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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

MaccagnoMacagn

Whole cow milk, raw by tradition and now sometimes pasteurised, is set with natural calf rennet at 34–37 °C in 40–60 minutes. The curd is cut to rice size and semi-cooked at 40–42 °C in winter, up to 48–50 °C on the summer pastures. It is moulded, lightly pressed, salted the next day and ripened from 20–30 days to several months.

Fully documentedCheese20 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460); Slow Food Presidio (as Macagn, raw milk only)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm and alpine-hut makes; the sheet gives no batch size and sets the rennet dose by the setting time. A cheese weighs about 2 kg.
Whole cow milkOnce always raw, now also pasteurised; worked warm after milking or chilled and made once a day[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Natural calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, dry or as brine[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone added in the Slow Food Macagn; the ONAF sheet says additives and ferments, even natural ones, are forbidden for it

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days

Start
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34–37 °C

What changes: Natural calf rennet goes into the whole milk at 34–37 °C

Step 1 of 6
Set the curd
Time
40 min – 1 h
Reported
Temperature
34–37 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
S. thermophilus

Output: curd.

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

Whole cow milk, raw by tradition and now sometimes pasteurised, is set with natural calf rennet at 34–37 °C in 40–60 minutes. The curd is cut to rice size and semi-cooked at 40–42 °C in winter, up to 48–50 °C on the summer pastures. It is moulded, lightly pressed, salted the next day and ripened from 20–30 days to several months. Made in 6 steps over 20 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 20 days (Regione Piemonte 2015). Lactococcus lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus, core taxa during ripening of Maccagno made at one dairy in Piedmont does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 20 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature34–37 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Set the curd

What makes this one different

A Biella mountain cheese whose cooking temperature rises with season and altitude, from 40–42 °C in winter to 48–50 °C on the summer pastures. It is traditionally ripened in small underground 'crotin' beside the alpine huts.

Rind
Thin, smooth, brown to grey; firmer and wrinkled with age
Size
Cylinder 18–22 cm across and 6–8 cm high, about 2 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Macagn d'alpeMade on mountain pastures from 15 May to 15 October; marked 'A'.
  • Macagn di cascinaMade on the farm the rest of the year; marked 'C'.

Safety

The regional sheet finds no risks beyond those of ordinary cheese-making and says good dairy hygiene practice is enough. It asks for derogations for copper cauldrons, natural cloths and wooden boards, and rates the cheese as meeting safety requirements to a medium-to-high degree. The milk was once always raw and may now be pasteurised; the Slow Food Macagn allows raw milk only. In a study at one dairy, summer cheeses carried the most spoilage microbes, mainly from the plant, and had off-flavours. The CDC advises people who are pregnant, aged 65 or over or immunocompromised to avoid any cheese made with raw milk, unless it is heated until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Spoilage microbes Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriaceae, mainly from the dairy plant, most prevalent in summer cheeses and linked to off-flavours.

History and sources

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

The ONAF sheet says the origins of Maccagno are lost in time and that the name comes from the Alpe Maccagno, a Valsesia alp in Riva Valdobbia at almost 2200 m. It says the Slow Food Macagn method of working the milk still warm from milking was, in all probability, devised because wood was hard to bring to those heights.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, Schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015 (BU38S1, 24 September 2015; D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460), product D15 'Maccagno o Macagn', copy hosted by ONAFgov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Maccagno'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Maccagno' (id 458)web
  4. [ferrocino2025] Ferrocino I., Biolcati F., Giordano M., Bertolino M., Zeppa G., Cocolin L. 2026, Dairy environment and seasons affect the microbiome of a traditional artisanal cheese, Food Research International 224:117927 (abstract)paper
  5. [cdc-listeria] CDC, Preventing Listeria infection (safer food choices; cheese made with raw milk)gov