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Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Caciocavallo di Supino

Raw cow milk from Ciociaria farms is set with calf paste rennet at 36–38 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size and left under the whey for 4–10 hours until it can be stretched. It is spun by hand in boiling water, shaped into an oval with a round head, brined, tied, and ripened hanging in pairs from poles for at least 15 days.

Fully documentedCheese15 days – 16 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives temperatures and times but no batch size. ONAF gives a cheese of about 0.4 kg.
Raw cow milk from two milkingsFrom Ciociaria farms; mixed and filtered through cloth[arsial-supino][onaf-sheet]
Calf paste rennet[arsial-supino]
Salt (brine)[arsial-supino]

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 16 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk from two milkings, filtered through cloth

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

Output: raw cow milk from two milkings.

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 from Ciociaria farms is set with calf paste rennet at 36–38 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size and left under the whey for 4–10 hours until it can be stretched. It is spun by hand in boiling water, shaped into an oval with a round head, brined, tied, and ripened hanging in pairs from poles for at least 15 days. Made in 8 steps over 15 days – 16 days. The longest step, ripen hanging from poles, takes at least 15 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 15 daysReported[arsial-supino]Ripen hanging from poles
Temperature36–38 °CReported[arsial-supino]Set with calf paste rennet

What makes this one different

A small raw-milk cow caciocavallo from one Ciociaria town. The curd sours under its own whey for 4–10 hours before stretching.

Rind
Thin, smooth, straw-yellow
Size
About 0.4 kg and 10 cm high (ONAF); oval with a round head

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 15 days. The Lazio list marks it as allowed to use derogations from the standard hygiene rules for its traditional methods.

Hazards the sources name: Enterococcus isolates carrying virulence genes, found in related raw-milk Caciocavallo, Scamorza and Caciotta cheeses made with natural cultures.

History and sources

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

The ARSIAL sheet dates the cheese to the early 1800s. Craft production in Supino is recorded from 1940, when one maker began cheesemaking in an old brick kiln with a copper cauldron (the callaro) to heat the milk. The name comes from the habit of hanging the cheeses in pairs astride wooden poles.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [delmatto2021] Del Matto I, Rossi F, Iannitto G, Petrone D, Mastrodomenico MT, Alessiani A, Sacchini L, Amadoro C, Tucci P, Marino L (2021), Variability of the microbiota in traditional Caciocavallo, Scamorza and Caciotta cheeses manufactured with raw milk and natural cultures, International Journal of Dairy Technology 74(3) (abstract)paper
  2. [arsial-supino] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Caciocavallo di Supino', p. 152gov
  3. [pat-lazio] Regione Lazio and ARSIAL, PAT Lazio 2026, Lazio section of the national list of traditional agri-food products (law 238/2016, art. 12), no. 88 'Caciocavallo di Supino*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  4. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciocavallo di Supino'web