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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Caso conzatoConciato romano

Raw ewe, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed, is set with kid rennet paste at 30–35 °C, broken to hazelnut size and pressed by hand into small baskets. The salted cheeses dry for weeks, are washed in pasta-cooking water and coated with olive oil, wine vinegar, mint and wild thyme. They then ripen sealed in earthenware or glass jars for 6 months or more, turned and re-coated each month.

Fully documentedCheese6 months – 12 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Campania); Slow Food presidiumFamily: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. Each cheese weighs 200–400 g.
Raw whole ewe, goat or cow milkOne kind alone or mixed in any proportion[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]
Kid rennet pasteSometimes made by the shepherds from dried kid stomachs[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]
SaltRubbed on dry[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]
Water from cooking pettoleHomemade pasta; washing leaves a thin starch film on the cheese[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]
Olive oil and wine vinegarMixed into the coating (concia)[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]
Mint and wild thyme, sometimes ground chilliFinely chopped and pressed onto the surface[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]

Total time across the recorded steps: 6 months – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: raw ewe, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
L. plantarum

Milk of one kind or mixed in any ratio is filtered into the cauldron. Output: raw 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

Raw ewe, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed, is set with kid rennet paste at 30–35 °C, broken to hazelnut size and pressed by hand into small baskets. The salted cheeses dry for weeks, are washed in pasta-cooking water and coated with olive oil, wine vinegar, mint and wild thyme. They then ripen sealed in earthenware or glass jars for 6 months or more, turned and re-coated each month. Made in 7 steps over 6 months – 12 months. The longest step, seal in jars to ripen, takes 6–12 months (Regione Campania 2015). Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria, dominant through making and ripening; Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum about 26 % of 203 isolates and Enterococci, about 30 % of 203 isolates do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–12 monthsReported[pat-conzato]Seal in jars to ripen
Temperature30–35 °CReported[pat-conzato][onaf-conzato]Set with kid rennet

What makes this one different

It ripens sealed in jars without air, like formaggio di fossa ripens in a pit, and is re-coated each month with oil, vinegar and herbs. In a study of two seasons, E. coli disappeared during jar ripening, probably because of the coating.

Rind
Treated, oily, irregular, herb-coated; ochre-yellow to reddish
Size
200–400 g; small cylinder, deformed in the jar

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. In a two-season study, coagulase-positive staphylococci, Salmonella and Listeria were never found, and E. coli disappeared during jar ripening. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli in the young cheese; they disappeared during jar ripening.

History and sources

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

Its name is dialect for "cacio conciato", a cheese given laborious care. ONAF reports a claim that the method goes back to the Samnites of the 6th–5th century BC, but no sure source supports it. Surplus fresh cheese was coated and sealed in jars to keep pests out. Slow Food helped the few remaining makers write production rules.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-conzato] Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura, Prodotti tradizionali, 'Caso conzato' (page last updated 13 March 2015; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-conzato] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Caso conzato', PAT Regione Campaniaweb
  3. [blaiotta2021] Blaiotta G., Marrone R., Aponte M., Peruzy M.F., Smaldone G., Vollano L., Murru N. 2021, Characterisation of Conciato Romano, one of the oldest Italian cheeses, International Dairy Journal 120:105077, doi:10.1016/j.idairyj.2021.105077 (abstract)paper
  4. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Caso conzato' (id 1155)web
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov