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Cheese from Italy, Basilicata

Canestrato di Moliterno PGICanestrato di Moliterno

A hard cheese of 70–90 % ewe milk and 10–30 % goat milk, set with lamb or kid paste rennet at 36–40 °C. The rice-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, salted and dried at the farm for 30–40 days. It then ripens for at least 60 days in the fondaci, cool stone cellars of Moliterno, where the rind is rubbed with olive oil, vinegar or soot water.

Fully documentedCheese3.4 months – 3.7 monthsPGI (entered in the EU register by Regulation (EU) No 441/2010 of 21 May 2010; standard amendment approved in 2024)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes the milk mix by percentage, not by volume. A finished cheese weighs 2 to 5.5 kg.
Whole ewe milk70–90 %Gentile di Puglia, Gentile di Lucania, Leccese, Sarda or Comisana sheep; raw or thermised[moliterno-sd2024]
Whole goat milk10–30 %Garganica, Grigia Lucana, Maltese, Jonica, Camosciata or Rossa Mediterranea goats[moliterno-sd2024]
Lamb or kid rennet pasteMade from the dried stomachs of suckling lambs or kids, with 100–200 g of salt per kg of paste[moliterno-disc]
Natural starter or selected local culturesOnly when the milk has been thermised[moliterno-disc]
SaltDry salt or saturated brine[moliterno-disc]
Olive oil, wine vinegar or soot waterRind treatments during ripening[moliterno-disc]
Starterraw-milk flora; natural starter or selected local cultures if the milk is thermised

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.4 months – 3.7 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: ewe milk with a share of goat milk

Step 1 of 8
Collect ewe and goat milk
Time
up to 2 days
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli

Output: mixed raw or thermised milk.

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

A hard cheese of 70–90 % ewe milk and 10–30 % goat milk, set with lamb or kid paste rennet at 36–40 °C. The rice-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, salted and dried at the farm for 30–40 days. It then ripens for at least 60 days in the fondaci, cool stone cellars of Moliterno, where the rind is rubbed with olive oil, vinegar or soot water. Made in 8 steps over 3.4 months – 3.7 months. The longest step, ripen in the fondaci of Moliterno, takes at least 2 months (European Commission 2024). Natural starters or selected local cultures, added when the milk has been heat treated and Lactococci, lactobacilli and enterococci do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[moliterno-sd2024][moliterno-disc]Ripen in the fondaci of Moliterno
Temperature36–40 °CSet[moliterno-disc][moliterno-sd2024]Set with lamb or kid paste rennet

What makes this one different

A mixed ewe and goat cheese, unlike the all-ewe Canestrato Pugliese. Its mark is where it ripens, the fondaci of Moliterno, and it is the only canestrato whose rind may be treated with soot water.

Milk
70–90 % whole ewe milk and 10–30 % whole goat milk, raw or thermised
Ripening
At least 60 days; primitivo up to 6 months, stagionato 6–12 months, extra over 12 months
Size
15–25 cm across, 10–15 cm high, 2–5.5 kg
Composition
Fat at least 30 % of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • PrimitivoRipened up to 6 months; white paste, yellow rind.
  • StagionatoRipened more than 6 and up to 12 months.
  • ExtraRipened more than 12 months.

Safety

Made from raw or thermised milk and ripened at least 60 days. A survey of the ripening shelves and rinds of Pecorino di Filiano and Canestrato di Moliterno together found no Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli or S. aureus. In a challenge test on Gouda and Cheddar, raw milk was deliberately contaminated with a low level of E. coli O157:H7. Counts fell, but it was still detectable by enrichment past 270 days, so 60 days of ageing alone did not eliminate it. ANSES, the French food safety agency, advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté.

History and sources

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

The consolidated specification says the people of Moliterno have made curing pecorino a main activity since the 1700s, the date of the first historical records, and that the cheese was exported to America in the past. It quotes Father Daniele Murno, a Franciscan of Moliterno, on long mule caravans that went down from Moliterno to the Ionian coastal lands in winter and spring to collect fresh pecorino, a round trip of four to six days. It also quotes the local scholar Bianculli, who held that cheese cured by Moliterno women moved to the coast did not reach the quality made in the town. In 1906 one exporter on the list of Basilicata exporters shipped about 1,300 quintals of aged cheese. The EU entered the name in the PGI register by Regulation 441/2010 of 21 May 2010, and a standard amendment was approved in 2024.

  1. [moliterno-sd2024] European Commission 2024, Canestrato di Moliterno PGI, standard amendment and single document (PGI-IT-0487-AM01), Official Journal of the EU C/2024/3834spec
  2. [moliterno-disc] MASAF 2024, Disciplinare di produzione 'Canestrato di Moliterno' IGP (consolidated specification, February 2024)spec
  3. [moliterno-oj2009] European Commission 2009, Publication of an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006, 'Canestrato di Moliterno' (PGI) summary, Official Journal of the European Union C 235, 30.9.2009, p. 28spec
  4. [moliterno-reg441] European Commission 2010, Regulation (EU) No 441/2010 of 21 May 2010 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Canestrato di Moliterno (PGI)], Official Journal of the European Union L 126, 22.5.2010, p. 6spec
  5. [faccia2022] Faccia M., Natrella G., Gambacorta G., Trani A. 2022, Cheese ripening in nonconventional conditions, a multiparameter study applied to PGI Canestrato di Moliterno cheese, Journal of Dairy Science 105(1):140–153 (abstract)paper
  6. [trani2016] Trani A. et al. 2016, Chemical and sensory characteristics of Canestrato di Moliterno cheese manufactured in spring, Journal of Dairy Science 99(8):6080–6085 (abstract)paper
  7. [busetta2024] Busetta G. et al. 2024, The wooden shelf surface and cheese rind mutually exchange microbiota during the traditional ripening process, International Journal of Food Microbiology 409:110478 (abstract)paper
  8. [damico2010] D'Amico D.J., Druart M.J., Donnelly C.W. 2010, Behavior of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during the manufacture and aging of Gouda and stirred-curd Cheddar cheeses manufactured from raw milk, Journal of Food Protection 73(12):2217–2224 (abstract)paper
  9. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov