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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, the French side of the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic

Tomme des Pyrénées PGITomme des Pyrénées

Cow, goat or mixed milk, raw or heat-treated, is set with rennet at no more than 40 °C, cut, stirred below 45 °C and moulded. Once the curd has soured to pH 5.3 or lower, the cheese is salted and ripened in a cellar from 21 to 90 days, depending on its milk and size. Small dairy wheels are often coated in black or golden wax. Made in 6 steps over 23 days. The longest step, ripen in a cellar, takes at least 21 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2020) and runs at 7–16 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2020). Lactic cultures, selected or natural, which sour the curd to pH 5.3 or lower and Ripening flora on the rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 21 daysSet[cdc-tpyr2020]Ripen in a cellar
Temperature7–16 °CSet[cdc-tpyr2020]Ripen in a cellar
AciditypH up to 5.3Set[cdc-tpyr2020]Mould, turn and sour

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Wheels weigh 400 g to 5.5 kg, with a diameter two to three times the height.
Cow or goat milk, or a mix · Sheep milk only in a mix, at 30–50% by volume; Basco-béarnaise, Castillonnaise and Manech sheep[cdc-tpyr2020]
Lactic and ripening cultures · Selected or natural flora[cdc-tpyr2020]
Coagulating enzyme (rennet)[cdc-tpyr2020]
Salt · Dry salt, or saturated brine with lactic acid[cdc-tpyr2020]
Black or golden coating (optional) · Only on heat-treated-milk wheels of 1.5–5.5 kg; rind colours and anti-mould agents are not allowed on farm or raw-milk cheeses[cdc-tpyr2020][inao-tpyr]
Starter: selected or natural lactic and ripening cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 15 °C

What changes: Lactic cultures go into cow, goat or mixed milk held cool in the tank

Step 1 of 6
Hold and ripen the milk
Time
up to 2 days
Set
Temperature
up to 15 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Heat-treated milk must be treated within 18 h of arrival. Mixed milks use 30–50% sheep or goat 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

Tomme des Pyrénées is not cooked; the specification links this to the lack of firewood in the Pyrenean valleys, unlike the cooked keeping cheeses of the Alps and Jura. Its rules allow cow, goat and sheep milk to be mixed, which the specification ties to the region's mixed herds.

Milk
Cow or goat milk, or cow-sheep, cow-goat or goat-sheep mixes with 30–50% of the second milk; raw or heat-treated
Ripening
From renneting: 21 days (black-coated cow, over 1.5 kg) up to 90 days (raw mixed milk, over 1.5 kg); 30–40 days for wheels of 400 g–1.5 kg
Size
400 g to 5.5 kg; diameter 2–3 times the height; at least 53 g dry matter and 24 g fat per 100 g

Related ferments

Variants

  • Black-coated tommeHeat-treated cow milk, 1.5–5.5 kg, black coating, at least 21 days; tastes of fresh whey
  • Golden-coated or natural-rind dairy tommeHeat-treated cow milk, 1.5–5.5 kg, at least 45 days
  • Raw-milk farm tommeNatural orange-mottled rind rubbed by hand; 30–90 days depending on milk and size

Safety

Most is made from heat-treated milk. Raw-milk tommes fall under ANSES advice that pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity avoid raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli in raw-milk versions (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

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

Records show cows, goats and sheep and cheese making in the Pyrenees from the 12th century, with the 1990s EU file naming the Saint-Girons area. Shepherds made keeping cheeses in summer and sold them after the herds came down. The first fruitières (cooperatives) opened in 1867, and dairies followed. A court at Foix ruled that the name belonged to the local cheese, and it became a PGI in 1996.

  1. [cdc-tpyr2020] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'indication géographique protégée « Tomme des Pyrénées », as approved by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/694 (BO-Agri notice 2020-22)spec
  2. [inao-tpyr] INAO, product page « Tomme des Pyrénées » (IGP)gov
  3. [eamb-tpyr] Ministère de l'Agriculture, Demande d'enregistrement IGP Tomme des Pyrénées (IG/50/94) under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, summary sheet, eAmbrosia attachment 62361archive
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov