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Cheese from Italy, Molise

Formaggio di Pietracatella

Raw milk of local cows, sheep or goats, alone or mixed, is set at 36–38 °C with calf, lamb or kid rennet in about 30 minutes. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, settles while the vat is warmed to about 40 °C, and is packed into rush baskets and dry-salted. It ripens at least 2 months in tuff caves dug under the old village.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives no amounts; the rennet dose is whatever sets the milk in about 30 minutes. Cheeses weigh 0.5–4 kg.
Raw whole milk of cows, sheep (Pagliarola breed) and/or goatsEach alone or mixed in any share; animals mostly at pasture[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf, lamb or kid rennetEnough to set the milk in about 30 minutes[pat-sheet]
Cooking salt[pat-sheet]
StarterNo starter culture is listed, only raw milk, rennet and salt; the regional sheet calls the milk's native flora of fundamental importance to the cheese's character

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Calf, lamb or kid rennet goes into raw milk warmed to 36–38 °C

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
36–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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 milk of local cows, sheep or goats, alone or mixed, is set at 36–38 °C with calf, lamb or kid rennet in about 30 minutes. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, settles while the vat is warmed to about 40 °C, and is packed into rush baskets and dry-salted. It ripens at least 2 months in tuff caves dug under the old village. Made in 5 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen in tuff caves, takes at least 2 months (ARSARP (Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Agr…).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen in tuff caves
Temperature36–38 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk and add rennet

What makes this one different

A mixed-milk basket cheese whose share of cow, sheep and goat milk is free, ripened in the tuff caves dug under the houses of Pietracatella's old town.

Rind
Slightly wrinkled, straw yellow, with rush-basket marks
Size
Cylinder 15–20 cm across, side 6–8 cm, 0.5–4 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk of herds free of brucellosis and tuberculosis. The regional sheet says ripening for more than 2 months makes it safe, but it cites no test of this cheese, and ANSES says a residual risk remains in raw-milk cheeses. ANSES names Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as the main hazards. It advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children not to eat raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed ones such as Comté.

History and sources

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

ONAF quotes Longano, writing in 1790, who ranked the cheese of Pietracatella among the best of the province and said its quality owed as much to the skill of the cheesemaker as to the grass. It also quotes Giustiniani (1804), who wrote that Pietracatella's excellent pastures gave cheeses that other towns of the kingdom wanted.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] ARSARP (Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Agricolo, Rurale e della Pesca, Molise), L'atlante dei prodotti tradizionali del Molise, Formaggio di Pietracatella (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggio di Pietracatella'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Formaggio di Pietracatella' (id 407)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov