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Cheese from Italy, Lombardy, upper Brembana valley

Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana PDOFormai de Mut

A fatty, semi-cooked cheese of raw whole cow milk from the upper Brembana valley in the province of Bergamo. The milk is set with bovine rennet at 35–37 °C, the curd is broken and half-cooked to 43–50 °C, moulded in 'fassere' and salted dry or in brine. It ripens at least 45 days, and more than 6 months for 'Riserva'.

Fully documentedCheese45 daysPDO (EU, registered 1996; amended 2023; PDO-IT-0009)Family: Cooked hard alpine cheese family (Comté, Gruyère and Emmentaler as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification sets temperatures and times but no amounts of milk or salt. A wheel weighs about 8–12 kg (up to 10 % more or less).
Raw whole cow milk with low natural acidityCows eat green and/or hay forage from meadow or pasture, at least half of it from the area; silage is no longer allowed[mut-am2022]
Bovine rennet[mut-am2022]
Natural starter culture or selected ferment (optional)[mut-am2022]
Salt, dry or as brine[mut-am2022]
Starteroptional natural starter culture or selected ferment; the native flora of the raw milk and the dairy carries the ripening

Total time across the recorded steps: 45 days

Start
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35–37 °C

What changes: Bovine rennet sets the raw whole milk at 35–37 °C in about half an hour

Step 1 of 5
Set the raw milk
Time
30 min
Set
Temperature
35–37 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

A natural starter or selected ferment may be added. The amendment approved in 2023 allowed it because the bacterial load of incoming milk has fallen and the milk now reacts less in the vat.

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 fatty, semi-cooked cheese of raw whole cow milk from the upper Brembana valley in the province of Bergamo. The milk is set with bovine rennet at 35–37 °C, the curd is broken and half-cooked to 43–50 °C, moulded in 'fassere' and salted dry or in brine. It ripens at least 45 days, and more than 6 months for 'Riserva'. Made in 5 steps over 45 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 45 days (European Commission 2022).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 45 daysSet[mut-am2022]Ripen
Temperature35–37 °CSet[mut-am2022][mut-sum]Set the raw milk

What makes this one different

A raw whole-milk cheese only half-cooked, to 43–50 °C, made in the upper Brembana valley; valley cheese carries a red mark and cheese made on the pastures from 20 May to 20 October a blue one.

Size
Cylinders 30–40 cm across and 8–10 cm high, weighing about 8–12 kg
Fat
At least 42 % fat in dry matter (lowered from 45 % by the amendment approved in 2023)
Ripening
At least 45 days; 'Riserva' after more than 6 months
Marks
Red mark for valley cheese; blue 'd'alpeggio' mark for cheese made on the pastures from 20 May to 20 October

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk. The 2022 application to amend the specification removes silage from the cows' feed because it can carry Clostridium spores and is a critical point in making and ripening the cheese. The minimum ripening is 45 days. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Gruyère or Comté, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. It does not say whether half-cooked cheeses like this one count.

Hazards the sources name: Clostridium spores, which silage can carry into the milk; the applicant removed silage from the permitted feed for this reason.

History and sources

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

The upper Brembana valley was an administrative unit with its own statutes from 1364, confirmed under Venetian rule. The name joins the dialect words for cheese (formai) and mountain (mut). A decree of 10 September 1985 (published 16 May 1986) recognised the designation and set its production rules. The name was registered as a PDO by Regulation (EC) 1107/96 of 12 June 1996. The producers' application to change the rules was published on 26 October 2022 and approved by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/342 of 9 February 2023; it widened the curd-cooking range, allowed a natural starter, lowered the minimum fat and ended silage feeding.

  1. [mut-am2022] European Commission, Pubblicazione di una domanda di approvazione di una modifica non minore del disciplinare, 'Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana', PDO-IT-0009-AM01, with single document, Official Journal of the European Union C 410, 26.10.2022, p. 12 (Italian text, copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  2. [mut-sum] Application for registration, PDO 'Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana', summary sheet IT/0009 (Regulation (EC) No 1107/96), eAmbrosia registerspec
  3. [mut-reg2023] European Commission, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/342 of 9 February 2023 approving a non-minor amendment to the specification of 'Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana' (PDO), OJ L 48, 16.2.2023, p. 25 (Italian text, copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  4. [mut-dpr1985] Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine del formaggio 'Formai de Mut dell'Alta Val Brembana', DPR 10 settembre 1985, GURI n. 112 del 16 maggio 1986 (copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov