Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from France, Aubrac plateau

Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac PGI (aligot curd)Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac

Raw whole milk from Simmental and Aubrac cows is renneted at 30–37 °C, cut, stirred and drained, then pressed in cloth in a tome press for at least an hour with at least five turns. The unsalted tome then matures at least 20 hours at 14–28 °C until its pH is 4.9–5.3. It is an unripened, unsalted pressed curd, sold in pieces or ground; it is the base of specialities such as aligot.

Fully documentedCheese21 hPGI (EU, 2023), registered by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2219 of 16 October 2023 (EU No PGI-FR-02839); French IGP homologated by the arrêté of 1 March 2022Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives temperatures and times but no doses. No salt is added.
Raw whole cow milk, not standardised in protein or fatFrom Simmental française and Aubrac cows on the Aubrac[tomefr-cdc]
Rennet[tomefr-cdc]
Bacterial cultures of proven safety (optional)[tomefr-cdc]
Starteroptional bacterial cultures of proven safety

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
30–37 °C

What changes: Rennet sets the raw whole milk at 30–37 °C

Step 1 of 4
Set with rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
30–37 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Raw whole milk from Simmental and Aubrac cows is renneted at 30–37 °C, cut, stirred and drained, then pressed in cloth in a tome press for at least an hour with at least five turns. The unsalted tome then matures at least 20 hours at 14–28 °C until its pH is 4.9–5.3. It is an unripened, unsalted pressed curd, sold in pieces or ground; it is the base of specialities such as aligot. Made in 4 steps over 21 h. The longest step, mature until acid, takes at least 20 h (Cahier des charges de l'indication géographiq…) and runs at 14–28 °C (Cahier des charges de l'indication géographiq…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 20 hSet[tomefr-cdc]Mature until acid
Temperature14–28 °CSet[tomefr-cdc]Mature until acid
AciditypH 4.9–5.3Set[tomefr-cdc]Mature until acid

What makes this one different

It is the Aubrac pressed curd stopped before salting and ripening; Laguiole is also drained in a tome press before moulding, but here the curd is sold fresh, as the base of aligot.

Salt
Not salted, not ripened
Composition
At least 50 g fat per 100 g dry matter and at least 50 g dry matter per 100 g
Frozen
Ground tome may be frozen to -18 °C or below at the core within 2 hours; frozen tome has a 12-month minimum durability date

Related ferments

Safety

The tome is made from raw whole milk with no heat treatment, and it is neither salted nor ripened. The specification gives no pathogen limit. Its controls are renneting within 48 hours of the oldest milking, a pH of 4.9–5.3 at the end of maturation, and, for ground tome that is frozen, -18 °C or below at the core within 2 hours, freezing within 96 hours of renneting and a 12-month minimum durability. The CDC says pregnant women, newborns, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity should avoid any cheese made with raw milk unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

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

The specification credits the monks settled on the Aubrac in the 12th century with the tome, which fed pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. The word tome, spelt with one m, meant an unfinished cheese, unsalted, unmoulded and unripened. Burons declined in the late 1950s, and young farmers revived the tome with a cooperative from 1960. The single document carries the date 25 April 2022, and a Commission regulation of 16 October 2023 entered the name in the register as a PGI.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [tomefr-cdc] Cahier des charges de l'indication géographique protégée 'Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac', homologué par l'arrêté du 1er mars 2022, JORF du 6 mars 2022, Bulletin officiel du Ministère de l'Agriculture n° 2022-12spec
  2. [tome-sd] Publication of an application for registration, 'Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac' (single document, PGI-FR-02839), Official Journal of the European Union C 237, 5.7.2023, p. 13 (Publications Office copy)spec
  3. [eu-reg-2023-2219] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2219 of 16 October 2023 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications ('Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac' (PGI)), Official Journal of the European Union L, 23.10.2023 (Publications Office copy)spec
  4. [laguiole-eu2017] Publication of an amendment application, 'Laguiole', Official Journal of the European Union C 361, 25.10.2017 (Publications Office copy)spec
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov