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Cheese from Italy, Sardegna

CasizoluPeretta

Raw whole cow milk, sometimes with a natural whey starter from the previous make, is set with calf rennet at 35–38 °C. The curd sours until it reaches pH 5.1–5.3, then is sliced, stretched in water at 90–93 °C and closed by hand into a pear. The pears are firmed in cool water, brined and hung to ripen; 6–8 months is thought ideal.

Fully documentedCheese31 days – 15 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Sardegna); Slow Food presidium (Montiferru)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give the method but no amounts. A cheese weighs from about 500 g to 3 kg.
Raw whole cow milkFrom cows mostly at pasture[pat-casizolu][onaf-casizolu]
Natural whey starter (siero-innesto)Sometimes; whey from the previous make left to sour on its own[pat-casizolu][onaf-casizolu]
Liquid calf rennetIn some areas lamb or kid rennet paste[pat-casizolu][onaf-casizolu]
SaltSaturated brine[pat-casizolu]
Startersometimes a natural whey starter, whey from the previous make that soured on its own

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 15 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Raw whole cow milk is warmed, sometimes with sour whey from the previous make

Step 1 of 8
Warm the milk, with whey starter if used
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus lactis
S. thermophilus
Lactobacillus paracasei
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the sour whey starter, when used, adds lactic bacteria

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, sometimes with a natural whey starter from the previous make, is set with calf rennet at 35–38 °C. The curd sours until it reaches pH 5.1–5.3, then is sliced, stretched in water at 90–93 °C and closed by hand into a pear. The pears are firmed in cool water, brined and hung to ripen; 6–8 months is thought ideal. Made in 8 steps over 31 days – 15 months. The longest step, dry and hang to ripen, takes 30 days – 15 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at up to 25 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 15 monthsReported[onaf-casizolu]Dry and hang to ripen
Temperatureup to 25 °CReported[onaf-casizolu]Dry and hang to ripen
AciditypH 5.1–5.3Reported[pat-casizolu][onaf-casizolu]Let the curd sour

What makes this one different

It is Sardinia's cow-milk pasta filata, in a region where most cheese is ewe milk. Like a caciocavallo it is soured, stretched and hung in pairs, but it is shaped as a pear with a small head and made from autumn to early summer, following the cows' lactation.

Rind
Clean, thin, smooth, yellow to ochre
Size
0.5–3 kg; pear shape with small head

Related ferments

Variants

  • Casizolu di pecoraThe ewe-milk version from the Goceano plateau, which the ONAF sheet says can be eaten after 7 days.

Safety

The milk is raw. The pH 5.1–5.3 is a stretching target, not a safety limit. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The Sardinian word casizare means "to make cheese". Medieval documents (the condaghes) name braided stretched cheeses called thiriccas, and the ONAF sheet cites P. Amat di San Filippo (1865) for a Pisan merchant who bought a barrel of "cacio cavalli" in Sardinia in 1353. M. L. Wagner described the Montiferru casizolu made by women in 1921. Cooperative dairy accounts from the early 1900s record it.

  1. [pat-casizolu] Laore Sardegna (regional agricultural development agency), Prodotto tradizionale della Sardegna, sheet 'Casizolu' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-casizolu] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Casizolu', PAT Regione Sardegnaweb
  3. [mangia2016] Mangia N.P., Fancello F., Deiana P. 2016, Microbiological characterization using combined culture dependent and independent approaches of Casizolu pasta filata cheese, Journal of Applied Microbiology 120:329-345, doi:10.1111/jam.13001 (abstract)paper
  4. [onaf-casizolu-pecora] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Casizolu di pecora', PAT Regione Sardegnaweb
  5. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Casizolu' (id 361)web
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov