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Cheese from Italy, Calabria

Caciotto di Cirella di PlatìCasucavallu

Raw whole cow milk is set with kid rennet paste at about 35 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size and left on a sloping table for 4–10 hours to sour, then stretched in water at about 85 °C and shaped by hand into a pear with no head. It is brined, tied with cord and aged 1–4 months, turning piquant by about 4 months.

Fully documentedCheese31 days – 4 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Calabria)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFamily method with no fixed batch size or doses. Each cheese weighs 300 g to 1 kg.
Raw whole cow milkFrom cows kept semi-free or on open pasture on the farm itself[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Kid rennet paste (natural rennet)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, as brineThe fresh cheese may be left unsalted[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Hot water, about 85 °C, for stretching[onaf-sheet]
Starternone added; the sheet calls the souring of the curd at room temperature "lactic"

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 4 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria35 °C

What changes: Kid rennet paste goes into the warm raw milk and sets a curd

Step 1 of 7
Set with kid rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The ONAF sheet gives 30–35 °C and no setting time. 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 whole cow milk is set with kid rennet paste at about 35 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size and left on a sloping table for 4–10 hours to sour, then stretched in water at about 85 °C and shaped by hand into a pear with no head. It is brined, tied with cord and aged 1–4 months, turning piquant by about 4 months. Made in 7 steps over 31 days – 4 months. The longest step, age hanging in a cellar, takes 30 days – 4 months (Regione Calabria). Lactic acid bacteria, which sour the curd before stretching does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 4 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Age hanging in a cellar
Temperature35 °CReported[pat-sheet]Set with kid rennet

What makes this one different

A family-made pasta filata pear without the small head of a caciocavallo. It uses kid rennet paste and raw cow milk, and the curd sours on a table for 4–10 hours before stretching.

Size
Headless pear, 300 g to 1 kg
Season
Made from March to December

Related ferments

Variants

  • FreshEaten young, sometimes unsalted; sweet and buttery.
  • Aged1–4 months, piquant; sometimes kept under oil.

Safety

Made from raw milk with wooden tools and a wood fire under a hygiene exemption. The ONAF sheet names Staphylococcus aureus, total bacteria and somatic cells as the raw-milk risks and says milk outside the legal limits should not be used.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus (named as a raw-milk risk, with total bacteria and somatic cells).

History and sources

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

The name caciocavallo is said to come from cheeses hung in pairs astride a pole near the hearth. A farm in Contrada Schiavo holds documents showing the cheese is more than 25 years old.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Calabria, Prodotti agro-alimentari tradizionali, product sheet no. 64 'Caciotto di Cirella' (scanned form, copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciotto di Cirella di Platì'web
  3. [stretch-review] Gonçalves M.C., Cardarelli H.R. (2021), Mozzarella Cheese Stretching: A Minireview, Food Technology and Biotechnology 59(1):82-91paper