Ledger / Semi-hard / 2026-10-17
Tomme de Savoie: A Thick Wheel, a Wild Grey Rind and a Low Press
Tomme is what a mountain farm made when it did not have enough milk for a big wheel or enough time to coddle one. The press is light, the rind is left largely wild, and the grey coat that forms by week three is the whole point rather than a fault.
Each segment is as wide as its share of the 135 minutes in the vat; the set segment carries the set temperature, the cut segment carries the cut size.
Salt and press drawer
Press ladder
- 4 kg0.5 h
- 8 kg3.5 h
- 10 kg8 h
2-3% brine wiped over the surface every 2-3 days. Selects for Brevibacterium linens and the orange, oniony rind.
Cut at 8 mm and scald without rushing
Raw milk, 0.4% mixed meso/thermo culture at 34 C, 20 IMCU of animal rennet per litre, forty-five minute set. Cut to 8 mm and let the curds rest fifteen minutes, then raise to 40 C over forty minutes.
The 8 mm cut is finer than most semi-hard makes and it is what gives Tomme its slightly open, uneven texture. A 12 mm cut produces a cheese that looks like a Gouda and tastes like a Tomme, which is the wrong result.
Press at 10 kg for twelve hours, no more
Press at 4 kg for thirty minutes, 8 kg for three and a half hours, then 10 kg for eight hours. Stop there.
A Tomme with a closed, dense paste is not a Tomme. The low press and the short scald leave small mechanical openings through the paste, and those openings are where the wild rind flora seed the interior during a long aging.
Brine, then let the grey come
Brine at 20% and 12 C for three hours per kilo, then dry at 14 C for three days. Age at 11 C and 90% RH, turning twice a week.
The rind goes from pale cream to a mottled grey-brown between day 14 and day 24. Do not wash it off. A Tomme rind is supposed to look like a stone wall, and the grey is Cladosporium and wild yeasts doing exactly what they should. Brush off only orange or black patches that have gone soft and sunken.
Three months, and the two-week cold finish
Age three months, then move to 6 C for two weeks before cutting. This cold finish firms the paste and makes the wheel slice cleanly instead of smearing.
At three months the paste is semi-soft under the rind and firmer at the centre, with a barnyard note and a distinctly bitter herb finish. If you want it milder, age at 9 C instead of 11 C; the rind will be thinner and the paste sweeter.
Aging parameters
| Milk | Raw cow milk 3.9% fat |
|---|---|
| Culture | Mixed meso/thermo 30–42 °C |
| Rennet | Calf rennet (animal) 20 IMCU/L |
| pH at drain | 6.3 target 6.1–6.5 |
| Target moisture | 42 % |
| Cave temperature | 11 °C |
| Cave humidity | 90 % |
| Aging days | 100 days |
| Rind treatment | Brine wash |
| Yield | 3.4 kg |
Raw cow milk Semi-hard 100 days
Defect diagnosis
Flagged on this make: Misread surface mould、Bitterness
Bitterness seen this make
Signal — A harsh, lingering bitter note at the back of the palate, strongest in the first three weeks and often fading after six.
Cause — Too much rennet for the set time, or a microbial coagulant with high protease activity, or a scald that never got past 38 C.
Fix — Cut the dose by 20% next make and hold the scald 2 C higher for 10 minutes longer. Bitter peptides are water-soluble, so a 12% brine for 24 hours pulls some out.
Rancidity not seen
Signal — Soapy, paint-like smell that hits before the cheese reaches the mouth. Sharp and unpleasant rather than merely strong.
Cause — Free fatty acids released by lipase, usually from raw milk that sat warm too long, or from rennet paste, or from a knife or cloth that carried old milk residue.
Fix — Chill milk to 4 C within two hours of milking and pasteurise anything older than 24 hours. Retire the cloth: boil it, do not just rinse it.
Faulty eye formation not seen
Signal — Either no eyes where the style demands them, or a scatter of irregular slits and cracks instead of round, evenly spaced holes.
Cause — Coliform or yeast contamination from unsanitary brine, or a press that was too cold (below 18 C) so the propionic culture never woke up, or too much salt killing it outright.
Fix — Boil and re-salt the brine to 18-20% between batches, press at 20-22 C for the first six hours, and keep the salt under 1.6% for eye-forming styles.
Misread surface mould seen this make
Signal — A grey-green or black fuzzy patch on a rind that was supposed to be white or orange, or blue speckling on a hard cheese.
Cause — Wild Penicillium and Cladosporium from a cave with moving air and standing humidity. Also from brushing a good rind with a damp, dirty brush.
Fix — Distinguish before you discard: white felt and orange smear are wanted, green fuzz on a hard rind is surface only and rubs off with 3% brine. Black patches that pit the paste mean the wheel is lost.
Four things to carry forward
- Cut at 8 mm - finer than most semi-hard makes
- Press only 10 kg for eight hours to keep the paste open
- Leave the grey wild rind alone from day 14 onward
- Three months, then two weeks at 6 C before cutting