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Cheese from Italy, Valle d'Aosta

Brossa

A thick, pourable cream skimmed from cheese whey. Vinegar and citric acid, or the dairy's own bônè, go into the whey, which is heated to about 83–84 °C until fat and a little protein rise, and the layer is skimmed, cooled and whisked. It is a heat-and-acid product, not a microbial ferment, and is eaten within 2–3 days.

Fully documentedCheesePAT (Valle d'Aosta traditional product, sheet 1.7)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives no amounts; the method was handed down orally and varies from maker to maker.
Whey left from making cheese, preferably cow[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Vinegar and citric acidTraditionally 'bônè' instead, made in the dairy from scotta, sorrel, nettle roots and lemon[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone (acid added)
Start
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What changes: Vinegar and citric acid, or bônè, go into the whey

Step 1 of 5
Add acid to the whey in the kettle
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

A thick, pourable cream skimmed from cheese whey. Vinegar and citric acid, or the dairy's own bônè, go into the whey, which is heated to about 83–84 °C until fat and a little protein rise, and the layer is skimmed, cooled and whisked. It is a heat-and-acid product, not a microbial ferment, and is eaten within 2–3 days.

Key numbers
Temperature83–84 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Heat the whey

What makes this one different

Brossa is the cream that rises from heated, acidified whey and is never moulded. It is kept in glass bottles, cold, and only for a few days.

Rind
None
Shape
No shape; usually kept in glass bottles
Boundary
A whey-cream product set by heat and acid, not by microbes

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet sets storage at 6 °C or below, and the ONAF sheet says to eat it within 2–3 days.

History and sources

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

Alpine workers once ate polenta with brossa every day of the 100-day summer grazing, until about the 1940s–50s (ONAF sheet).

Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta, Valorizzazione del patrimonio gastronomico (elenco dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali), scheda identificativa 1.7 'Brossa'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Brossa'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Brossa' (id 878)web