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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Formaggio caprino dell'Alto Mugello

Small goat tomini from the Alto Mugello hills. Raw goat milk gets lactic cultures, salt and a very small dose of rennet and sets slowly at a low temperature for up to 24 hours. The curd goes into perforated moulds, may be coated with rocket, chives or pepper, and is sold fresh or matured for about 30 days at 4 °C.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. Each cheese is a small tomino of about 70 g.
Raw whole goat milkFrom goats that graze from February to November[tos-mugello][onaf-mugello]
Lactic cultures[tos-mugello][onaf-mugello]
Rennet, a very small doseCalf liquid rennet, according to ONAF[tos-mugello][onaf-mugello]
SaltAdded to the milk[tos-mugello][onaf-mugello]
Rocket, chives or pepperto tasteFor coating[tos-mugello]
Starterlactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw milk from hill goats

Step 1 of 5
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

From goats on farms at 500–650 m that graze mainly from February to November, snow allowing. Output: raw goat milk.

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

Small goat tomini from the Alto Mugello hills. Raw goat milk gets lactic cultures, salt and a very small dose of rennet and sets slowly at a low temperature for up to 24 hours. The curd goes into perforated moulds, may be coated with rocket, chives or pepper, and is sold fresh or matured for about 30 days at 4 °C. Made in 5 steps over 31 days. The longest step, sell fresh or mature cold, takes at least 30 days (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 4 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Added lactic cultures (no species named), with the raw milk's own bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[onaf-mugello]Sell fresh or mature cold
Temperature4 °CReported[onaf-mugello]Sell fresh or mature cold

What makes this one different

Salt goes into the milk before it sets, not onto the cheese afterwards. The milk is raw and comes from hill farms at 500–650 m, unlike the pasteurised goat cheeses of the Maremma.

Rind
None on the fresh cheese; thin, fairly rigid, straw on the matured one
Size
Small tomino of about 70 g
Season
February to November, while the goats are in milk (ONAF)
Farm altitude
The milk comes from farms at 500–650 m above sea level; the goats graze mainly from February to November, snow allowing (Regione Toscana sheet)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fresco (freschissimo)Curd not broken; sold straight after making.
  • MaturoCurd broken to hazelnut size; about 30 days at 4 °C.

Safety

Raw-milk goat cheese that may be eaten fresh. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

  1. [tos-mugello] Regione Toscana (ARSIA), prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Formaggio caprino dell'Alto Mugello' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-mugello] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggio caprino dell'Alto Mugello' (PAT Toscana)web
  3. [montel2014] Montel M.C. et al. 2014, Traditional cheeses - rich and diverse microbiota with associated benefits, International Journal of Food Microbiology 177:136-154 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov