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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, Ticino

Robiola ticinese (formaggino)formagitt

Goat, cow or mixed milk, often thermised at 65 °C, is cooled, soured briefly with yogurt or lactic cultures and set with rennet in 45–60 minutes. The curd is cut to walnut–hazelnut size, drained in perforated baskets, rested warm for 8–12 hours and salted, giving small round cheeses of 70–100 g that are eaten fresh within a week or matured in a cellar. Made in 6 steps over 7.4 days – 7.6 days. The longest step, eat fresh or mature in a cellar, takes up to 7 days (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine c…) and runs at 4–13 °C (Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine c…). Yogurt bacteria or added lactic cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 7 daysReported[patrimoine-ch]Eat fresh or mature in a cellar
Temperature4–13 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Eat fresh or mature in a cellar

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAbout 50 l of milk per half pot of yogurt; the inventory gives about 100 g per cheese.
Goat, cow or mixed milk · Goat milk gives a white-cream cheese, cow milk a more yellowish one[patrimoine-ch][rsi2024]
Half a pot per 50 l of milkYogurt, or lactic cultures[patrimoine-ch]
Rennet, diluted in lukewarm water[patrimoine-ch]
Salt · Dry or as brine[patrimoine-ch]
Starteryogurt or lactic cultures (no starter in the 1913 description)

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.4 days – 7.6 days

Start
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65 °C

What changes: Goat or cow milk is warmed to 65 °C for about a quarter of an hour

Step 1 of 6
Thermise the milk
Time
15 min
Reported
Temperature
65 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: thermised milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

mild heat reduces raw-milk microbes; in 1913 the milk was only warmed to 28 °C

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

The Ticino robiola is a small fresh rennet cheese that differs from Italian robiola in taste, texture and shape. It is set with rennet in about an hour rather than by a long acid set, and is low and sweet, unlike the tall, acid büscion of the same canton. In 1913 the milk was only warmed to 28 °C and no culture was added.

Size
70–100 g; about 6–7 cm diameter, 3–4 cm high

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fresh robiolaEaten within a few days, at most a week, kept at 4 °C.
  • Mature robiolaKept in a cellar at about 10–13 °C until a light bloomy rind forms.

History and sources

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

The inventory traces robiole in Italy to the 16th century, small fresh cheeses of the Sottoceneri to Franscini (1837–39), and the robbiole of the Valle di Muggio as already famous in 1913.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine culinaire suisse, national inventory entry 'Robiola, Formaggino' (Ticino)archive
  2. [rsi2024] Rennis P. 2024, Dal Büsciòn al Piora, i formaggi ticinesi da scoprire, RSI (Swiss Italian public broadcaster), 3 May 2024web