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Cheese from Switzerland, Ticino, summer alpine farms

Formaggio d'alpe ticinese AOPFormaggio d'alpe ticinese

A semi-hard raw-milk cheese made only in summer on the alpine farms of Ticino, from cow milk with up to 30 % goat milk. The milk is set in copper kettles at 30–35 °C, cooked to 41–50 °C, pressed about 12 hours and salted. Each wheel carries the name of its alp and ripens at least 60 days at 10–16 °C on spruce or larch boards.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsAOP/DOP (Switzerland, registered 2002; specification amended 2025)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification sets ranges but no batch size. Wheels weigh 3–10 kg.
Raw cow milk from the alp70–100 % of the milk[ti-eo2025]
Raw goat milk (optional)0–30 % of the milk[ti-eo2025]
Natural animal rennet, powder or liquid[ti-eo2025]
Lactic cultures approved by the producers' group[ti-eo2025]
Salt, dry or as brine (non-iodised, non-fluoridated)[ti-eo2025]
Starterlactic cultures specific to the cheese, approved by the producers' group

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Cream rises on one milking and is skimmed off before cheesemaking

Step 1 of 7
Skim one milking by creaming
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The only treatment allowed is skimming a single milking by letting the cream rise. Milk is made into cheese within 18 hours of the first milking, in copper kettles.

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 semi-hard raw-milk cheese made only in summer on the alpine farms of Ticino, from cow milk with up to 30 % goat milk. The milk is set in copper kettles at 30–35 °C, cooked to 41–50 °C, pressed about 12 hours and salted. Each wheel carries the name of its alp and ripens at least 60 days at 10–16 °C on spruce or larch boards. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes at least 2 months (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (UFAG/BL…) and runs at 10–16 °C (Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (UFAG/BL…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[ti-eo2025]Ripen on wooden boards
Temperature10–16 °CSet[ti-eo2025]Ripen on wooden boards
AciditypH up to 5.4Set[ti-eo2025]Salt

What makes this one different

Every wheel is made on one summer alp and named after it; goat milk up to 30 % is allowed, the cook is moderate (41–50 °C) and it can be sold after 60 days.

Season
Cheese may be made from 1 June to 30 September; on alps south of Monte Ceneri the herd may be loaded from 15 May
Composition
At least 450 g/kg fat in dry matter; 5.0–15.0 g/kg salt
Size
3–10 kg, 25–50 cm across and 6–10 cm high
Ripening
At least 60 days; grading may start from day 45 with lab results

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. The specification requires salting below pH 5.4 and at least 60 days of ripening. 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 not to eat raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed ones such as Comté. No source we read says whether this cheese, cooked at 41–50 °C, counts under that exception.

History and sources

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

The producers' flyer and the 2002 registration summary date the first written evidence of alpine pasture use, and so of alp cheese, in Ticino to the 12th century. Herds moved up through the levels (corti) of each alp over the summer. The summary cites Schinz's description of Italian-speaking Switzerland of 1783–1787, which discusses the cheeses and alp use, and a chapter in Gotthard End's 1920 book on Biasca and the Val Pontirone that describes the cheesemaking method and matches today's methods in outline. The 2002 registration summary, written for the STEA application, set a minimum ripening of 45 days, against 60 days in the specification amended in 2025.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [ti-eo2025] Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (UFAG/BLW), Elenco degli obblighi 'Formaggio d'alpe ticinese' DOP, as amended 23 September 2025spec
  2. [ti-sum2002] Ufficio federale dell'agricoltura UFAG, Riassunto della domanda di registrazione concernente Formaggio d'alpe ticinese, Berne, 15 February 2002 (Registro delle denominazioni di origine e delle indicazioni geografiche)spec
  3. [aop-flyer] Associazione svizzera delle AOP-IGP, product flyer 'Formaggio d'Alpe Ticinese DOP' (2025)other
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov