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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

Robiola brescianaSmorzasoel

Whole cow milk, raw or pasteurised at 78 °C, is soured with selected lactic cultures and set with calf rennet, at 35 °C for raw milk or about 40 °C for pasteurised. The curd is broken small, drained in moulds on wooden mats that leave ridges, turned, dry-salted by hand and ripened 10–20 days, either soft and rindless or with a thin reddening rind.

Fully documentedCheese12 days – 22 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product, Lombardia)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give temperatures and times, not doses or batch sizes. Each cheese weighs about 0.4–0.8 kg.
Whole cow milk, raw or pasteurisedONAF says it is chilled 12 hours at 4 °C first[lombardia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Selected lactic culturesONAF names a milk starter of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus grown 3 hours in milk thermised at 60 °C[lombardia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[onaf-sheet]
SaltRubbed on by hand, one cheese at a time[lombardia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Starterselected lactic cultures; ONAF names a milk starter of S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 days – 22 days

Start
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78 °C

What changes: The whole cow milk is pasteurised at 78 °C, or used raw

Step 1 of 6
Chill, then heat-treat or keep raw
Time
Not documented
Temperature
78 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
Lactobacillus bulgaricus

Raw milk is also used. ONAF says the milk is first chilled 12 hours at 4 °C.

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

Whole cow milk, raw or pasteurised at 78 °C, is soured with selected lactic cultures and set with calf rennet, at 35 °C for raw milk or about 40 °C for pasteurised. The curd is broken small, drained in moulds on wooden mats that leave ridges, turned, dry-salted by hand and ripened 10–20 days, either soft and rindless or with a thin reddening rind. Made in 6 steps over 12 days – 22 days. The longest step, ripen, takes 10–20 days (Regione Lombardia) and runs at 4–8 °C (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)). Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10–20 daysReported[lombardia-pat][onaf-sheet][onaf-page]Ripen
Temperature4–8 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen

What makes this one different

A short-ripened robiola made from raw or pasteurised milk and stoved on wooden mats, which print its ridges. In Franciacorta it is called strachì bianc to set it apart from the "green" one, gorgonzola.

Rind
None (soft type) or thin, white turning yellow-red (firm type)
Size
Square or rectangle 10 × 10–20 cm, 3–6 cm high
Weight
About 0.4–0.8 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • MorbidaNo rind; white, melting paste
  • DuraThin reddening rind; crumbly core, creamy under the rind

Safety

Pasteurised milk is heated to 78 °C. Raw milk is also allowed. The cheese ripens only 10–20 days, at 8 °C for 2 days and then at 4 °C (ONAF). The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

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

The sheets say the Jacini agrarian inquiry of 1877–1885 already tells of it and of its very old methods. It was once made at home with the milk farm workers received as part of their wage, which is why the milk was left to pre-mature for a long time until there was enough for a cheese. The ONAF sheet adds that it is said to be very old, perhaps going back to the Celts and known to the Romans, and that the name robiola is traced either to the Latin rubere (to redden, like the rind of ripe cheeses) or to the town of Robbio Lomellina in Pavia province.

  1. [lombardia-pat] Regione Lombardia, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, page 'Robiola bresciana' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Robiola bresciana'web
  3. [onaf-page] ONAF, cheese page 'Robiola bresciana' (id 1026)web
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov