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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Caciocavallo affumicato

Raw cow milk, traditionally from white Podolica-type cows, is set with lamb or kid rennet, and the curd is left to sour on a table for 4–10 hours until it stretches. It is spun in water at 90–95 °C, shaped into a pear with a small head, brined and hung in pairs over poles in smoke from wood or straw. It then ripens 60 days to over a year in cool rooms or caves and turns piquant.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Campania)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo source gives a batch size. A cheese weighs 0.5–2.0 kg on the ONAF sheet.
Raw whole cow milkTraditionally from white-coated cows of Podolica stock[campania-pat][onaf-sheet]
Lamb or kid rennet[onaf-sheet]
Salt (brine)[onaf-sheet]
Wood or natural strawFor the smoke[campania-pat]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw whole cow milk in the vat

Step 1 of 8
Warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: raw whole cow 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

Raw cow milk, traditionally from white Podolica-type cows, is set with lamb or kid rennet, and the curd is left to sour on a table for 4–10 hours until it stretches. It is spun in water at 90–95 °C, shaped into a pear with a small head, brined and hung in pairs over poles in smoke from wood or straw. It then ripens 60 days to over a year in cool rooms or caves and turns piquant. Made in 8 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2 months (Regione Campania 2015).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsReported[campania-pat]Ripen
Temperature36–38 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Set with lamb or kid rennet

What makes this one different

The smoked form of the Campania caciocavallo. The cheeses are hung in pairs in wood or straw smoke, the old practice near the hearth that gave the cheese its name, before months of ripening.

Rind
Fairly thin, smooth, matt; straw to orange
Size
0.5–2.0 kg; rounded and elongated with a small head and a plant-fibre tie (ONAF)
Ripening
60 days to more than 12 months

Related ferments

Variants

  • Matese straw-ripenedIn parts of Caserta province the last stage of ripening takes place in straw.

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 60 days. Ageing alone does not make raw-milk cheese safe. The US FDA says 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in raw-milk cheese, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than hard cooked ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

History and sources

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

The Campania regional sheet calls caciocavallo a stretched-curd cheese of very ancient origin, widespread across southern Italy with many local forms. It says the name comes from the old habit of hanging the cheeses in pairs, tied with a plant-fibre loop, astride wooden poles near the hearth, where they formed a skin and then ripened.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [campania-pat] Regione Campania, Prodotti agro-alimentari tradizionali, 'Caciocavallo affumicato, del Matese, di bufala, Podolico, di Castelfranco' (updated 13 March 2015; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciocavallo affumicato'web
  3. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov