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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

Formaggio d'Alpe semigrasso

The part-skimmed summer cheese of the Lombard pastures. Two milkings rest for 36 and 24 hours so the cream rises and is skimmed off for alpine butter; the milk is then set with rennet at 36–38 °C, broken to rice-grain size while heated to 40–42 °C and moulded. The wheels are salted and ripened 2–3 months.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. A wheel is 30–40 cm across, 8–13 cm high and weighs 8–12 kg, depending on how much milk the pasture gives.
Raw cow milkTwo milkings, rested and skimmed by hand; the cream goes to alpine butter[lom-semigrasso][onaf-semigrasso]
Liquid calf rennet[lom-semigrasso][onaf-semigrasso]
SaltDry salt or brine[lom-semigrasso]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 3 months

Start
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What changes: Cream rises on the resting milk and is skimmed off by hand for butter

Step 1 of 6
Rest the milk and skim the cream
Time
24–36 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The second milking rests 24 hours. The cream is skimmed off by hand and made into butter. Output: part-skimmed raw milk and cream.

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

The part-skimmed summer cheese of the Lombard pastures. Two milkings rest for 36 and 24 hours so the cream rises and is skimmed off for alpine butter; the milk is then set with rennet at 36–38 °C, broken to rice-grain size while heated to 40–42 °C and moulded. The wheels are salted and ripened 2–3 months. Made in 6 steps over 2 months – 3 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 2–3 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main step2–3 monthsReported[onaf-semigrasso]Ripen
Temperature36–38 °CReported[lom-semigrasso]Add rennet

What makes this one different

The sheets say it is made in practically the same way as the winter Nostrano semigrasso, but at the summer pastures from milk of grazing cows, which gives it a different aroma. Its milk is skimmed to make alpine butter, so it is leaner and cooked less hot than Formaggio d'Alpe grasso.

Season
June to September, at the summer pastures (ONAF)
Rind
Hard, yellowish, darker with age
Size
30–40 cm across, 8–13 cm high, 8–12 kg

Related ferments

Safety

Raw-milk cheese ripened 2–3 months. The regional sheet credits the ripening for its safety, but ANSES says a residual risk remains in raw-milk cheeses. ANSES names Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as the main raw-milk cheese hazards. It 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 regional sheet says the semi-skimmed pasture cheese arose from the need to make alpine butter as well, a butter prized for its yellow colour and mountain-herb flavour, which needs enough space for resting and skimming the milk and so is found only at the more accessible pastures. Cheese was first made at the pasture itself; today some wheels are carried down to the valley to ripen about 20 days after milking. Pasture makers once prepared rennet at home from the dried, ground stomach of a calf or kid. Lombardy listed the cheese among its traditional food products in the 7th revision, by ministerial decree of 19 June 2007.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [lom-semigrasso] Regione Lombardia, prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Formaggio d'Alpe Semigrasso' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-semigrasso] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggio d'Alpe semigrasso' (PAT Lombardia)web
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov