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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Caso di ElvaToma di Elva

Cow milk is skimmed by letting the cream rise in the cellar, where it sours a little, then set with calf rennet at 30–35 °C for about an hour. The curd is held in cloths for days, crumbled finely by hand with salt, pressed in a hoop and ripened for months in cellars. Moulds can enter through cracks in the rind and blue the crumbly paste.

Fully documentedCheese35 days – 11 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Piemonte); Slow Food Ark of TasteFamily: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. Formerly the curd of 5 to 10 makes was pooled to build a wheel of the size wanted.
Cow milk from several milkings, skimmed by creamingMilk left after the calves fed, kept in pans in the cellar while the cream rose; raw or pasteurised, and skimmed milk may be mixed with 40 % whole milk[pat-elva][onaf-elva]
Lactic culturesMay be inoculated when the milk is pasteurised[onaf-elva]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-elva][onaf-elva]
SaltFormerly a handful mixed into the crumbled curd; today a brine bath[pat-elva][onaf-elva]
Starterthe creamed milk sours somewhat on its own; lactic cultures may be added if the milk is pasteurised

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 11 months

Start
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What changes: Milk stands in the cellar; the cream rises and the milk turns slightly sour

Step 1 of 7
Cream and sour the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Milk of several milkings stands so the cream rises and is skimmed off. Output: skimmed, slightly acid milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the standing milk sours a little

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

Cow milk is skimmed by letting the cream rise in the cellar, where it sours a little, then set with calf rennet at 30–35 °C for about an hour. The curd is held in cloths for days, crumbled finely by hand with salt, pressed in a hoop and ripened for months in cellars. Moulds can enter through cracks in the rind and blue the crumbly paste. Made in 7 steps over 35 days – 11 months. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes 30 days – 11 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 11 monthsReported[onaf-elva]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature30–35 °CReported[pat-elva][onaf-elva]Set with calf rennet

What makes this one different

The curd is built from several makes held for days, then crumbled with salt and pressed, the "toma doppia" way of the mountains. That crumbly, pre-soured paste cracks and lets blue moulds in, much as in Castelmagno.

Rind
Thin, firmer with age; light yellow to reddish-brown; cracks can let natural blueing in
Size
2–3 kg; ø 15–20 cm (regional sheet) or 20–25 cm (ONAF), side 8–15 cm; faces sunken ('crowned') when aged

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet names the creaming and the days of holding curd as steps where harmful bacteria can grow. It asks for microbial checks of the milk and control of times and temperatures. When the milk is raw, ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The Piemontese breed was kept mainly for meat, so the cheese used the milk left after the calves had fed. The ONAF sheet says the method came from farmers with one or two milk cows, who did not have enough milk from a single milking to make a cheese big enough to keep. Each household ripened it as long as its own need for the cheese allowed.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-elva] Regione Piemonte, Schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460 (BU38S1, 24 September 2015), Category D product 09 'Caso di Elva' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-elva] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Caso di Elva', PAT Regione Piemonteweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Caso di Elva' (id 452)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov