CHEESES OF THE PIEDMONT REGION OF ITALY
Introduction	Bra Tenero	Bra Duro	Raschera	Castelmagno	Toma Piemontese	Murazzano
About Professor Zeppa	Tuma ‘d Trausela	Gorgonzola	Taleggio	Murianengo	Tomino di Talucco	Montebore
Bruss	Ask Professor Zeppa a question	Cevrin di Coazze	Grana Padano	Toma del Lait brusc	Robiola di Roccaverano	Saras del Fèn

Bra Tenero

Characteristics - (Denomination of Protected Origin 1 July 1996) -Bra Tenero is a cylindrical cheese with a diameter of 30-40 cm, a convex edge of 7-9 cm and a weight of 6-8 kg.  The cheese is ripened for at least 45 days.  The crust is smooth, regular with a light grey colour.  The dough, or internal cheese body, is white or ivory-white with small and sparse holes.  The texture is moderately hard and elastic.  The odour is 'soft', not strong, with milk and cream characteristics.  The taste is also very soft (bland) and mainly sweet.

Production area - The geographical area of production is the entire province of Cuneo.  The ripening area includes also the Villafranca Piemonte town in the province of Turin.  If Bra Tenero is produced in the mountain area of the province the cheese can be named "di alpeggio" (from mountain pasture).

Cheesemaking - Bra Tenero is produced with raw or pasteurised cows' milk.  The milk is coagulated by the addition of bovine liquid rennet at a temperature of 36-38° C.  When pasteurised milk is used, a commercial starter generally made with a mix of thermophilic and mesophilic lactic bacteria are used.  Generally, producers use a different starter to characterise their production.  The curd is cut twice to produce granules with the size of maize.  After draining, the curd is put in moulds and pressed at least 5-6 hours.  The cheese is then salting in brine for about 36 hours.

Composition - The composition of Bra Tenero cheese is given in table 1.

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