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Cheese from Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Carnia

Formadi frant

A Carnian cheese remade from other cheeses. Latteria-type cheeses of different ages, often ones with defects, are cut up, kneaded by hand with salt, pepper, milk and cream, wrapped in cloth in a hoop and left to ripen again for about 40 days in a cool cellar.

Fully documentedCheese40 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Friuli Venezia Giulia); Slow Food presidiumFamily: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHome and dairy practice with no fixed amounts; the sheet lists only the ingredients and the ages of the cheeses.
Carnian latteria-type cheeses of different ages (about 40 days, 90–100 days and more than 7 months)[frant-ersa][cibario]
Salt and pepper[frant-ersa]
Milk[frant-ersa]
Cream, added to make the mix soft[frant-ersa]

Total time across the recorded steps: 40 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Latteria cheeses of different ages are cut into slices, cubes and flakes

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

Cheeses of about 40 days, 90–100 days and over 7 months are used together; in the past these were cheeses unfit for long ripening.

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 Carnian cheese remade from other cheeses. Latteria-type cheeses of different ages, often ones with defects, are cut up, kneaded by hand with salt, pepper, milk and cream, wrapped in cloth in a hoop and left to ripen again for about 40 days in a cool cellar. Made in 4 steps over 40 days. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes 40 days (ERSA Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale…) and runs at 10–12 °C (ERSA Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale…).

Key numbers
Main step40 daysReported[frant-ersa][cibario]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature10–12 °CReported[frant-ersa]Ripen in the cellar

What makes this one different

It is not made from milk but from other cheeses, chopped, kneaded with milk, cream, salt and pepper, and ripened again.

Size
Cylinder about 10 cm high and 30–40 cm across
Ripening
About 40 days at 10–12 °C and 70 % humidity

Related ferments

Safety

The mix is ripened again in a cellar at 10–12 °C. The ERSA sheet says preparation takes place in kitchens with a health permit and a separate, cool ripening room.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, found as a minor species in the Montasio natural milk cultures (a study of Montasio, a related Friulian cheese; not tested in this product).

History and sources

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

Carnian families made it to save cheeses with defects that would not keep. Older people all remember it, but as a home food it left almost no printed record.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [frant-ersa] ERSA Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale (Friuli Venezia Giulia), Prodotti tradizionali, 'Formadi Frant' (sheet printed 19/8/2017)gov
  2. [cibario] ERSA, Il Cibario del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Atlante dei prodotti della tradizione, edition 2017, chapter Formaggi e latticinigov
  3. [frant-onaf] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Formadi frant'web
  4. [rossi2024] Rossi A., Marroni F., Renoldi N., Di Filippo G., Gover E., Marino M., Innocente N. 2024, An integrated approach to explore the microbial biodiversity of natural milk cultures for cheesemaking, Journal of Dairy Science 107, pp. 4288–4297 (abstract)paper