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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, Vaud and Neuchâtel

Tomme vaudoise (tomme neuchâteloise, de Rougemont, de la Vallée)tomme vaudoise

Tomme vaudoise is a small, soft cow cheese of about 100 g with a thin white bloom of Geotrichum candidum. Raw or heat-treated milk is set with rennet at 32–38 °C, cut to cherry size, moulded and drained 3–8 hours without pressing, salted, and ripened only 7–14 days until the bloom appears and the paste softens. Made in 6 steps over 7.1 days – 14 days. The longest step, ripen until the bloom appears, takes 7–14 days (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…). Geotrichum candidum (Oïdium lactis), the surface bloom and Added lactic cultures in heat-treated milk do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–14 daysReported[patrimoine-ch]Ripen until the bloom appears
Temperature32–38 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Set with rennet
Fully documentedCheese7.1 days – 14 daysnone (Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory)Family: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)More bloomy-rind cheesesMore from Switzerland

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe inventory gives temperatures and times but no amounts. Each cheese weighs about 100 g, made in small vats of 50–200 litres.
Cow milk, raw or heat-treated[patrimoine-ch][wp-fr]
Lactic cultures · Added only to heat-treated milk[patrimoine-ch]
Rennet[patrimoine-ch]
Salt · Dry or as brine[patrimoine-ch]
Starter: lactic cultures for heat-treated milk; none for raw milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.1 days – 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countGeotrichum candidum

What changes: Lactic cultures go into heat-treated milk; raw milk is used as it is

Step 1 of 6
Add cultures to heat-treated milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Geotrichum candidum

Raw milk needs no added culture. Copper vats are never left holding milk overnight, which would harm the surface mould. Output: milk ready to set.

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 ripens in only one to two weeks, under a bloom of Geotrichum candidum. Small vats are used, and copper vats are never left holding milk overnight, which would harm the mould.

Rind
Thin white downy bloom, grid marks
Size
About 100 g; disc 8–10 cm across, 1.5–2 cm high
Output
About 1000 tonnes a year, over 70 % from the Laiteries Réunies de Genève

Related ferments

Variants

  • Plain
  • FlavouredWith caraway (cumin des prés), pepper or wild garlic.

Safety

The cheese may be made from raw milk and is eaten after one to two weeks. ANSES names soft bloomy-rind cheeses as the main source of hazards among raw-milk cheeses and advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and immunocompromised people to avoid them.

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

History and sources

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

The first written records of regular making in the Vaud Jura and the Vallée de Joux date from the late 19th century, and an 1895 almanac already calls it an old custom. Some dairies switched to pasteurised milk in the early 1930s, which let industry spread it across the country.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrimoine culinaire suisse), national inventory entry 'Tomme (tomme vaudoise, neuchâteloise, de Rougemont, de la Vallée)', no. 119archive
  2. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  3. [wp-fr] Wikipédia (fr), 'Tomme vaudoise' (outline and flavoured variants)wiki