What Makes a Cheese a 'Tomme'? - Cheese Course

French cheese lovers tend to associate tomme-style cheese with its circular round shape, earthy gray-brown rind. Other distinguishing characteristics include its pale white semi-soft to firm paste and intensely nutty taste. Despite all the similarities, there's tons of variety when it comes to the type of milk and the overall flavor profile.

From France's renowned cow's milk Tomme de Savoie to Twig Farm's goat's milk tomme, the consistency and taste of this cheese can vary rather drastically -- with varying notes of rich hazelnut and mild citrus flavor and a texture from firm to crumbly. Given all these renditions, what exactly makes a tomme a tomme?

According to Michael Lee, cheesemaker and co-owner (with Emily Sunderman) of Twig Farm in West Cornwall, VT, "There is a basic recipe and process that is common to all of these cheeses. The differences come from decisions made from within the same matrix." So, what exactly does this cheesy matrix entail?
There are two distinguishing characteristics that combine to make a tomme: the low temperature at which the milk is heated (31 to 37 degrees Celsius) and the pressing of the curds into molds (done by hand or by weights). It's this lower temperature and pressing that helps create the "tomme" texture that fluctuates from light and semi-soft to thick and dense (all relatively creamy on the palate). "If it were cooked to a higher temperature, then it would get into the territory of alpine cheeses. A Tomme des Bauges is certainly not an Abondance," says Lee.

Lee believes there's another unique, but less-talked-about, aspect of process. "In my view one of the most important aspects is the relatively quick rennet-type coagulation," he says. As soon as the milk is heated, the rennet is added to separate the curds from the whey. This allows the curds to thicken into the solid creamy substance that will become the "tomme."

In addtion to a common texture, every tomme has a rustic "edible" rind – sometimes dark enough to look as though the cheese is covered in soil – which makes it stand apart from other Alps-region cheeses, like Comté and Gruyère. This weathered appearance can be attributed to the up-to-seven-week aging process, which, when combined with the lower than normal heating, the pressing and the microflora in the cave creates the tomme's earthy rind.

On a recent trip to France, we spoke with Gérard Michoud, cheesemaker from Les Chalets d'Oches in the French Alps, who showed us his Tomme de Savoie to demonstrate how distinct its furry and almost mossy-looking rind is from the rind of his firm Alpine cheeses, like Abondance. As with most artisanal cheesemakers, Michoud gets quite excited about his products. "There's enough Penicillium on the rind for it to replace antibiotics when fighting off sicknesses," he told us, half-jokingly.

Medicinal properties aside, there's one other technical aspect that makes at tomme a tomme – the aroma. Inhaling a French tomme is pure magic – it's like breathing in the rustic natural scent of a cheese-cave with its entire microflora (the "good" bacteria that live on the sides of the cave helping the cheeses age to their best).

But when it comes to taste and consistency, the cheese can vary wildly due to the type of milk. From Tomme de Savoie to Tomme Crayeuse, the consistency and taste of the cheese can vary due to differences in milk. "The actual flavors in the cheese are a result of the breakdown of the fat and the protein, the bacteria which acidify the milk, and also the food consumed by the animals," says Lee. "The more fat in the milk, the moister and richer feeling a cheese has. It will also have more assertive flavors." Like in France, in the U.S., we can taste the differences amongst our stateside tommes by trying ones made from different milks. We suggest Lee's Goat Tomme (available coast-to-coast from The Cheesestore of Silverlake in L.A. to Rubiner's Cheesemongers and Grocers in Great Barrington, MA) and Consider Bardwell's cow's milk Dorset (view their website for a list of stores and restaurants that carry it).

Depending on the type of tomme, it can make an excellent melted cheese dish with potatoes (think tartiflette) or it can be perfect eaten on its own. The better quality of the tomme, the better it is to be eaten raw. Either way, just remember that all tomme-style cheeses share much more than looks.