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Cheese from Switzerland, Ticino and Italian-speaking Graubünden

Formaggella ticineseformaggella

Formaggella is a round cheese of Ticino made from goat, cow or mixed milk, soft to semi-hard and full-fat, half-fat or lean. Thermised milk is cultured, set with rennet, cut to hazelnut size, rewarmed to 38 °C and ladled into perforated baskets. After a few hours in brine it ripens at least three weeks in a cellar and forms a thin grey rind.

DocumentedCheese21 daysnone (listed in the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe inventory gives no batch size or doses. Each cheese weighs 400 g–2 kg; a small producer made about 30–40 kg a week in 2007.
Goat, cow or mixed milkThermised at 65 °C. The 1913 book describes full-fat cheese from goat milk only and half-fat cheese with skimmed cow milk added[patrimoine-ch]
Thermophilic direct starter cultures[patrimoine-ch]
Moulds (optional)Make the rind whiter[patrimoine-ch]
RennetDiluted in lukewarm water[patrimoine-ch]
SaltBrine or dry salt[patrimoine-ch]
Starterthermophilic direct starter cultures, with optional moulds

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: goat, cow or mixed milk from the mid-altitude pastures

Step 1 of 8
Take goat or cow milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Originally made before and after the alp season, while the animals are on the intermediate pastures (maggenghi).

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

Formaggella is a round cheese of Ticino made from goat, cow or mixed milk, soft to semi-hard and full-fat, half-fat or lean. Thermised milk is cultured, set with rennet, cut to hazelnut size, rewarmed to 38 °C and ladled into perforated baskets. After a few hours in brine it ripens at least three weeks in a cellar and forms a thin grey rind. Made in 8 steps over 21 days. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes at least 21 days (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine c…) and runs at 12–14 °C (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine c…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 21 daysReported[patrimoine-ch][ticino-capre]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature12–14 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen in the cellar

What makes this one different

Formaggella was first made on the intermediate pastures before and after the alp season, and is now made on the alps and on the plains. It is ladled into perforated baskets and ripened at least three weeks. The inventory says a "true" cheese matures more than ninety days, as alp cheese does, and that the name formaggella is a diminutive of formaggio.

Rind
Soft, thin, grey
Size
400 g–2 kg; 10–20 cm diameter, 3–5 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • Full-fat (goat milk)Made from goat milk only
  • Half-fatSkimmed cow milk added to the goat milk, as the 1913 book describes
  • Pasteurised goat-milk formaggella (one Ticino goat farm)Soft to semi-hard cheese from pure pasteurised goat milk, ripened at least 3 weeks.

Safety

The milk is thermised at 65 °C for about 15 minutes, a milder heat than pasteurising. The Swiss inventory says thermising has been used since the 1990s to improve hygiene control without taking much from the flavour.

History and sources

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

The inventory dates formaggella to the use of the alpine pastures from around 1200. A 1913 book on goats describes full-fat and half-fat cheeses of 550 g to 2 kg, salted after two days and ripened one to two months, up to five. Until at least the first half of the 20th century it was eaten only at home; thermising became common in the 1990s.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine culinaire suisse, national inventory entry 'Formaggella', no. 45 (Ticino and Italian-speaking Graubünden)archive
  2. [ticino-capre] Ticino, capre e formaggi (goat farm), Prodotti page, entry for Formagella, read 2026-11web