Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Emilia-Romagna

Furmaìn (Formaggetta fresca)Furmaìn

Whole cow milk is set with calf rennet at 36–40 °C, cut and gently cooked to 42 °C for the fresh cheese or 46 °C for the aged one. The curd is packed into perforated moulds, kept warm for 1–3 hours, salted and ripened, either briefly as a soft fresh caciotta or for three months to a year. Made in 8 steps over 3.1 days – 12 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 3 days – 12 months (ONAF) and runs at up to 16 °C (Provincia di Reggio Emilia 2015). Lactic cultures selected within the production area and The raw milk's own lactic acid bacteria, in the aged cheese made from raw milk do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3 days – 12 monthsReported[onaf-furmain]Ripen
Temperatureup to 16 °CSet[re-furmain]Ripen

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe provincial sheet fixes the method, not a batch size. Cheeses weigh 0.5–6 kg and measure 10–25 cm across (ONAF).
Whole cow milk · From one or more milkings. Pasteurised for Furmaìn fresco; raw or thermised for Furmaìn stagionato[re-furmain][onaf-furmain]
Selected lactic cultures · Allowed, if selected within the production area[re-furmain]
Calf rennet · Liquid or powder, dosed to set the milk in about 30 minutes[re-furmain]
Salt · Dry salt, or brine[re-furmain]
Starter: locally selected lactic cultures allowed, plus calf rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 days – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: whole cow milk, pasteurised for the fresh cheese

Step 1 of 8
Prepare the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Whole milk from one or more milkings. For Furmaìn fresco it is pasteurised first; for Furmaìn stagionato it is used raw or thermised. Output: whole cow milk.

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

It is the small "house cheese" of the Parmigiano Reggiano country, made a few kilos at a time beside wheels of grana that age a year or more. Its fresh form uses pasteurised milk and is eaten within weeks; its aged form uses raw or thermised milk and keeps up to a year.

Milk
Whole cow milk; pasteurised (fresh) or raw or thermised (aged)
Cooking
At most 42 °C (fresh) or 46 °C (aged)
Ripening
Fresh up to 90 days; aged 90 days to a year
Size
0.5–6 kg; cylinder 10–25 cm across, up to 18 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • Furmaìn frescoPasteurised milk, hazelnut-size curd, cooked to at most 42 °C, ripened up to 90 days at 10 °C or less; no rind. Labelled in burgundy.
  • Furmaìn stagionatoRaw or thermised milk, corn-size curd, cooked to 46 °C, ripened 90 days to a year at 16 °C or less. Labelled in orange-gold.

Safety

The fresh cheese is made from pasteurised milk. The aged cheese may be raw milk, and ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses (aged Furmaìn may be raw milk).

History and sources

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

Documents of the 16th and 17th centuries call the small farm cheeses "formelle" or "formaggette", Italian forms of the dialect furmaìn, named in contrast to the large grana. Women made them in farm kitchens from milk left after the calves and the household, often in winter. In the Second World War, families kept back milk from the cooperative dairy to make it in secret. The province of Reggio Emilia listed it as a traditional product, and a local consortium (CON.V.A.) registered a logo and rules to revive it.

  1. [re-furmain] Provincia di Reggio Emilia, Elenco dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, Formaggetta fresca (Furmaìn), product sheet (copy dated 2 October 2015)gov
  2. [onaf-furmain] ONAF, Furmaìn, technical sheet (PAT Regione Emilia-Romagna)web
  3. [montel2014] Montel M.C. et al. 2014, Traditional cheeses - rich and diverse microbiota with associated benefits, International Journal of Food Microbiology 177:136-154 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov