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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Tuma 'd Trausela

Raw whole cow milk, still warm from milking, is set with calf rennet in about an hour. The curd is never cut or salted; it is ladled whole into cloth-lined moulds, drains for about 12 hours and is eaten within a day or two. It is hardly soured at all, so it sits at the edge of what counts as a ferment.

Fully documentedCheese13 hTraditional food product (PAT, Piemonte; D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm or herder make with no fixed batch size; the sheets give no doses. A cheese weighs about 1.0 kg.
Raw whole cow milk, just milkedMust not have soured at all; the ONAF sheet names Valdostana cows[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennetOnly as much as sets the milk in about 60 minutes[pat-sheet]
No saltNeither the milk nor the curd is salted[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 h

Start
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34–37 °C

What changes: Milk still warm from milking is warmed a little more in a copper vat

Step 1 of 5
Warm the fresh milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
34–37 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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 whole cow milk, still warm from milking, is set with calf rennet in about an hour. The curd is never cut or salted; it is ladled whole into cloth-lined moulds, drains for about 12 hours and is eaten within a day or two. It is hardly soured at all, so it sits at the edge of what counts as a ferment. Made in 5 steps over 13 h. The longest step, drain slowly, takes 12 h (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main step12 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Drain slowly
Temperature34–37 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the fresh milk

What makes this one different

Unlike almost every other rennet cheese, the curd is never cut and never salted, and it is eaten within a day or two of making; it is often made for the family or ordered from the herder.

Rind
None
Size
About 1.0 kg; slumped truncated cone 20–25 cm across, side 4–5 cm

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet warns that a raw-milk fresh cheese with almost no acid can let unwanted microbes grow, so milk hygiene and a strict cold chain to the table are the controls. Samples in a 2004 regional study had no Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes or staphylococcal enterotoxins.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and staphylococcal enterotoxins (tested for; none found in the 2004 regional samples).

History and sources

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

The name comes from Trausella, a village in the middle of the valley whose herders did not move to high summer pastures, so buyers went there for fresh tuma. The method was passed on by word of mouth.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, Schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015 (BU38S1, 24/09/2015; D.D. 24 luglio 2015 n. 460), Categoria D prodotto n. 50, 'Tuma 'd Trausela'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Tuma 'd Trausela'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Tuma 'd Trausela' (id 757)web