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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Spress

Raw cow milk, whole or part-skimmed, is mixed with raw goat milk, sometimes more goat than cow, and set with calf rennet at 32–38 °C in 30–60 minutes. The curd is cut to maize or rice size, semi-cooked to 40–42 °C, pressed for a few hours in cloth-lined hoops and salted the next day. It ripens 2–3 months or more at 8–12 °C in cellars or cold rooms.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm and dairy process; the regional sheet gives no amounts. A wheel weighs 5–8 kg.
Raw cow milk, whole or part-skimmed by natural creaming[pat-sheet]
Raw whole goat milk, in varying share, sometimes more than the cow milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder[pat-sheet]
Salt, dry or as brine[pat-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Raw goat milk is mixed into the raw cow milk

Step 1 of 7
Mix cow and goat milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Cow milk, whole or skimmed by letting the cream rise, is mixed with goat milk in varying shares.

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 cow milk, whole or part-skimmed, is mixed with raw goat milk, sometimes more goat than cow, and set with calf rennet at 32–38 °C in 30–60 minutes. The curd is cut to maize or rice size, semi-cooked to 40–42 °C, pressed for a few hours in cloth-lined hoops and salted the next day. It ripens 2–3 months or more at 8–12 °C in cellars or cold rooms. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2 months (Regione Piemonte 2015) and runs at 8–12 °C (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature8–12 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen

What makes this one different

An Ossola toma from raw cow milk mixed with goat milk, semi-cooked and pressed. The dialect name simply means 'cheese', and some use it for young cheese.

Rind
Smooth when young, then wrinkled with some mould; straw turning reddish or greyish
Size
Cylinder 20–30 cm across and 5–10 cm high, 5–8 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk and ripens 2–3 months or more at 8–12 °C. The regional sheet allows ripening in natural rock caves with hygiene kept. 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

ONAF calls it the forerunner of the mountain tomas of the area.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460 (BU38S1, 24 September 2015), technical sheets of traditional food products, category D no. 29 'Spress'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Spress'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Spress' (id 471)web
  4. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov