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Cheese from Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, the whole region

Caciotta caprinaformadiele

Caciotta caprina is the cheese most made on the goat farms of Friuli Venezia Giulia, from raw or thermised milk with farm-selected cultures or a natural milk starter. For the fresh cheese the milk is set at 34–35 °C and the cheese is ready in 2–3 weeks. For the aged cheese the curd is cut finer, cooked slowly to 42–43 °C and pressed, and the wheels age up to eight months, when they can be grated.

Fully documentedCheese14 days – 8 monthsFriuli Venezia Giulia traditional food product (PAT)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts. The regional sheet gives the temperatures, times and curd sizes for two tracks, fresh and aged.
Whole goat milk, raw or thermised[ersa-sheet]
Lactic cultures, preferably selected on the farm, or a natural milk starter (lattoinnesto)[ersa-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet or kid rennetKid rennet only in the aged track[ersa-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltRubbed on by hand or as brine[ersa-sheet]
Starterfarm-selected lactic cultures or natural milk starter (lattoinnesto); calf or kid rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 14 days – 8 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactobacilli38–39 °CpH 6.5

What changes: Lactic starter goes into the goat's milk and starts to sour it before the rennet

Step 1 of 7
Add the starter and let it work
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
38–39 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.5
Reported
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
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

Caciotta caprina is the cheese most made on the goat farms of Friuli Venezia Giulia, from raw or thermised milk with farm-selected cultures or a natural milk starter. For the fresh cheese the milk is set at 34–35 °C and the cheese is ready in 2–3 weeks. For the aged cheese the curd is cut finer, cooked slowly to 42–43 °C and pressed, and the wheels age up to eight months, when they can be grated. Made in 7 steps over 14 days – 8 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 14 days – 8 months (ERSA (Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rural…). Mesophilic lactococci and mesophilic lactobacilli, which reached about 8 and 7.5 log CFU/g over 90 days of ripening in Cilentana, a related raw goat cheese of Campania that relied on the milk's own microbiota does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 days – 8 monthsReported[ersa-sheet]Ripen
Temperature38–39 °CReported[ersa-sheet]Add the starter and let it work
AciditypH 6.5Reported[ersa-sheet]Add the starter and let it work

What makes this one different

One name covers two tracks. The fresh cheese is set cooler and cut larger; the aged one gets its starter at 38–39 °C, a finer cut, a slow cook to 42–43 °C and pressing.

Rind
Clean, thin to fairly thick, straw
Size
Fresh Ø 12–15 cm, 6–8 cm high, 0.8–1.2 kg; aged Ø 15–20 cm, up to 10 cm high
Fat
About 30% fat in dry matter fresh, 30–35% aged (ONAF)

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoSet at 34–35 °C, cut to hazelnut size; ready in 2–3 weeks.
  • Stagionato (vecjo di cjavre)Starter at 38–39 °C, cut to maize or rice size, cooked to 42–43 °C and pressed; up to 8 months.

Safety

The milk may be raw or thermised. The fresh cheese is ready in 2–3 weeks. CDC advises pregnant women, adults over 65 and people with weak immunity to avoid cheese made from raw milk.

Hazards the sources name: Coliforms (still about 5.5 log CFU/g at day 90), E. coli and coagulase-positive staphylococci (about 2.8 and 2.6 log CFU/g at day 30; below the counting limits of 10 and 100 CFU/g by day 60) in four batches from one farm of Cilentana, a related raw goat cheese of Campania; S. aureus was still found in one 30-day cheese; Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes were not detected in any sample.

History and sources

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

Goat cheese in Friuli was long made at home or in mountain dairies, often mixed with cow's milk. The Bullettino of the Associazione Agraria Friulana wrote on goats in 1914, a 1967 text names a goat Montasio in the dairies, and Caprino della Carnia is listed among Italy's goat cheeses in 1991.

  1. [ersa-sheet] ERSA (Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale, Friuli Venezia Giulia), Prodotti tradizionali, Caciotta caprina (page saved February 2018; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), Caciotta caprina cheese sheetweb
  3. [cilentana2026] Casalino L, Di Paolo M, Egidio M, Polizzi G, Peruzy MF, Mazzocca R, D'Anza E, Marrone R. 2026, Physicochemical and Microbiological Characterization of Cilentana Goat Cheese, Foods 15(18):3226 (a related raw goat cheese of Campania, not this cheese)paper
  4. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov