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Cheese from Japan, Hokkaido, Tokachi region

Tokachi Raclette (十勝ラクレット)十勝ラクレット

Milk from Tokachi farms is set with animal rennet, and local water is added to the milk to lower the lactose. The pressed, semi-hard cheese is polished during ripening with salted local water carrying Brevibacterium linens, for at least 8 weeks. Soft Tokachi water keeps the smear aroma milder than in European raclette.

Fully documentedCheese56 daysJapanese GI No. 128 (MAFF); protected in the UK under the UK–Japan agreementFamily: Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives no doses. Wheels are about 7 cm high and 26–30 cm across.
Raw milk from farms in the Tokachi region[tokachi-spec]
Animal rennet[tokachi-spec]
Water taken from the Tokachi region, added to the milk to lower the lactose concentration[tokachi-spec]
Polishing solution of salt and Brevibacterium linens in Tokachi water[tokachi-spec]

Total time across the recorded steps: 56 days

Start
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What changes: Local soft water is added to the milk to lower its lactose

Step 1 of 5
Add local water to the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Brevibacterium linens

Water taken from the Tokachi region is added to the milk to lower the lactose concentration. The specification links this to controlling lactose before pressing so the cheese does not over-ripen.

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

Milk from Tokachi farms is set with animal rennet, and local water is added to the milk to lower the lactose. The pressed, semi-hard cheese is polished during ripening with salted local water carrying Brevibacterium linens, for at least 8 weeks. Soft Tokachi water keeps the smear aroma milder than in European raclette. Made in 5 steps over 56 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 56 days (Tokachi Raclette). Brevibacterium linens, applied in the salted polishing water during ripening does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 56 daysSet[tokachi-spec]Ripen
AciditypH at least 5.2Set[tokachi-spec]Ripen

What makes this one different

A Japanese raclette whose milk is diluted with, and whose rind is polished with, soft Tokachi water, which keeps the smear aroma milder than in European raclette.

Milk
Raw cow milk from Tokachi farms
Ripening
At least 8 weeks
Producers
Eight farms or workshops made it in 2018; output grew from 120 pieces in 1992 to about 72 000 in 2018

Related ferments

Safety

The specification says the cheese is made from fresh raw milk (生乳) and does not say whether the milk is heat-treated. It sets the pH at shipping at 5.2 or more, salt at about 1.8 % and ripening at 8 weeks or more. Japan's 2014 ordinance revision added a Listeria monocytogenes component standard for soft and semi-hard natural cheese, and the specification calls Tokachi Raclette a semi-hard natural cheese; the ministry's notice lists pH, water activity and storage at 6 °C or below (2–4 °C preferred) among ways to hold Listeria growth down.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes; Japan's 2014 ordinance revision added a component standard for soft and semi-hard natural cheese, and the specification calls this cheese a semi-hard natural cheese.

History and sources

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

Tokachi dairy farmers began making farm cheese in the 1980s after milk surpluses, invited a French AOC cheese leader in 1990 and trained in France. Kyodo Gakusha Shintoku Farm sold the first Raclette in 1992.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [tokachi-spec] Tokachi Raclette: summary of specification, Japanese geographical indication, applicant Tokachi Hinshitsunokai (UK–Japan CEPA GI list, UK government)spec
  2. [maff-gi128] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, GI register No. 128, Tokachi Raclettegov
  3. [tokachi-ja] 十勝品質の会 (Tokachi Quality Association), 明細書 (specification) for 十勝ラクレット, Japanese GI No. 128, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, updated 11 May 2023 (Japanese original)spec
  4. [mhlw2014] 厚生労働省医薬食品局食品安全部長 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 食安発1225第2号 25 December 2014, notice on the revision of the ministerial ordinance on milk and milk products (Listeria monocytogenes standard for soft and semi-hard natural cheese)gov