Alpine pasture
The grazing land above the tree line where Alpine herds spend the summer and cheese is made in huts.
Also: Alm, Alp, malga, planina
Every Alpine language has its own word for the summer pasture: Alm in Austria and Bavaria, Alp in Switzerland, malga in the Italian Alps, planina in Slovenia and alpage in France. Each has a hut or chalet where the herdsman or cheesemaker lives through the season and turns the day's milk into large, long-keeping wheels, since fresh milk cannot be carried down the mountain. The cattle are driven up in June and come down in September, often in a festive procession with flowers on their horns, the Almabtrieb or désalpe. The cheese is carried down with them and finished in the valley cellars. Alpine pasture cheeses are prized for the flavour that wild flowers and herbs give to the milk.