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Cheese from Italy, Marche

Caciotta (marchigiana)Caciotta

Raw, freshly drawn cow milk, often mixed with some ewe or goat milk, sets with calf rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, pressed into moulds by hand, dry-salted for up to two days and scalded for a few minutes in boiling whey. It ripens 15–20 days with its rind washed every other day; in Montefeltro it is aged 2–6 months, sometimes under walnut leaves.

Fully documentedCheese2.6 months – 6.7 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Marche)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives times and temperatures but no batch size or doses. The milk mix varies by farm and season. Each cheese weighs 0.7–2 kg.
Raw cow milk, with ewe and/or goat milk in variable amountsAll local milk; the share changes with the area and the season[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet][onaf-page]
Salt, for dry-salting[pat-sheet]
Whey, boiling, for scalding; warm, for washing[pat-sheet]
Walnut leaves (Montefeltro, optional)[pat-sheet]
Native lactic cultures (optional)[onaf-sheet]
Startercultures of native lactic bacteria may be added

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.6 months – 6.7 months

Start
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What changes: Calf rennet sets the fresh raw milk into a curd in 20–30 minutes

Step 1 of 8
Set the raw milk with calf rennet
Time
20–30 min
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Rennet goes into raw milk straight after milking. Output: curd.

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, freshly drawn cow milk, often mixed with some ewe or goat milk, sets with calf rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, pressed into moulds by hand, dry-salted for up to two days and scalded for a few minutes in boiling whey. It ripens 15–20 days with its rind washed every other day; in Montefeltro it is aged 2–6 months, sometimes under walnut leaves. Made in 8 steps over 2.6 months – 6.7 months. The longest step, age or refine under walnut leaves (Montefeltro), takes 2–6 months (Regione Marche 2014).

Key numbers
Main step2–6 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-page]Age or refine under walnut leaves (Montefeltro)
Temperature43–44 °CReported[pat-sheet]Semi-cook (some makers)

What makes this one different

A region-wide Marche caciotta of raw cow milk with some ewe or goat milk. It is scalded in boiling whey after salting, and its rind is washed with water and warm whey while it ripens. Montefeltro forms may be refined under layers of walnut leaves.

Size
Cylinder with a convex side, 0.7–2 kg, 10–22 cm across and 4–7 cm high
Rind
Thin, dark ivory; spotted brown when walnut leaves are used

Related ferments

Variants

  • FermanoEaten fresher, with more eyes; sweet and slightly sour.
  • MontefeltroAged 2–6 months, compact and more savoury; may be refined under walnut leaves.

Safety

Made from raw milk and sold after at least 10 days, so it is a young raw-milk cheese. Keep it cold. ANSES, the French food safety agency, names Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as the main hazards of raw-milk cheeses. It advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children not to eat raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed ones such as Comté.

History and sources

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

The Marche regional government identified caciotta as a milk product with traditional characteristics in its resolution no. 2985 of 30 November 1998 (a Giunta resolution, not a decree), under article 8 of Italian legislative decree 173/98. The cheese is made all year in all five provinces of the Marche.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Marche, decree 73/CSI of 11 March 2014, Annex B, traditional product sheet 'Caciotta' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciotta' (Marche)web
  3. [onaf-page] ONAF, cheese page 'Caciotta' (Marche, id 415)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov