Stracchino cheese is an alternative term for Taleggio cheese, the Italian washed-rind cheese, though the name stracchino is also used for fresh, soft, rindless cheeses of Lombardy. The Taleggio type is a semi-soft, square cheese with a pinkish, smear-ripened rind and a mild, buttery flavour that strengthens with age. As a surface-ripened cheese it needs controlled humidity and temperature during maturation so the rind flora develops properly and safely. Whether met as Taleggio or as fresh stracchino, it belongs to the family of soft Italian cheeses best eaten at room temperature.