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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, canton of Valais

Tomme valaisanne (Tommes type Mutschli)tomme valaisanne

Tomme valaisanne is a small, semi-hard washed-rind cheese of raw cow milk, made where there is too little milk for raclette wheels. Evening and morning milk is set with rennet at 37–38 °C, cut to pea size, pressed and rubbed with salt. It ripens 5–8 weeks on wooden boards at 12–14 °C. Made in 7 steps over 45 days – 2.2 months. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes 35–56 days (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…) and runs at 12–14 °C (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…). Added lactic bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step35–56 daysReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature12–14 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen in the cellar

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe inventory gives temperatures and times but no amounts. Cheeses weigh 800 g to 4 kg, classically 1–1.5 kg.
Raw cow milk, evening and morning milkings[patrimoine-ch]
Lactic bacteria[patrimoine-ch]
Rennet[patrimoine-ch]
Salt · Rubbed on the rind[patrimoine-ch]
Starter: lactic bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 45 days – 2.2 months

Start
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What changes: The evening milk is mixed with the morning milk in the vat

Step 1 of 7
Mix evening and morning milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: raw milk from two milkings.

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

It is a small wheel made where there is too little milk for a raclette or Gruyère wheel, and it is sold young, after 5–8 weeks. Today's fatty tommes have been made commercially for only about 40 years.

Rind
Washed
Size
800 g–4 kg (classically 1–1.5 kg)
Output
About 100 tonnes of raw-milk tommes a year in Valais, mostly sold in the canton

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk and ripened only 5–8 weeks. ANSES names short-ripened uncooked pressed cheeses among the main sources of raw-milk cheese hazards and advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and immunocompromised people to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (named for short-ripened raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

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

Joseph Favre's 1894 cooking dictionary mentions 'tomes d'Hérens', made when the cows came down from the mountains, as fatty cheeses aged a few months that did not leave the region. Large-scale making began around the 1940s.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrimoine culinaire suisse), national inventory entry 'Tommes (type Mutschli)', no. 104archive
  2. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  3. [wp-de] Wikipedia (de), 'Mutschli (Käse)' (outline only)wiki