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Cheese from Italy, Liguria

Robiola della Val Bormida

Raw sheep milk, sometimes with a little goat milk, is stirred and set with liquid calf rennet, and the uncut curd drains in sieves. It is put in moulds, salted dry by hand and kept a few days in small airy rooms; about 4–6 days pass between forming and sale.

Fully documentedCheese4 days – 6 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product, Liguria)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give the method, not a batch size or doses. A cheese weighs 200–400 g.
Raw whole sheep milk, sometimes with a small share of goat milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, rubbed on dry by hand[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 6 days

Start
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What changes: Liquid calf rennet sets the stirred raw sheep milk into a solid mass

Step 1 of 4
Warm and set the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The milk is stirred slowly to even out its temperature and liquid calf rennet is added.

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 sheep milk, sometimes with a little goat milk, is stirred and set with liquid calf rennet, and the uncut curd drains in sieves. It is put in moulds, salted dry by hand and kept a few days in small airy rooms; about 4–6 days pass between forming and sale. Made in 4 steps over 4 days – 6 days. The longest step, mature briefly, takes 4–6 days (Regione Liguria (agriligurianet)).

Key numbers
Main step4–6 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Mature briefly

What makes this one different

One of the oldest Ligurian sheep cheeses. The curd is never cut, only drained in sieves, and the cheese is sold after about 4–6 days.

Size
Round or rectangular, 200–400 g
Keeping
Stays unchanged for 10–14 days, depending on the season
Rind
None, or a thin wrinkled moist skin, white to ivory

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and sold after about 4–6 days, so it is not aged. The US FDA says even 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 regional sheet notes that Pantaleone da Confienza, physician to the House of Savoy, ranked the robiole of the Del Carretto mountain lands, the Val Bormida, among the best in his treatise on dairy foods. Milk could not be sold fresh, so cheeses, robiola the most typical, were part of the winter food store.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Liguria (agriligurianet), Prodotti tradizionali, sheet 'Robiola' (Valle Bormida; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Robiola della Val Bormida'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Robiola della Val Bormida' (id 974)web
  4. [biolcati2021] Biolcati F. et al., 2021, The Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota of "Robiola di Roccaverano" Protected Designation of Origin Raw Milk Cheese, Frontiers in Microbiology 12:776862paper
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov