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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Casu musciu

Raw ewe milk is poured straight after milking into sealed steel cans that already hold lamb rennet. On the way down from the pasture the milk sets at its own 35–37 °C and the shaking breaks the curd into large, acid lumps. At the dairy the curd is packed into wicker or broom baskets, dried to form a crust, brined the next day and sold within 15–20 days.

Fully documentedCheese15 days – 20 daysPAT (traditional food product, Campania)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. A cheese weighs 1–1.3 kg (regional sheet) or 1.0–1.5 kg (ONAF).
Raw whole ewe milkBagnolese or Malvizza sheep at open or semi-open pasture, milked April to August[pat-musciu][onaf-musciu]
Lamb rennetPut in the cans before milking[pat-musciu][onaf-musciu]
SaltBrine[pat-musciu][onaf-musciu]

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 20 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
35–37 °C

What changes: Fresh warm ewe milk is poured into sealed cans that already hold lamb rennet

Step 1 of 5
Milk into cans with rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
35–37 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The filtered milk goes straight into the cans, which are closed at once.

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 milk is poured straight after milking into sealed steel cans that already hold lamb rennet. On the way down from the pasture the milk sets at its own 35–37 °C and the shaking breaks the curd into large, acid lumps. At the dairy the curd is packed into wicker or broom baskets, dried to form a crust, brined the next day and sold within 15–20 days. Made in 5 steps over 15 days – 20 days. The longest step, keep until sale, takes 15–20 days (Regione Campania).

Key numbers
Main step15–20 daysReported[pat-musciu][onaf-musciu]Keep until sale
Temperature35–37 °CReported[onaf-musciu]Milk into cans with rennet

What makes this one different

The milk sets and the curd breaks inside sealed cans on the way from pasture to dairy, not in a vat. Shepherds made it this way on high pastures far from the valley, and it is sold young.

Rind
Thin, smooth, yellow, semi-firm
Size
1.0–1.5 kg; rounded cylinder 5–6 cm high, sides bulging

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw and the cheese is sold within 15–20 days of making. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked-curd cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté. It names Salmonella, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes among the bacteria that can be in raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The Campania sheet says shepherds made it on the high pastures when it was hard to get down to the valley, and sold the cheese later. It says citations and sources confirm the herders have made it for centuries, with methods unchanged. It was entered in Campania's 23rd list of traditional food products.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-musciu] Regione Campania, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, 'Casu musciu' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-musciu] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Casu Musciu', PAT Regione Campaniaweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Casu Musciu' (id 1334)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov