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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Frachet

A cheese preparation made from finished cheese rather than milk. Rennet- or acid-set cheeses, sometimes with ricotta, are crumbled and mixed with salt, ground herbs such as wild caraway and rosemary, and pepper. The mix is tied in hemp cloths, which are hung so it forms balls, and ripened a few days or 15–30 days, sometimes with smoke.

Fully documentedCheese15 days – 30 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. Each ball weighs 100–300 g.
Cheeses, rennet-set or lactic, mostly cow milk with small goat additions, made for Frachet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Ricotta (optional)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Ground wild caraway, rosemary and pepper[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 30 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Finished cheeses and ricotta are broken into small pieces

Step 1 of 4
Crumble the cheeses
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Once a way to use unsellable or faulty cheeses; today the cheeses are made for it.

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 cheese preparation made from finished cheese rather than milk. Rennet- or acid-set cheeses, sometimes with ricotta, are crumbled and mixed with salt, ground herbs such as wild caraway and rosemary, and pepper. The mix is tied in hemp cloths, which are hung so it forms balls, and ripened a few days or 15–30 days, sometimes with smoke. Made in 4 steps over 15 days – 30 days. The longest step, ripen, sometimes smoked, takes 15–30 days (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main step15–30 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, sometimes smoked

What makes this one different

It starts from finished cheese and ricotta, not milk; salt, ground herbs and pepper are mixed in and the paste is hung in hemp cloth so it forms a ball.

Rind
Almost none, or a light orange tinge on the outside
Size
Ball

Related ferments

Variants

  • AffumicatoSmoked during ripening

Safety

The PAT sheet warns against starting from cheeses that are too moist, which raises water activity, asks for herbs of known origin, and stresses strict hygiene and insect control.

History and sources

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

The PAT sheet says that in the past it was one of the preparations that recovered unsaleable or faulty cheeses. ONAF says that recycling leftover acid- or rennet-set cheeses and ricotta was economic wisdom for farm families, because nothing was wasted. The PAT sheet lists S. Doglio, Le cose buone del Piemonte - I formaggi (1996), and M. Parenti, Alla ricerca del formaggio perduto (1997), in its bibliography.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460, schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015, Category I product 03 'Frachet', BU38S1 24/09/2015 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Frachet'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Frachet' (id 761)web