Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, Ticino

Büscionbüsción

Büscion is a small fresh acid-curd cheese from Ticino, shaped like a cork. Whole goat, cow or mixed milk is soured with lactic cultures and a little rennet over about a day and a half, hung in a cloth bag until it reaches pH 4.3–4.5, then kneaded with salt and rolled into short cylinders. It is eaten within two weeks, or kept in flavoured oil. Made in 7 steps over 17 days. The longest step, keep cold, or in oil, takes up to 15 days (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine c…). Lactic starter cultures, which sour the milk until the drained paste reaches pH 4.3–4.5 does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 15 daysReported[patrimoine-ch]Keep cold, or in oil
Temperature65 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Thermise (optional)
AciditypH 4.3–4.5Reported[patrimoine-ch]Hang in a cloth bag
Fully documentedCheese17 daysnone (listed in the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese familyMore fresh acid-set cheesesMore from Switzerland

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm and small-dairy cheese with no fixed batch size. Each cork weighs about 60–100 g.
Whole goat, cow or mixed milk · Raw, or thermised at 65 °C for 15 minutes (recommended, not required)[patrimoine-ch]
Lactic starter cultures[patrimoine-ch]
Rennet · A little, now commonly added[patrimoine-ch]
Kitchen salt[patrimoine-ch]
Basil, chives or garlic (optional)[patrimoine-ch]
Starter: lactic starter cultures with a little rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 17 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: whole goat, cow or mixed milk

Step 1 of 7
Take whole goat or cow milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Goat milk was the original milk; cow milk came into use from the 1950s.

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

What makes this one different

Büscion is drained in a tied cloth, which leaves it drier than the basket-drained robiola, and is then kneaded with salt and rolled into corks. Zincarlin starts from the same paste with plenty of black pepper and is aged for months.

Size
60–100 g; cork-shaped, 6–10 cm high, 4–5 cm diameter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Büscion with herbsBasil, chives or garlic kneaded into the paste
  • Büscion in oilKept in oil flavoured with garlic, bay leaf or chilli

Safety

The inventory says the paste is drained until it reaches pH 4.3–4.5 and the fresh cheese is kept cold for no more than 10–15 days. The milk may be raw. No safety study of this cheese was found.

History and sources

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

The cheese comes from the Valle di Muggio, where it was called formaggino alto to set it apart from the low, sweet robiole, and probably dates from the early 20th century. Its name likely comes from the French bouchon, a cork. First made from goat milk, it was ripened for weeks or months in terracotta jars; cow milk came in from the 1950s.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine culinaire suisse, national inventory entry 'Büsción, Agrino', no. 44 (Ticino)archive
  2. [rsi2024] Rennis P. 2024, Dal Büsciòn al Piora, i formaggi ticinesi da scoprire, RSI (Swiss Italian public broadcaster), 3 May 2024web