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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Brus da ricotta

A fermented ricotta spread. Ricotta a few days old is cleaned of surface mould, kneaded to a cream and seeded with a small portion of finished brus, then kept at 8–10 °C and stirred for at least 30–40 days, with more young ricotta added until the tub is full. Unlike cheese brus it normally gets no spirits.

Fully documentedCheese30 days – 40 daysPAT (Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

Brus da ricotta, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: F Ceragioli, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedNo amounts are given; young ricotta is added a little at a time until the container is full.
Ricotta a few days old, preferably sheepA special mention goes to ricotta from Frabosana-Roaschina sheep[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
A small portion of finished brus da ricotta, as starter[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Coarsely ground black pepper and/or chilli (optional)[onaf-sheet]
A little milk, to soften the paste (optional)[pat-sheet]
Starterbackslop (finished brus da ricotta)

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days – 40 days

Start
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What changes: Ricotta a few days old is scraped clean of surface mould

Step 1 of 4
Clean the ricotta of surface mould
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

A fermented ricotta spread. Ricotta a few days old is cleaned of surface mould, kneaded to a cream and seeded with a small portion of finished brus, then kept at 8–10 °C and stirred for at least 30–40 days, with more young ricotta added until the tub is full. Unlike cheese brus it normally gets no spirits. Made in 4 steps over 30 days – 40 days. The longest step, ripen cool, adding ricotta and stirring, takes 30–40 days (Regione Piemonte 2015) and runs at 8–10 °C (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main step30–40 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen cool, adding ricotta and stirring
Temperature8–10 °CSet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen cool, adding ricotta and stirring

What makes this one different

Made from ricotta only, ripened cool at 8–10 °C with a little old brus as starter, and normally not finished with grappa or wine, where cheese brus is made from leftover cheeses at room temperature.

Type
Fermented ricotta spread, not a moulded cheese
Rind
None
Size
Glass jars of about 50 to 300 g (ONAF gives 0.150–0.200 kg)

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet notes that ricotta is heated hard but stays an ideal medium for microbes, so the tubs must be covered against insects and very moist ricotta avoided. It relies on the cheese brus survey, which tested some samples from some producers and found no Salmonella or Listeria monocytogenes. The sheet found no research on brus da ricotta itself, so that survey does not show this product is safe. Keep it refrigerated at 40 °F (4 °C) or colder, the CDC figure for perishable food.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes (not found in a 2004 regional survey of the related cheese brus that tested some samples from some producers; the sheet found no research on brus da ricotta itself); Coagulase-positive staphylococci and E. coli (no high counts in the related brus samples except in one case, negative for E. coli O157; staphylococcal enterotoxins not detectable).

History and sources

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

Made to keep ricotta, and to use ricotta that could not be sold quickly; the bibliography goes back to a 1911 account of the Valli di Lanzo.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte 2015, Schede tecniche prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (D.D. 24 luglio 2015, n. 460), Categoria I prodotto n. 02 'Brus da ricotta'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Brus da ricotta'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Brus da ricotta' (id 446)web
  4. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (31 January 2025), prevention sectiongov