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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Savoie

Tomme au marc (de raisin)tomme au marc

Tomme au marc is a Savoie tomme, a pressed, uncooked cow-milk cheese, that is finished under the grape skins and seeds left from winemaking. Retail descriptions say the tomme spends about a month in marc in an airtight container, where the fermenting marc warms it and tightens the paste, then ages under a thick marc coat for up to several months. The marc coat is not eaten. Made in 3 steps over 2 months – 7 months. The longest step, age under a thick marc coat, takes 30 days – 6 months (La Cuisine Paris). Salt is 1.2–2 % (Ministère de l'agriculture).

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 6 monthsReported[lacuisine]Age under a thick marc coat
Salt1.2–2 %Set[tds-spec]Start from a ripened tomme
DocumentedCheese2 months – 7 monthsnone (a finishing treatment of Savoie tommes; not a type in the Tomme de Savoie PGI rules)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)More pressed uncooked cheesesMore from France

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedMade by affineurs from finished tommes; no batch or recipe is published.
A finished Savoie tomme · Pressed, uncooked cow-milk cheese; one seller describes an unpasteurised one[cnz][gismondi]
Grape marc (skins and seeds left after pressing) · Ordinarily from Pinot Noir, Gamay or Mondeuse grapes, according to one cookery school[ocf2014][lacuisine]
Starter: none added at this stage; the tomme is already ripened

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 7 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: a ripened Savoie tomme

Step 1 of 3
Start from a ripened tomme
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
1.2–2 %
Set
Acidity
Not documented

One cookery school says the base tomme first matures about 3–6 months; the Tomme de Savoie rules require at least 30 days.

Flavour
mellow and fruity with a slight sharpness
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

Most tommes ripen on cellar boards. This one is finished buried in grape marc from winemaking, which gives it a strong taste and aroma, an exception among the usually mild tommes.

Milk
Cow milk (the base tomme)
Ripening
About a month steeped in marc, then aged under a marc coat; one to six months under marc in all
Rind
Coated in grape marc, which is not eaten

Related ferments

Safety

No safety data was found for the marc finishing step.

History and sources

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

The Oxford Companion to Food names tomme au marc as the exception among tommes, coated with marc and strong in taste and aroma. No source found gives a date or origin for the practice.

  1. [ocf2014] Davidson A. 2014, The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford University Press (on ckbk), entry 'Tomme'book
  2. [tds-spec] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'IGP « Tomme de Savoie » (the usual base cheese, used here as a nearby product)gov
  3. [gismondi] Gismondi on Wine, 'Tomme affiné au marc de raisin' (retail description)web
  4. [lacuisine] La Cuisine Paris, 'Tomme de Savoie au marc' (cookery school blog)web
  5. [cnz] Chez Nous (cnz.to), Grape Marc Aged Tommeweb