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Cheese from Spain, Asturias

Queso Casín PDOQueso Casín

Raw cow milk is set with animal rennet and starter at 30–35 °C, and the curd drains and sours on cloths for three days or more. The soured curd is then put through a roller kneading machine several times, with salt added on some passes, shaped by hand and stamped with the maker's wooden seal. It ripens at least 60 days into a dry, strong cheese with almost no rind.

Fully documentedCheese2.3 months – 2.6 monthsPDO (entered in the EU register by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 986/2011; specification amended 2023)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives temperatures and times but no amounts; rennet and starter are dosed "as needed" to set the curd. Cheeses weigh 150 g to 1 kg.
Raw whole cow milkFrom the Casina, Asturiana de los Valles and Friesian breeds in the delimited area[casin-oj2010][casin-oj2023]
Lactic ferments (starter)[casin-oj2023]
Calf rennet or animal coagulant[casin-oj2023]
SaltAdded during some passes through the kneading machine; no amount is set[casin-pliego][casin-oj2023]
Calcium chloride (optional since 2023)[casin-oj2023]
Starteradded lactic ferments (the three producers in the 2025 study used commercial starters); the 2009 study calls its cheese starter-free

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.3 months – 2.6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
30–35 °C

What changes: Starter and animal rennet set the warm raw milk into a curd

Step 1 of 6
Set the raw milk
Time
45 min
Set
Temperature
30–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactococcus garvieae
S. thermophilus

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 cow milk is set with animal rennet and starter at 30–35 °C, and the curd drains and sours on cloths for three days or more. The soured curd is then put through a roller kneading machine several times, with salt added on some passes, shaped by hand and stamped with the maker's wooden seal. It ripens at least 60 days into a dry, strong cheese with almost no rind. Made in 6 steps over 2.3 months – 2.6 months. The longest step, ripen in the cool room, takes at least 2 months (European Commission 2023) and runs at 6–12 °C (European Commission 2023). Lactococcus lactis and L. cremoris and Lactococcus garvieae do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[casin-oj2023]Ripen in the cool room
Temperature6–12 °CSet[casin-oj2023]Ripen in the cool room
AciditypH 6.3 → 4.71Measured[rodriguez2025]Drain and sour on cloths

What makes this one different

Casín is kneaded, not pressed. After it sours, the curd is passed many times between rollers, so the inside and outside ripen together and there is hardly any rind. The pre-2023 specification calls it one of the most protein-rich cheeses in Spain and almost in the world, and one of the lowest in moisture.

Milk
Raw whole cow milk from Casina, Asturiana de los Valles and Friesian cows in Caso, Sobrescobio and Piloña
Ripening
At least 60 days from the day of making
Composition
At least 57 % dry matter, 45 % fat and 35 % protein in dry matter
Size
Irregular disc up to 20 cm across and 7 cm high, 150 g to 1 kg (250 g to 1 kg before 2023)

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 60 days. A study of three batches found moderate counts of hygiene indicator bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms) in the young cheese. They fell below detection by day 15 in two batches and by day 60 in all three. Sequencing found no Listeria DNA and, at day 60, a little E. coli DNA in one batch. Its authors judged the cheese safe from those batches. An earlier study of one batch found high counts of undesirable microbes and called for better hygiene. Because the rind is so thin, the cheese must be packed where it is made or ripened. Sixty days of ageing alone did not remove E. coli O157:H7 in a test on other raw-milk cheeses. In Gouda and Cheddar made from milk deliberately contaminated with it, counts fell below 5 CFU/g after about 100 days, but it stayed detectable by enrichment past 270 days. 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-curd cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté.

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteriaceae and coliforms (hygiene indicators; moderate counts early, below detection by day 15 in two of three batches and by day 60 in all three).

History and sources

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

The specification says the first written mention of Casín is in leases of the convent of Nuestra Señora de la Vega, Oviedo. In 1328 the abbess Gontrodo let the farms of San Salvador de Sobrecastiello for six years at 70 maravedís, plus twelve "quesos assaderos" each St Martin's Day. Kneading was done by hand, then on a shared kneading table adapted from the bread kneader, on communal kneading days (diis d'amasar). Each maker's lumps were marked with a small wooden tool (ochavau) and each finished cheese with a larger carved stamp (marcu). The specification says that when it was written one woman was the only maker who sold it at fairs and markets, while other women made it for their families.

  1. [casin-oj2010] European Commission 2010, Single document 'Queso Casín', ES-PDO-0005-0718, Official Journal of the European Union C 321, 26.11.2010, p. 13spec
  2. [casin-reg2011] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 986/2011 of 30 September 2011 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Queso Casín (PDO)], Official Journal L 260, 5.10.2011, p. 11spec
  3. [casin-oj2023] European Commission 2023, Application for approval of an amendment to the product specification 'Queso Casín' (with consolidated single document), Official Journal of the European Union C 17, 18.1.2023, p. 9; approved in OJ L 116, 4.5.2023spec
  4. [casin-pliego] Principado de Asturias, Pliego de condiciones de la Denominación de Origen Protegida "Queso Casín" (version filed under Regulation (EC) No 510/2006)spec
  5. [alegria2009] Alegría A., Álvarez-Martín P., Sacristán N., Fernández E., Delgado S., Mayo B. 2009, Diversity and evolution of the microbial populations during manufacture and ripening of Casín, a traditional Spanish, starter-free cheese made from cow's milk, International Journal of Food Microbiology 136:44–51 (abstract)paper
  6. [rodriguez2025] Rodríguez J., Suárez P.R., Vázquez L., Flórez A.B., Vivar-Quintana A.M., Mayo B. 2025, Metataxonomic profiling of microbial communities and metabolic analyses of the traditional Spanish raw cow's milk cheese 'Casín' from manufacture to ripening, Frontiers in Microbiology 16:1722502paper
  7. [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
  8. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov