Tasty reads
Toumin dal Mel
February 5, 2012
Characteristics
Production zone
Communes of Melle, Frassino and Valmala in Valle Varaita.
Characteristics
Cheese of cow’s milk, sometimes with ovine ad oat’s milk, fat, with soft dough.
Shape and dimensions
Cylindric shape, with a diameter of 10-12 cm, 1-2 cm high. A mould weighs 150-200 g. The rind is white when the cheese is fresh, dark white when it’s seasoned.
Looks of the dough
Fine and compact, it tends to accumulate fat under the rind when the cheese is seasoned.
History
The Tomino was born in the second half of the 19th century in the Varaita valley, but recent studies and researches made by Giampiero Boschero sow that four persons who lived in Vitoun del Frassino were the ones who invented the Toumin.It was then sold in Melle, from which it got its name, “Toumin dal Mel”. The people who live in this zone are known as the most ambitious breeders, who consider their cows as a true wealth.
Production technique
It is typical of the tomino to be made by coagulating the milk just after it has been milked, adding to it a little quantity if rennet. The mix is then left some time alone and rests at room temperature; the lasting of this process depends on the maker. Sometimes it is a little warmed up. It is then cut in big pieces and put in the typical moulds. The moulds are then turned over, salted and put in a fresh and humid room, for one or two days, sometimes a couple of weeks.
Taste and smell
It has fresh milk flavour, slightly acid; it reminds of fresh forage. In the seasoned moulds there is a musky flavour, along with milk ones. It has a sweet taste, of fresh milk, slightly acid; more intense in the seasoned moulds, of which the rind must be eaten.
How to eat it
Alone or or in dishes (Raviole of Valle Varaita).
Recommended wines
Roero Arneis, Langhe Favorita, Langhe Chardonnay, Langhe Freisa, also sparkling.
