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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Caciocavallo del MateseCasicavagliu ré Matese

A pear-shaped stretched-curd cheese of the Matese mountains. Thermised whole cow milk is set at 38 °C with liquid calf rennet and a whey starter made on site, broken to olive size with a long beech paddle, and the curd sours 2–4 hours in a cherry-wood tub under boiling whey. It is stretched with boiling water, shaped by hand, brined 2–6 hours and hung in pairs to ripen from a few weeks to 18 months.

Fully documentedCheese18 monthsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Campania)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo milk amounts are recorded. About 1.2 kg of stretched curd makes a 1 kg fresh cheese; cheeses weigh 0.8–2.5 kg.
Whole cow milkMorning and evening milkings, thermised; cows fed on mountain pasture with local cereals and forage[pat-sheet]
Whey starter (siero innesto)Made in the same dairy; the whey drained from each make is kept for the next[pat-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet]
SaltAs a brine[pat-sheet]
RaffiaTo tie the cheeses in pairs for hanging[pat-sheet]
Starterwhey starter made on site

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactobacillusStreptococcus38 °CMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Whey starter and calf rennet set the thermised milk at 38 °C in about 35 minutes

Step 1 of 8
Thermise the milk and add starter and rennet
Time
35 min
Reported
Temperature
38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus
Streptococcus
Lactic acid bacteria
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 pear-shaped stretched-curd cheese of the Matese mountains. Thermised whole cow milk is set at 38 °C with liquid calf rennet and a whey starter made on site, broken to olive size with a long beech paddle, and the curd sours 2–4 hours in a cherry-wood tub under boiling whey. It is stretched with boiling water, shaped by hand, brined 2–6 hours and hung in pairs to ripen from a few weeks to 18 months. Made in 8 steps over 18 months. The longest step, hang in pairs to ripen, takes up to 18 months (Regione Campania 2015) and runs at 8–15 °C (Regione Campania 2015). In a related cheese, Apulian Caciocavallo made with natural whey starter (four dairies, one standardised protocol), Lactobacillus dominated at the start of ripening, and Streptococcus was associated with the starter in two dairies does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 18 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Hang in pairs to ripen
Temperature8–15 °CReported[pat-sheet]Hang in pairs to ripen

What makes this one different

The curd sours in a cherry-wood tub under boiling whey and is stretched there with a long beech paddle. The whey from each make is kept to start the next.

Size
0.8–2.5 kg; oval or pear shape with a raffia-tied head

Related ferments

Variants

  • Friscu (fresco)Up to 20–25 days; white, smooth rind.
  • Musciu (semistagionato)20–90 days; smooth straw-yellow rind.
  • Siccu (stagionato)7–18 months; rough brown rind, piquant.

Safety

The milk is thermised before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

The Campania PAT sheet says that when the land register (catasto onciario) of San Gregorio Matese was drawn up in 1584, the people were shepherds, labourers and cowherds. All the milk was made into cheese so it would keep, and was traded with the Volturno valley.

  1. [vacca2024] Vacca M, Celano G, Serale N, Costantino G, Calabrese FM, Calasso M, De Angelis M (2024), Dynamic microbial and metabolic changes during Apulian Caciocavallo cheesemaking and ripening produced according to a standardized protocol, Journal of Dairy Science (abstract)paper
  2. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Prodotti tradizionali, Caciocavallo del Matese (last updated 13 March 2015)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF, Caciocavallo del Matese, technical sheet (PAT Campania)web