🧀 Toma Piemontese

Toma Piemontese is an Italian cheese with a protected designation of origin (PDO), made exclusively from cow's milk. There are two types: full-fat, from whole milk, and medium-fat, from partially skimmed milk. According to the specification it is a table cheese that is also used for cooking.

Making. The cows are fed mainly on green or preserved fodder or hay, most of it from the defined area. The ingredients are cow's milk, salt, calf rennet or a non-animal coagulant, and lactic acid enzymes or natural starter cultures where needed. The curd is put into moulds, the whey is drained and the cheese is salted in brine. It matures in caves or suitable premises at no more than 13 °C and about 85% humidity: at least 60 days for cheeses of 5.2 kg or more, and 15 days for lighter ones. Toma Piemontese d'Alpeggio is made from the milk of grass-fed cows during the mountain pasture season, from 1 June to 15 October, and processed on the pasture.

Look and taste. A cylinder with flat or almost flat sides, 15 to 35 cm in diameter, with a heel 6 to 12 cm high, weighing 1.8 to 9 kg. The rind is inedible. The full-fat type has an elastic, smooth rind from light straw yellow to reddish brown, a soft paste with small eyes and a mild, delicate taste, with at least 40% fat in dry matter. The medium-fat type has an inelastic, rustic rind, a paste from elastic to semi-hard and an intense, harmonious flavour, with at least 20% fat in dry matter. The paste is pale straw yellow, sometimes with delicate natural veining near the rind.

Area and marking. Production and maturing take place in the provinces of Novara, Vercelli, Biella, Turin, Cuneo and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and in named municipalities of the provinces of Asti and Alessandria. Each cheese carries a mark in the centre of one flat side with the PDO logo, a cow's head with the letter T and the producer's code; medium-fat cheese also has the letter S. Cutting and pre-packing may take place outside the area.