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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Toma del lait bruscBianca alpina

Raw cow milk is soured before it is set, by long creaming or by skimming and then acidifying. Because the milk is already acid, little calf rennet is needed; the curd sets at 32–37 °C in 40–60 minutes, is cut to rice-grain size without cooking, formed in a hemp cloth or mould, pressed and salted. It ripens at least 70 days at 6–12 °C and may blue naturally.

Fully documentedCheese2.4 months – 2.5 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Piemonte)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe rennet dose is per 100 litres of milk, from the regional sheet; it gives no batch size. A cheese weighs 3.0–6.0 kg.
Raw cow milk, part-skimmed and soured before settingSome makers now also sell a whole-milk version[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Animal rennet, in a reduced dose10–20 cc per 100 l of milkThe sheet says the dose is small because the milk is already acid; some makers still set it with no rennet[pat-sheet]
Salt (in the curd, dry or brine)[pat-sheet]
Starterthe milk is soured before it is set, by long creaming or by skimming and then acidifying

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.4 months – 2.5 months

Start
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What changes: In basins the cream rises while the milk acidifies and turns sour ('brusc')

Step 1 of 6
Cream and sour the milk
Time
12 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The milk must be acid before it is set. Today it may instead be skimmed first and then acidified.

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 is soured before it is set, by long creaming or by skimming and then acidifying. Because the milk is already acid, little calf rennet is needed; the curd sets at 32–37 °C in 40–60 minutes, is cut to rice-grain size without cooking, formed in a hemp cloth or mould, pressed and salted. It ripens at least 70 days at 6–12 °C and may blue naturally. Made in 6 steps over 2.4 months – 2.5 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2.3 months (Regione Piemonte 2015) and runs at 6–12 °C (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2.3 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen
Temperature6–12 °CReported[pat-sheet]Ripen

What makes this one different

'Sour-milk toma': chalky, crumbly, eyeless and acidic, may blue naturally with age. The milk is soured before setting, so it needs little or no rennet and the curd is not cooked.

Rind
Smooth or slightly irregular, grey or slightly orange
Size
3.0–6.0 kg; cylinder ø 20–25 cm, side 10–20 cm

Related ferments

Safety

The sheet names the creaming of the milk as the step to control and finds no other risks beyond normal cheesemaking. It says the medium-to-long ripening and the technology put the cheese in a medium-to-high band for meeting safety requirements. The milk is raw and stands to cream and sour before it is set. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing [fda-rawcheese2016]. ANSES advises pregnant women, people with weak immunity, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheese, except cooked pressed cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté [anses2022].

History and sources

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

The cheese grew out of not wasting evening milk that turned sour overnight in summer heat before refrigerators; 'brusc' means sour. Such milk sets with little or no rennet. ONAF dates its origin to more than a hundred years ago, and says it was once made only in summer; today it is made all year by letting the milk rest longer. Valley legends tie it to Hannibal's stop in the Susa valley.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460, Schede tecniche prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (BU 38S1, 24/09/2015), category D product 34 'Toma del lait brusc o Bianca alpina' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Toma del lait brusc'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Toma del lait brusc' (id 475)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. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov