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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Bëggia

Raw whole milk of Frabosana-Roaschina ewes is set with animal rennet at 35–36 °C in about an hour, broken twice to rice-grain size and gathered under the whey. The curd is ladled by hand into small moulds, salted dry, and ripened at least 30 days on wooden boards, turned every day.

Fully documentedCheese30 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product of Piemonte)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts are recorded. Wheels weigh 1–2 kg.
Raw whole ewe milkFrabosana-Roaschina breed; one or two milkings, kept cold until cheesemaking[pat-sheet]
Animal rennetEnough to give a firm curd in about an hour[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltFine or coarse, rubbed on by hand, or the wheels buried in salt in wooden tubs[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw ewe milk, kept cold until it is made into cheese

Step 1 of 6
Keep the milk cold
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The milk is kept cold until cheesemaking. Copper kettles heated over wood or gas are allowed under the PAT hygiene exemption. Output: raw whole ewe milk from one or two milkings.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Raw whole milk of Frabosana-Roaschina ewes is set with animal rennet at 35–36 °C in about an hour, broken twice to rice-grain size and gathered under the whey. The curd is ladled by hand into small moulds, salted dry, and ripened at least 30 days on wooden boards, turned every day. Made in 6 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes at least 30 days (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[pat-sheet]Ripen on wooden boards
Temperature35–36 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Set with animal rennet

What makes this one different

It is one of the old sheep cheeses of the Roaschia shepherds, made from a single local breed. The curd is gathered under the whey but never cooked, and it can be salted by burying the wheels in salt in wooden tubs.

Milk
Raw whole milk of Frabosana-Roaschina ewes, grazed on summer pastures and fed hay in winter
Size
1–2 kg; cylinder ø 15–25 cm, side 4–5 cm
Rind
Smooth, thin, straw-yellow

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 30 days. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, young children and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheese.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Roaschia shepherds kept the recipe secret and used a private slang so that farm owners on the plains could not learn it. The 2015 regional sheet calls it a historic dairy product that was then no longer produced; the ONAF sheet lists production all year.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte 2015, D.D. 24 luglio 2015 n. 460, Schede tecniche prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, Categoria D n. 02 Bëggia (BU 38S1, 24/09/2015)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF, Bëggia, technical sheet (PAT Piemonte)web
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov