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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Formaggi di latte di capra dell'Isola di Capraia

Goat cheeses from the one goat farm on the island of Capraia. Cultures go into the milk with only a drop of rennet per litre, and the milk sets over 24 hours. For the fresh caprino the curd drains in cloths for 12 hours and is kneaded with salt and herbs into 70 g cheeses; for the caciotta it is moulded, salted and ripened into a firm 0.7 kg cheese.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe only amount given is the rennet, one drop per litre of milk. The fresh caprino weighs 70 g and the caciotta 700 g.
Whole goat milkThe regional sheet says raw milk from organic farming; ONAF says pasteurised at 72 °C[tos-capraia][onaf-capraia]
Lactic culturesAdded straight to the fresh milk[tos-capraia][vetrina-capraia]
Rennet1 drop per litre of milkCalf liquid rennet, according to ONAF[tos-capraia][onaf-capraia]
Salt[tos-capraia]
Garlic and rosemary, thyme, chives or chilliKneaded into the fresh caprino[tos-capraia]
Starterlactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 32 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: whole milk from the island's goats

Step 1 of 6
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

ONAF says the milk is pasteurised at 72 °C for about 30 minutes; the regional sheet calls both cheeses raw-milk cheeses but lists a pasteuriser among the tools. Output: whole goat 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

Goat cheeses from the one goat farm on the island of Capraia. Cultures go into the milk with only a drop of rennet per litre, and the milk sets over 24 hours. For the fresh caprino the curd drains in cloths for 12 hours and is kneaded with salt and herbs into 70 g cheeses; for the caciotta it is moulded, salted and ripened into a firm 0.7 kg cheese. Made in 6 steps over 32 days. The longest step, ripen the caciotta, takes at least 30 days (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 4 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[onaf-capraia]Ripen the caciotta
Temperature4 °CReported[onaf-capraia]Ripen the caciotta

What makes this one different

One farm makes both a kneaded, extruded fresh caprino and a moulded caciotta from the same slow-set milk, using only a drop of rennet per litre. The two sources disagree on whether the milk is raw or pasteurised.

Types
Fresh caprino of 70 g, spreadable; caciotta of 0.7 kg, ripened about 30 days
Rind
None on the caprino; thin, rigid, pale straw on the caciotta
Season
Mainly March to November (ONAF)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Caprino freschissimo70 g, kneaded with salt and herbs or spices, sold at once.
  • Caciotta0.7 kg, moulded, salted and ripened about 30 days.

Safety

The regional sheet says both cheeses are made from raw milk. ONAF says the milk is pasteurised at 72 °C. Treat it as a raw-milk cheese unless the label says otherwise. The fresh caprino is not ripened. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet says livestock raising was long a vital source of living on the island, because of its distance from the mainland. In the penal farm colony (1812–1986) about 400 goats were kept and prisoners made cheese, and a goat and cheese company was founded in 1910.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [tos-capraia] Regione Toscana (ARSIA), prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Formaggi di latte di capra dell'Isola di Capraia' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-capraia] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggi di latte di capra dell'Isola di Capraia' (PAT Toscana)web
  3. [vetrina-capraia] Regione Toscana, Vetrina Toscana, product page 'Formaggi di latte di capra dell'Isola di Capraia' (traditional-product record: process, equipment, history)gov
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov