Toma (cheese)
Toma ( Piedmontese for cheese ) is a collective name for a family of cheeses from northern Italy and neighboring regions. The cheeses differ greatly from one another. Almost all of them are made from cow's milk , and most of them are semi-solid or soft. Raw milk from two different milking courses (one in the morning, one in the evening) is often used for a Toma. A tomino is a smaller, fresher version of this cheese.
Of the different varieties, Toma Piemontese are protected as Denominazione d'Origine Protetta (DOP) by the EU and Toma di Gressoney as Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale by Italy. The Toma Piemontese is produced entirely from cow's milk throughout Piedmont , but this can be whole or semi-fat milk, and raw milk or pasteurized milk. With the rise of the slow food movement and the new interest in traditional forms of production from small businesses, the number and variety of Toma cheeses has increased significantly in the years since the turn of the millennium.
Other well-known Toma are the Tomino di Melle , the Toma di Balme and the Toma di Lanzo. Toma di Balme is made from the milk of cattle of the Valdostana pezzata rossa breed in the Aosta Valley . Toma di Lanzo is extracted in the valleys of the Valli di Lanzo , where it is pressed, dried and salted, and is therefore stronger than most other Toma. In the province of Cuneo , Toma Testun is obtained mainly from sheep's milk . The Toma Mottarone is a straw-yellow raw milk cheese on the slopes of Mottarone between Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta is produced. The Toma Ossolana Alpeggio is produced in a relatively small area in the mountains of the Aosta Valley, where the cows are often still milked by hand and graze in the meadows of a protected landscape. The more common Toma Ossolana Rodolfo is made similar to the Alpeggion, but comes from a larger area, is mostly made with less manual labor, and has a longer maturation time than the Alpino.
Toma cheese is eaten pure, but because of its mostly melting properties, it is also often prepared with polenta or risotto .
Toma are closely related to Fontina cheese from the Aosta Valley and French Tomme cheeses.
Remarks
- ^ A b D. Giaccone and T. Valperga: The mountain dairy production in Piedmont in: Dairy Production in Mountain farming systems: Milk and cheese quality and implications for the future - Proceedings of the 10th international meeting on mountain cheese. September 14-15, 2011, Dronero, Italy as pdf .
- ^ A b c Gilian Riley: Piedmont in: The Oxford Companion to Italian Food Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0198606176 .
- ^ Associazione Culturale Asilo Bianco: Mottarone Toma Cheese .
- ↑ Patricia Michelson: Cheese: Exploring Taste and Tradition Gibbs Smith, 2010 ISBN 1423606515 p. 103.
- ^ Polenta in The Oxford Companion to Italian Food Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0198606176 .
Web links
- Toma Piemontese , site of the Province of Cuneo
literature
- Gilian Riley: Piedmont in: The Oxford Companion to Italian Food Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN 0198606176
- Gilian Riley: Toma in: The Oxford Companion to Italian Food Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN 0198606176