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Cheese from Italy, Abruzzo

Caciotta vaccina frentanaCasce d'vacc

Raw whole cow milk is made into cheese twice a day, after each milking. It is set with calf rennet at 36–38 °C, semi-cooked at 40–45 °C, broken to hazelnut size and pressed into rush baskets. The formed cheeses are dipped back into whey at up to 50 °C to seal them, then dry-salted and usually eaten within a few days.

Fully documentedCheese16 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Abruzzo; entry 36 in the Regione Abruzzo list updated 2023)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives temperatures and times but no batch size; the rennet dose depends on its strength and the milk's acidity. Each cheese weighs about 800 g on average.
Raw whole cow milk, filteredFrom Brown Swiss, Pezzata Rossa, Pezzata Nera or crosses; one batch per milking[pat-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder dissolved in waterDose set by the rennet's strength and the milk's acidity[pat-sheet]
Whey or milk starter (optional)Whey kept from the last make, to bring thermophilic lactic bacteria[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, for dry-salting[pat-sheet]
Starteroptional whey or milk starter carrying thermophilic lactic bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Raw milk warms to 36–38 °C, and whey or milk starter may go in

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk and add starter
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Whey or milk starter may be added to help the milk sour.

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 whole cow milk is made into cheese twice a day, after each milking. It is set with calf rennet at 36–38 °C, semi-cooked at 40–45 °C, broken to hazelnut size and pressed into rush baskets. The formed cheeses are dipped back into whey at up to 50 °C to seal them, then dry-salted and usually eaten within a few days. Made in 7 steps over 16 days. The longest step, wash, dry and ripen, takes 15 days (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)).

Key numbers
Main step15 daysReported[onaf-sheet]Wash, dry and ripen
Temperature36–38 °CReported[pat-sheet]Warm the milk and add starter

What makes this one different

The formed cheeses are sealed by dipping them, still in their baskets, back into hot whey. It is made at every milking and now mostly eaten fresh; it was once aged larger for grating and for Easter fiadoni.

Size
Cylinder with flat faces, about 800 g on average, 12–20 cm across and 7–12 cm high; formerly up to 2 kg for ageing
Rind
Thin, porcelain-white when fresh, straw-yellow when aged; marked by the rush basket

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and mostly eaten within a few days, so it is a fresh 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

Podolica cows, once used for farm work, gave the milk until the 1960s; dairy breeds took over and the method stayed the same. Records of the covered market in Lanciano show the caciotta sold there since the early 1950s.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Abruzzo, traditional product sheet 'Caciotta vaccina frentana' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciotta vaccina frentana'web
  3. [abruzzo-pat-2023] Regione Abruzzo, Elenco dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (PAT) dell'Abruzzo, updated 2023, entry 36 'Caciotta vaccina frentana, Formaggio di vacca, Casce d'vacc'gov
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov