Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Gioda

Raw whole cow milk of two or more milkings is set at 32 °C with calf rennet in about 45 minutes, broken in two stages to maize-grain size and semi-cooked to 37 °C. The curd is moulded, kept warm at about 30 °C for an hour, pressed lightly and dry-salted for 12 hours a face. It ripens at least 60 days at 6–8 °C.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Piemonte)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet sets the rennet by setting time, not dose, and gives no batch size. A cheese weighs 1.8–2.5 kg.
Raw whole cow milk of two or more milkings[pat-sheet]
Calf rennetEnough to form a firm curd in about 45 minutes[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Dry salt[pat-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
32 °C

What changes: Calf rennet goes into raw milk at 32 °C, which sets in about 45 minutes

Step 1 of 7
Set with calf rennet
Time
45 min
Reported
Temperature
32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Raw whole cow milk of two or more milkings is set at 32 °C with calf rennet in about 45 minutes, broken in two stages to maize-grain size and semi-cooked to 37 °C. The curd is moulded, kept warm at about 30 °C for an hour, pressed lightly and dry-salted for 12 hours a face. It ripens at least 60 days at 6–8 °C. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen cold, takes at least 2 months (Regione Piemonte 2015) and runs at 6–8 °C (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen cold
Temperature6–8 °CReported[pat-sheet]Ripen cold

What makes this one different

A toma semi-cooked to 37 °C, made to resemble Fontina, after the method that the agronomist Alessandro Gioda taught to farmers; it carries his name branded on one face.

Rind
Thin, elastic, dark beige; name branded on one face
Size
Cylinder 18–22 cm across, side 6–8 cm, 1.8–2.5 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 60 days at 6–8 °C. 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.

History and sources

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

Alessandro Gioda, an agronomist from Padua, was named head of the Cattedra Ambulante di Agricoltura (travelling chair of agriculture) in Mondovì in 1901 and taught farmers to semi-cook their tome. The Comizio Agrario of Mondovì keeps his original 1928 recipe. After his death, his written notes were used to find the last makers, and the Cooperativa Valle Josina of Peveragno now holds the craft.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460, Schede tecniche prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, Categoria D n. 14 'Gioda', BU38S1 24/09/2015 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Gioda'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Gioda' (id 457)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov