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Cheese from Italy, Sicilia

Ainuzziainuzzi

Ainuzzi are small Sicilian stretched-curd cheeses shaped by hand into deer, fallow deer and goats. Raw cow milk is set with lamb rennet at 37 °C, and the curd is left under a cloth for about a day to drain and sour. Strips of the soured curd are stretched in hot water, modelled into animals, firmed in cold water and briefly brined.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives the method but no amounts. Each figure weighs 100–200 g.
Raw whole cow milkThe evening milking, filtered and kept overnight, warmed and mixed with fresh morning milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lamb rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Hot water65–70 °C water added while breaking the curd; boiling or hot water for stretching[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Saturated brine[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 25 h

Start
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shapes, not to countLactobacilli37 °C

What changes: Raw milk warmed to 37 °C is set with lamb rennet

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk and set it with lamb rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
37 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli

Output: set curd.

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

Ainuzzi are small Sicilian stretched-curd cheeses shaped by hand into deer, fallow deer and goats. Raw cow milk is set with lamb rennet at 37 °C, and the curd is left under a cloth for about a day to drain and sour. Strips of the soured curd are stretched in hot water, modelled into animals, firmed in cold water and briefly brined. Made in 7 steps over 25 h. The longest step, drain and sour under a cloth, takes 24 h (Regione Siciliana 2018) and runs at 30 °C (Regione Siciliana 2018). Streptococci and thermophilic lactobacilli, which dominated the curd of Vastedda Palermitana, a related raw-milk Sicilian stretched cow cheese does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Drain and sour under a cloth
Temperature30 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Drain and sour under a cloth

What makes this one different

Ainuzzi are among the few pasta filata cheeses modelled into figures. They use lamb rennet, hot water added while the curd is broken, and a day-long souring of the curd under a cloth before it is stretched.

Rind
Thin skin, milk-white to light straw after a few days
Size
100–200 g; animal figures (deer, goats, …)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Corpus Domini ainuzziMade all year, but the June batch for the Corpus Domini feast is especially appreciated.

Safety

Made from raw milk and eaten fresh; the ONAF sheet keeps them at 2–8 °C and eats them within 6–7 days. 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.

History and sources

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

For the feast of Corpus Domini, each confraternity once carried its patron saint on a frame hung with ainuzzi. After the service the little cheeses were given out to the faithful and the poor.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Siciliana 2018, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (D.M. 16 febbraio 2018), sheet "Ainuzzi" (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet "Ainuzzi"web
  3. [formaggio-it] formaggio.it, scheda 'Ainuzzi P.A.T.' (cow milk, lamb rennet, 65–70 °C water, 24 hours on draining tables under cloths, brine; Corpus Domini history)web
  4. [alaimo2026] Alaimo F., Di Salvo E., Busetta G., Garofalo G., D'Ambrosio M., Barbera M., Furfaro M.E., Evola C., Patane S., Settanni L., Virga A.N., Gaglio R. 2026, Characterizing the microbiota of traditional wooden tools and their impact on the hygiene and quality of TAP Vastedda Palermitana cheese, International Journal of Food Microbiology 459, 111889 (abstract; a related raw-milk Sicilian stretched cow cheese)paper
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov