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Cheese from Italy, Puglia, province of Foggia, the Gargano and the Sub-Appennino Dauno

Caciocavallo podolico daunoCas'cavall

Caciocavallo podolico dauno is a pear-shaped pasta filata cheese of 2–3 kg from the Gargano and the Dauno mountains, made on the farm from raw milk of Podolica cows. The milk is set at 36–38 °C over a wood or gas fire, soured with the previous day's whey (cizza) and ripened for 4–5 hours in a wooden tub. After stretching it is cooled, brined for a day and a half and aged 6–12 months hung in pairs.

Fully documentedCheese6.1 months – 12 monthsPuglia traditional food product (PAT); Slow Food PresidiumFamily: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm method with no fixed amounts. The regional sheet fixes the setting temperature, the souring, cooling and brining times and the ageing.
Raw whole cow milkPodolica and derived cows; filtered through cotton cloth or a fine sieve (culature)[pat-sheet]
Lamb or kid rennet[pat-sheet]
Whey starter (cizza)Whey from the previous day's make[pat-sheet]
Salt, as brine[pat-sheet]
Starterwhey starter from the previous day (cizza); lamb or kid rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 6.1 months – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaLactobacilli36–38 °C

What changes: Lamb or kid rennet goes into raw Podolica milk warmed over a fire

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk over the fire and add rennet
Time
30–45 min
Reported
Temperature
36–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacilli
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

Caciocavallo podolico dauno is a pear-shaped pasta filata cheese of 2–3 kg from the Gargano and the Dauno mountains, made on the farm from raw milk of Podolica cows. The milk is set at 36–38 °C over a wood or gas fire, soured with the previous day's whey (cizza) and ripened for 4–5 hours in a wooden tub. After stretching it is cooled, brined for a day and a half and aged 6–12 months hung in pairs. Made in 6 steps over 6.1 months – 12 months. The longest step, hang in pairs and age, takes 6–12 months (Regione Puglia). Native lactic bacteria of the previous day's whey starter, the cizza and Streptococci and lactobacilli, the major groups in the wooden-vat biofilms of the nearby Caciocavallo Podolico Lucano, where lactobacilli dominated the ripened cheese do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–12 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Hang in pairs and age
Temperature36–38 °CReported[pat-sheet]Warm the milk over the fire and add rennet

What makes this one different

It is made on the farm from Podolica milk and is longer and slimmer than the usual caciocavallo, with a small head. The maker barely wets the curd while shaping it, and the cheese ages 6–12 months.

Rind
Thin, smooth, shiny; alabaster to amber yellow
Size
2.0–3.0 kg; belly Ø 8–15 cm, length 22–32 cm
Composition
About 45% fat in dry matter; 30–40% water (ONAF)
Dairy room
Varies through the day from 13 to 28 °C, with a wood or gas fire (regional sheet)

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet names raw milk and wooden tools as the hazards. Milk must come from herds free of infectious disease and is worked right after milking, with hygienic milking and clean tools. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci, the only undesirable bacteria detected in the nearby Caciocavallo Podolico Lucano.

History and sources

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

ONAF quotes the Royal Economic Society of Capitanata as saying that Sannicandro Garganico, Rignano Garganico and Cagnano Varano compete for first place in making caciocavalli. ONAF also says Podolica cows were draught animals that gave only a few litres of milk a day, so the cheese was made in makeshift rooms with simple tools.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Puglia, Area politiche per lo sviluppo rurale, Scheda identificativa per l'elenco dei Prodotti Tradizionali, Caciocavallo Podolico Dauno, with derogation sheet (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [busetta2023] Busetta G., Garofalo G., Barbera M. et al. 2023, Metagenomic, microbiological, chemical and sensory profiling of Caciocavallo Podolico Lucano cheese, Food Research International 169, 112926 (abstract)paper
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), Caciocavallo Podolico Dauno cheese sheetweb
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov