Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

Magro di Piatta

Fresh raw cow milk stands about 16 hours in metal basins set in running water, and all the risen cream is taken off. The fully skimmed milk is set with calf rennet at 35 °C for about 90 minutes, semi-cooked at 38–40 °C, pressed in wooden hoops and brined. It ripens at least 45 days and is one of Italy's leanest cheeses.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedMade in one turn-taking village dairy, now supplied by three milk producers; the sheets give no batch size or doses. A wheel weighs 7–12 kg.
Raw cow milk, fully skimmed by letting the cream rise[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, as brine[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 48 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Cream rises on milk cooled in running water and is all taken off

Step 1 of 7
Cream off all the fat
Time
16 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The cream that rises on its own is collected for butter, leaving fully skimmed 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

Fresh raw cow milk stands about 16 hours in metal basins set in running water, and all the risen cream is taken off. The fully skimmed milk is set with calf rennet at 35 °C for about 90 minutes, semi-cooked at 38–40 °C, pressed in wooden hoops and brined. It ripens at least 45 days and is one of Italy's leanest cheeses. Made in 7 steps over 48 days. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes at least 45 days (Regione Lombardia).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 45 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature35 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Set with calf rennet

What makes this one different

The milk is skimmed completely, not partly as in Magro di latteria, by letting it stand about 16 hours in basins set in running water. A long 90-minute set and a 2-day press follow, and it ripens at least 45 days.

Rind
Thin, hard, straw-yellow turning brown or grey
Size
Cylinder 35–40 cm across and 8–10 cm high, 7–12 kg
Composition
Lean (magro); moisture 30% (ONAF)
Season
ONAF lists it as made all year; the Piatta dairy itself works in winter and early spring, before the cows go up to the alpine pastures

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 45 days. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, young children and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheese, except cooked pressed cheeses.

History and sources

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

Butter was once the main dairy product, so the milk was skimmed for it. ONAF records that Piatta once had two turn-taking dairies, with 40 and 70 members, and that only three milk producers now supply the one left, so the cheese is at risk of dying out.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Lombardia, traditional product sheet 'Magro di piatta' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Magro di Piatta'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Magro di Piatta' (id 1018)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov