Question about Tomme

[bernardsmith]

I know that there are many different recipes for tomme cheese but I just came across one on Youtube that suggests that this cheese can be eaten immediately after making and not the 6 weeks - 6 months that is the more likely aging period. Just made a batch of this cheese to a recipe offered by David Asher. My question: Should I let this age or not?

 

[Blacksmith1]

Not knowing a thing about cheese making other than watching a few documentaries about it, I'd say taste a tiny corner of it and see if it needs time.

 

[bernardsmith]

Thanks for that suggestion but I think if you cut into it then it won't quite age in the same way.. You transform the inside to the outside (and so the "paste" to what should be rind). But that said, I am sure that eating what should be an aged cheese while it is still fresh is not terrible it's just that you likely don't get the more mature flavors. The question is whether eating the cheese straightaway is worth the loss of those flavors. I guess I am answering my own question as I write this: there is really nothing to stop me buying another gallon of milk and making another batch and keeping one to age and eating the other.

 

[Blacksmith1]

If it hasn't aged is it actually a rind yet? only asking because I don't know.

 

[bernardsmith]

Great question, but the surface is covered with bacteria and yeast from the culture I used to inoculate the milk and that surface - exposed to air (and salt) will develop (desirable) molds that should not be found in the interior of the cheese, only now if you slice the cheese to taste it you allow the mold access to the interior and so change the character of what is called the paste. So, for example, with this cheese you rub the surface with salt you do not add salt to the curds, you wash the surface with a brine, you do not soak the cheese in brine - so the surface (the rind) is treated differently from the paste (the interior).

 

[passedpawn]

I know that there are many different recipes for tomme cheese but I just came across one on Youtube that suggests that this cheese can be eaten immediately after making and not the 6 weeks - 6 months that is the more likely aging period. Just made a batch of this cheese to a recipe offered by David Asher. My question: Should I let this age or not?

Cut it in half and stick a piece of wax paper or parchment paper to the open side. I haven't done this, but I've seen others do it and the impression I got was that it'll age fine that way.

 

[bernardsmith]

OK. Sounds like a plan.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I know that there are many different recipes for tomme cheese but I just came across one on Youtube that suggests that this cheese can be eaten immediately after making and not the 6 weeks - 6 months that is the more likely aging period. Just made a batch of this cheese to a recipe offered by David Asher. My question: Should I let this age or not?

There is one variant, Aligot or Tome Fraîche. It's pressed strongly, is non-salted, reminds me a bit of a mozzarella elasticity from the look of it, though no relationship in terms of the pulling technique. The elasticity tells me calcium is preserved rather well.

I just looked it up on French wiki and it's described as "lightly fermented" which may help explain the calcium preservation. Because of its brisk pressing, it's has a drier paste, and apparently its short maturation (basically, none) makes for a sharp acidity, without the transformations normally taking place over longer affinage that mellow the acids.

 

[bernardsmith]

I will have to see if I can find anything about this cheese published in English (my French is as poor as my Albanian and my Albanian is non-existent).

 

[bernardsmith]

Found something - but it seems that tome fraiche is very sour and is always (?) cooked...

 

[Blacksmith1]

do French to English and paste the text into the appropriate box
https://www.babelfish.com/

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Found something - but it seems that tome fraiche is very sour and is always (?) cooked...

Yep, cooked but not aged. And I've not had it, but they say quite sour. I find French Cheeses to be an excellent reference. There are other editions, but this is mine.

 

[Bedbug]

I know that there are many different recipes for tomme cheese but I just came across one on Youtube that suggests that this cheese can be eaten immediately after making and not the 6 weeks - 6 months that is the more likely aging period. Just made a batch of this cheese to a recipe offered by David Asher. My question: Should I let this age or not?

Absolutely age it. I just made an aged rind Tomme 10 weeks ago and just cut it up for a Christmas cheeseboard. I munched on some of the curds after I made it and they were sweet but certainly not something I'd recommend eating right away. The lack all of the texture and flavor complexity that give the cheese it's character. The cheese gets a really nice flavor that's tangy with undertones of nutty and buttery. Either do an aged rind or a washed rind but I'd give the cheese a minimum of 6-8 weeks before eating.

 

[bernardsmith]

Many thanks, Bedbug. Truth is that my wife and I could not wait to taste this and while we love it you are right about the intensity of the flavor, but given how easy this cheese was to make - and given the small amount of time it takes to make, I have no problem making another batch that I will allow to age a few weeks. And talking of cheeses that don't require hours of stirring and washing etc I just came across a recipe for a Scottish cheese called "Dunlop" - and that too looks like a cheese that is screaming to be made (I come from Scotland). What is interesting about it is that the cheese itself is cooked at 150F for about a minute after you remove it from its form (presumably to prevent any additional souring by the inoculant).