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Cheese from Italy, Liguria

Formaggetta (savonese, di Stella, della Valle Stura)Formaggetta del ponente

A small farm cheese of the Savona mountains, made from one day's milk. Raw goat milk, or part-skimmed cow milk, or a mix, is renneted at room temperature and poured into one small cylinder per cheese, where it sets slowly over 8–24 hours. The unbroken curd is turned into perforated cuppe, salted by hand on each face and eaten fresh or after about 30 days.

Fully documentedCheese31 days – 32 daysPAT (Liguria, sheet 'Formaggetta del ponente')Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. Each small container holds the milk for one cheese of 0.150–0.300 kg, about 12 cm across and 2–4 cm high.
Raw milkWhole if goat or ewe milk, part-skimmed if cow milk; ONAF puts goat milk first[lig-ponente][onaf-savonese]
RennetLiquid rennet in the regional sheet; ONAF adds calf or lamb rennet paste[lig-ponente][onaf-savonese]
SaltDry salt, by hand[lig-ponente]

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 32 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: one day's raw goat, cow or mixed milk

Step 1 of 5
Collect the day's milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

ONAF says it was made in small amounts from the milk one shepherd had that day. Output: raw goat, cow or mixed 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 small farm cheese of the Savona mountains, made from one day's milk. Raw goat milk, or part-skimmed cow milk, or a mix, is renneted at room temperature and poured into one small cylinder per cheese, where it sets slowly over 8–24 hours. The unbroken curd is turned into perforated cuppe, salted by hand on each face and eaten fresh or after about 30 days. Made in 5 steps over 31 days – 32 days. The longest step, eat fresh or ripen, takes 30 days (Regione Liguria (agriligurianet)).

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[lig-ponente][onaf-savonese]Eat fresh or ripen
Temperature16–24 °CReported[lig-ponente]Rennet and set in small cylinders

What makes this one different

Shares the regional sheet with the Arroscia and Argentina formaggetta, but ONAF says the Savona cheese was once made only from ewe milk and is now made from mixed goat and cow milk in variable shares. The curd sets so slowly and so gently that it is never cut.

Rind
None and white when fresh; thin, slightly wrinkled, ivory to straw when aged
Size
About 12 cm across, 2–4 cm high, 0.150–0.300 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • GoatWhole raw goat milk (ONAF).
  • Cow and goat, or cow and ewePart-skimmed cow milk mixed with whole goat or ewe milk.
  • Sott'olioKept under oil.

Safety

Raw-milk cheese, usually eaten fresh. 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 regional sheet says ewe milk was once preferred, each farm kept four or five animals, and the curd was set with a piece of lamb stomach (quagettu); a lamb was sold only if the buyer promised to return the rennet.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [lig-ponente] Regione Liguria (agriligurianet), prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Formaggetta del ponente' (Valli Arroscia e Argentina, Savona e Stella) (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-savonese] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggetta (savonese, di Stella, della Valle Stura)' (PAT Liguria)web
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov