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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Formaggio agordino di malgaformaggio agordino di malga

Agordino di malga is a summer cheese made in the high pastures of the Agordino, near Belluno. Raw cow milk, the evening milking skimmed by letting the cream rise, is set with calf rennet at 33–36 °C, cut small, semi-cooked at 42–44 °C, pressed and brined. The wheels ripen at least two months at 7–15 °C, and in natural rooms up to six to eight months.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives the method but no amounts; it describes summer making in the malghe.
Raw cow milk from the evening and morning milkingsThe evening milk is skimmed by creaming in tinned-copper basins set in running mountain water; the morning milk is whole[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltUsually as a brine bath; dry salting is also described[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Startertraditionally a milk or whey starter (lattoinnesto, sieroinnesto), which the ONAF sheet says is being lost in favour of selected cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 8 months

Start
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What changes: The evening milk stands in cold copper basins and the cream rises off it

Step 1 of 7
Skim the evening milk by creaming
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus
Pediococcus
Lactococcus
Enterococcus

Output: part-skimmed evening milk, mixed with whole morning milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Agordino di malga is a summer cheese made in the high pastures of the Agordino, near Belluno. Raw cow milk, the evening milking skimmed by letting the cream rise, is set with calf rennet at 33–36 °C, cut small, semi-cooked at 42–44 °C, pressed and brined. The wheels ripen at least two months at 7–15 °C, and in natural rooms up to six to eight months. Made in 7 steps over 2 months – 8 months. The longest step, ripen, cleaned and turned, takes 2–8 months (Regione del Veneto) and runs at 7–15 °C (Regione del Veneto). Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Lactococcus and Enterococcus, named as the most abundant genera of endogenous milk flora in 2-month-ripened raw-milk cheeses from Trentino malghe does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–8 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, cleaned and turned
Temperature7–15 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, cleaned and turned

What makes this one different

Agordino di malga is made only in summer (June to September) in the high pastures, from raw milk part-skimmed by letting the cream rise in copper basins cooled by running water. It is semi-cooked and pressed, and tastes stronger than the sweeter village latteria cheese.

Rind
Thin, smooth, cloth-marked; straw yellow to reddish brown
Size
3.0–4.0 kg; Ø 25–35 cm, height 5–8 cm

Related ferments

Variants

  • Long-agedRipened up to 6–8 months in natural rooms.

Safety

The milk is used raw, not heat-treated (ONAF sheet). The wheels ripen at least two months at 7–15 °C and 80–85 % relative humidity and are periodically cleaned and turned. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci reached 3.6–4.8 log CFU/g in the curd of four Trentino malga cheeses (related semi-cooked raw-milk malga cheeses) and were not detectable in the two-month-old cheeses; E. coli was still up to 4.5 log CFU/g in two-month cheese and was detected at three of the four malghe; Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella were not found in these trial batches, made within one week; Coagulase-positive staphylococci, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli, monitored in raw-milk dairy products of north-eastern Italian alpine dairies in general (not this cheese); staphylococci and E. coli were the ones most often over regulatory limits.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Agordino founded Italy's first cooperative dairy (latteria sociale) at Canale d'Agordo in 1872, through the parish priest Antonio Della Lucia. Milk is still made into cheese in village dairies and in the high-pasture malghe.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione del Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, Formaggi, "Formaggio agordino di malga", p. 140 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet "Formaggio agordino di malga"web
  3. [lucchini2018] Lucchini R, Cardazzo B, Carraro L, et al. 2018, Contribution of natural milk culture to microbiota, safety and hygiene of raw milk cheese produced in alpine malga, Italian Journal of Food Safety 7(1), a study of semi-cooked raw-milk malga cheeses in Trentinopaper
  4. [prandi2026] Prandi I, Pezzuto A, Massaro A, et al. 2026, A Fourteen-Year Surveillance Study on the Microbiological Status of Raw Milk Dairy Products from Alpine Dairies in Northeastern Italy, Foods 15(9):1479 (abstract)paper
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov