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Cheese from Italy, Campania, province of Avellino, the commune of Ariano Irpino

Caciocchiato

Caciocchiato is a large pasta filata cheese from Ariano Irpino whose paste is full of small round eyes, which give it its name ("cacio with eyes"). The milk is thermised, set with calf rennet and the curd half-cooked to 40 °C. A ripening of at least four hours lets a propionic fermentation follow the lactic one, and its gas forms the eyes. The 12 kg cheeses are brined, sometimes cold-smoked over straw, and aged 2–12 months.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 12 monthsCampania traditional food product (PAT, listed from 2016)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedOne dairy's method; the regional sheet gives temperatures and times but no amounts. A shaped cheese of about 12 kg weighs 10–11 kg after ageing.
Whole cow milkFrom small and medium farms of the area, mixed breeds[pat-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet]
Saturated brine[pat-sheet]
Certified organic straw, for smokeOnly for the smoked type[pat-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 12 months

Start
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68 °C

What changes: The milk is thermised, heated to 68 °C for 20 seconds

Step 1 of 9
Thermise the milk
Time
0.3 min
Reported
Temperature
68 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus
Streptococcus
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

Caciocchiato is a large pasta filata cheese from Ariano Irpino whose paste is full of small round eyes, which give it its name ("cacio with eyes"). The milk is thermised, set with calf rennet and the curd half-cooked to 40 °C. A ripening of at least four hours lets a propionic fermentation follow the lactic one, and its gas forms the eyes. The 12 kg cheeses are brined, sometimes cold-smoked over straw, and aged 2–12 months. Made in 9 steps over 2 months – 12 months. The longest step, age in a controlled room, takes 2–12 months (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 step2–12 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Age in a controlled room
Temperature68 °CReported[pat-sheet]Thermise the milk

What makes this one different

Caciocchiato is a pasta filata with propionic eyes, which the regional sheet explains by a ripening long enough for a propionic fermentation to follow the lactic one. Its milk is thermised and only one dairy makes it.

Eyes
Many small, round, evenly spread eyes, about the size of a rice grain (regional sheet)
Rind
Thin, smooth, yellowish to light hazel; light brown when smoked
Size
About 12 kg when shaped; 10–11 kg after ageing

Related ferments

Variants

  • SempliceNot smoked.
  • AffumicatoCold-smoked over certified organic straw between brining and ageing.

Safety

The milk is thermised at 68 °C for 20 seconds and the dairy is a modern plant with an EU health mark.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet says the dairy that devised it has made it this way for about fifty years. ONAF reports it has been made continuously since the second half of the 20th century and was listed as a traditional product in 2016.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  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, Caciocchiato (updated 13 March 2015; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), Caciocchiato cheese sheetweb