when even the quarrymen of Monte Amiata used it to haul marble, and it came close to extinction once land reclamation and mechanisation arrived. It is frugal enough to live in rough country and is still kept entirely outdoors, which is why the butteri, the mounted herdsmen who follow the cattle year round, are still at work.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Fresh meat and offal
Where it is made
Maremma, across the Grosseto and Viterbo countryside
How it is made
October to March the herds live out in the scrub on large plots, then rotate on to the spring pastures. In late May comes the merca, the branding of the yearlings, and the cows and heifers are grouped for mating; the bulls are drawn off in early autumn and the herds go back to the scrub. The classic dish for the meat is peposo, a long stew of the working cuts.