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Cheese from Italy, Liguria

Söla (Tumma, Sola delle Alpi Marittime)söla

Raw sheep milk is warmed to 36 °C and set with liquid calf rennet. The curd is broken by hand, drained in sack-shaped linen cloths under boards weighed down with stones, kneaded again and pressed about 12 hours, which gives it a flat oblong shape. It is dry-salted a day on each side and ripens at least 3 months on beech boards, growing a wrinkled, mouldy rind like a shoe sole.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHand-made farm process with no fixed amounts. A cheese weighs 1.5–3.0 kg.
Raw whole sheep milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Medium-grain salt, rubbed on dry[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months

Start
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36 °C

What changes: Liquid rennet goes into the raw sheep milk at 36 °C

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

The milk is stirred slowly so it warms evenly. Output: curd.

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 is warmed to 36 °C and set with liquid calf rennet. The curd is broken by hand, drained in sack-shaped linen cloths under boards weighed down with stones, kneaded again and pressed about 12 hours, which gives it a flat oblong shape. It is dry-salted a day on each side and ripens at least 3 months on beech boards, growing a wrinkled, mouldy rind like a shoe sole. Made in 6 steps over 3.1 months. The longest step, ripen on beech boards, takes at least 3 months (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen on beech boards
Temperature36 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk and add rennet

What makes this one different

A sheep-milk version of the Cuneo valley tumas, drained in linen sacks and pressed under boards and stones into a flat slab. Its wrinkled rind gives the name, Piedmontese for the sole of a shoe.

Rind
Fairly thin, wrinkled, grey-brown with mould colonies
Size
Flat oblong slab about 3 cm thick, 1.5–3.0 kg
Season
Made from February to November

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is made by hand from raw milk and ripens at least 3 months. 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 method came from the Cuneo valleys across the border. In the Ligurian hills, with few cattle, it was made only from sheep milk, and its flat shape was easy to carry on transhumance between the coast and the Maritime Alps.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Liguria, agriligurianet, traditional product sheet 'Sola'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Söla (Tumma, Sola delle Alpi Marittime)'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Söla (Tumma, Sola delle Alpi Marittime)' (id 975)web
  4. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov