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Cheese from Veneto/Trentino

Asiago PDO (pressato/d'allevo)

Asiago is a semi-cooked cow-milk cheese from the Asiago plateau and the plains around it. It comes in two types. Asiago Fresco is made from whole milk, pressed, and ripened for at least 20 days. Asiago Stagionato is made from part-skimmed milk and ripened for at least 90 days, and the oldest cheeses pass 15 months.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes the process, not a batch size, so no amounts are given.
Cow milkFresco uses whole milk; Stagionato uses milk part-skimmed by creaming[asiago-disciplinare]
Lactic ferments or natural whey starter (lattoinnesto)[asiago-disciplinare]
Bovine rennet or a vegetable coagulant[asiago-disciplinare]
Sodium chloride (salt)modest quantity, optionalAdded in the vat, or the cheese is salted later by hand or in brine[asiago-disciplinare]
Starterlactic ferments or natural whey starter (lattoinnesto)

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
4–11 °C

What changes: Milk waits at 4–11 °C and is processed within 48 hours

Step 1 of 7
Hold the milk cold
Time
up to 2 days
Set
Temperature
4–11 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: vat milk (Stagionato milk part-skimmed by creaming).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Stagionato milk is raw, or thermised at 57–68 °C with a positive phosphatase test; Fresco milk may also be pasteurised

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

Asiago is a semi-cooked cow-milk cheese from the Asiago plateau and the plains around it. It comes in two types. Asiago Fresco is made from whole milk, pressed, and ripened for at least 20 days. Asiago Stagionato is made from part-skimmed milk and ripened for at least 90 days, and the oldest cheeses pass 15 months. Made in 7 steps over 23 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 20 days (Consorzio Tutela Formaggio Asiago 2019) and runs at at least 5 °C (Consorzio Tutela Formaggio Asiago 2019). Lactic ferments or natural whey starter (lattoinnesto); species are not named in the specification does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 20 daysSet[asiago-disciplinare]Ripen
Temperatureat least 5 °CSet[asiago-disciplinare]Ripen

What makes this one different

Asiago is made as two cheeses under one name. Fresco is a whole-milk cheese pressed for hours and ripened for weeks. Stagionato is a part-skimmed, harder cheese ripened for months or years. Both are semi-cooked, Fresco at 44 ± 2 °C and Stagionato at 47 ± 2 °C.

Milk
cow milk, whole for Fresco and part-skimmed by creaming for Stagionato
Setting
Fresco: 35–40 °C, cut after 15–25 min; Stagionato: 33–37 °C, cut after 15–30 min
Cooking
Fresco 44 ± 2 °C; Stagionato 47 ± 2 °C
Ripening
Fresco at least 20 days; stagionato at least 90 days (mezzano over 4 months, vecchio over 10, stravecchio over 15)
Salt in finished Fresco
The consortium's product sheet gives 1.7 % NaCl for Asiago Fresco
Size
Fresco 11–15 kg, 30–40 cm across; stagionato 8–12 kg, 30–36 cm across

Related ferments

Variants

  • Asiago Fresco (pressato)Whole milk, cooked to 44 ± 2 °C, pressed for at most 12 hours, ripened at least 20 days. Fresco Riserva is ripened over 40 days.
  • Asiago Stagionato (d'allevo)Part-skimmed milk, raw or thermised at 57–68 °C, cooked to 47 ± 2 °C, ripened at least 90 days.

Safety

The specification requires milk that meets the current health rules, stored at 4–11 °C and processed within 48 hours of reaching the dairy. Stagionato milk may be raw or thermised at 57–68 °C with a positive phosphatase test; Fresco milk may be raw, thermised or pasteurised. No further milk treatment is allowed, and lysozyme (E1105) is banned. The cheeses ripen in stores no colder than 5 °C. Fresco may ripen as little as 20 days, so a raw-milk Fresco can be a short-aged raw-milk cheese. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes may grow in certain cheeses during ageing.

History and sources

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

The specification says production of Asiago goes back to the year 1000 on the Asiago plateau in the province of Vicenza. After the First World War (1915–1918) breeders from the plateau had to move and carried the cheese tradition to the neighbouring area, which the specification puts within about 80 km of the plateau. The name was registered as an EU PDO by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996.

  1. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  2. [asiago-disciplinare] Consorzio Tutela Formaggio Asiago, Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine protetta "Asiago" (version of 27 November 2019, as amended for the EU register in 2020)spec
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF technical sheet, Asiago DOP (repeats the specification as a table)web
  4. [asiago-fresco-sheet] Consorzio Tutela Formaggio Asiago, Asiago DOP Fresco, Caratteristiche Fisiche (product sheet)web
  5. [reg-1107-96] Commission of the European Communities, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, Official Journal L 148, 21.6.1996, p. 1spec