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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Caciocapra

A semi-cooked goat cheese of the Asiago plateau. Evening milk sours overnight, is mixed with the morning milk and thermised at 65–67 °C, then cooled to 37 °C and set in 15–20 minutes with powdered plant rennet. The hazelnut-sized curd is warmed to 45 °C, moulded overnight, salted on the faces and brined, and ripened 2–6 months.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 6 monthsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Veneto)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo amounts are recorded. Wheels weigh 0.5–2 kg; one goat's daily milk makes a cheese of about 300 g (ONAF sheet).
Whole goat milkEvening milk rested overnight, mixed with the morning milk; filtered through plastic strainers and paper filters[pat-sheet]
Dry plant rennet powderDissolved in a little water[pat-sheet]
SaltRubbed on the faces, then a brine[pat-sheet]
StarterThe evening milk is left to rest overnight and acidifies naturally; the sheets call this natural acidification

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 6 months

Start
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Milk sugarLactic acid

What changes: The evening's goat milk rests overnight and acidifies naturally

Step 1 of 8
Let the evening milk sour overnight
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Filtered through plastic strainers and paper filters, then left to rest all night; the sheets call this natural acidification.

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 semi-cooked goat cheese of the Asiago plateau. Evening milk sours overnight, is mixed with the morning milk and thermised at 65–67 °C, then cooled to 37 °C and set in 15–20 minutes with powdered plant rennet. The hazelnut-sized curd is warmed to 45 °C, moulded overnight, salted on the faces and brined, and ripened 2–6 months. Made in 8 steps over 2 months – 6 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 2–6 months (Regione Veneto).

Key numbers
Main step2–6 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen
Temperature65–67 °CReported[pat-sheet]Thermise with the morning milk

What makes this one different

It uses goat milk soured overnight, thermised, then set with plant rennet, so the curd is part acid and part rennet. It is semi-cooked to 45 °C.

Season
March to November, the goats' lactation (ONAF sheet)
Size
0.5–2 kg; cylinder

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is thermised at 65–67 °C and the cheese ripens at least 2 months. The sheet says the milk is filtered carefully through plastic strainers and paper filters to get healthy milk free of microbes that could grow during ripening. That is the sheet's stated aim; it reports no test of it.

History and sources

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

Goat cheese belongs to the farming tradition of the Asiago plateau, and goat keepers still pass the caciocapra method on by word of mouth. The goats most used are Camosciata delle Alpi and Saanen (ONAF sheet).

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, Caciocapra, p. 387gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF, Caciocapra, technical sheet (PAT Veneto)web