What to Eat

Bra cheese has gotten its name from the town of Bra, that was in the past the biggest center for seasoning and selling this cheese. It was in Bra that, back then, the cheese was born. According to Delforno, the cheese was born very long ago and the old piedmontese cheese-makers don’t remember any other kind of cheese produced in this zone.

The Raschere has got its name from the Ruscharia region (as said by Bertaldi in 1620), that includes the Raschera lake, at the feet of mount Mongioie, and the Rascaira Alp, in the commune of Magliano Alpi.

According to someone, the name “Toma piemontese” comes from the french “Tom “Tomme”, that indicate similar cheeses made in the Savoie.

Characteristics Production zone Provinces of Cuneo and Torino. Characteristics Cheese of cow’s milk, if necessary with ovine and oat’s milk, with soft and raw dough. Shape and Dimensions Round, almost flat, with 10-15 cm diameter. Maximum high: 2 cm. It weighs 150 to 300 g, depending on its dimensions. The rind is wrinkled, yellow-white with… [Continue Reading]

Characteristics Fat cheese with fresh dough produced with ovine milk, sometimes 100%, sometimes less, down to 60%, when mixed with cow’s milk. Shape and dimensions Cylindric shape with a diametr of 10-15 cm, 3-4 cm high. One mould weighs 300 to 400 grams. Without rind, white if fresh, sometimes light yellow, if seasoned. Looks of… [Continue Reading]

Bra cheese has gotten its name from the town of Bra, that was in the past the biggest center for seasoning and selling this cheese. It was in Bra that, back then, the cheese was born.

It is made with oat’s molk, sometimes mixed with cow’s milk.
The milk is warmed up at 37° C, and mixed with rennet; after having been coagulated and broken it is left alone for one hour.

According to Delforno, this cheese has never been that much considered by Italian cheese-testers, though its production has always been relevant, like its quality.

The first news about a then unnamed cheese have been found in documents of the year 1000, when the Cistercian Monks of Chiaravalle (near Milan) started a land reclamation that made possible forage cultivation and breeding of bovines.

Folk stories situate its origins around the X and XII century, near the town of Gorgonzola (not far from Milan), where the herds used to pass, returning from the alpine pastures, heading to the plains.

It has always been considered poor people’s cheese, as said Pantaleone da Confienza. Its name appears in some medieval statutes (Cuneo, Mondovì), with its variants: brocius, broxíus, brozius, brozus, brucíus. It was made of ovine cheese and brandy.

Roccaverano is an ancient village on the hills of the province of Asti; its origins are roman. A document written around the year 1000, kept in the local church, talks about an ancient cheese made from ovine milk.