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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Mascarpone di bufala

Mascarpone di bufala is a boundary entry, not a true ferment. Buffalo cream is heated to 90–95 °C and curdled with citric acid or lemon juice, with no bacteria involved. The cream curd drains in cotton cloths, first warm and then cold, and is ready after about 48 hours.

Fully documentedCheese26 h – 2.1 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Campania)Family: Acid-heat set cheese family (FERMENTATION BOUNDARY)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWorked in small 50-litre steel pans; the sheets add acid until the cream curdles rather than giving a fixed dose. Sold unsalted in 250 g or 500 g tubs.
Buffalo milk cream, raw or pasteurisedONAF says it is separated by centrifuge, as cream skimmed by rising can make the texture grainy[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Citric acid (E330) or lemon juiceONAF gives citric acid as a 20 g/l water solution, varied with the cream's acidity[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; acid and heat set the cream

Total time across the recorded steps: 26 h – 2.1 days

Start
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90–95 °C

What changes: Buffalo cream is stirred and heated to 90–95 °C

Step 1 of 5
Heat the cream
Time
Not documented
Temperature
90–95 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The cream is stirred all the time to spread the heat.

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

Mascarpone di bufala is a boundary entry, not a true ferment. Buffalo cream is heated to 90–95 °C and curdled with citric acid or lemon juice, with no bacteria involved. The cream curd drains in cotton cloths, first warm and then cold, and is ready after about 48 hours. Made in 5 steps over 26 h – 2.1 days. The longest step, chill and firm, takes 24 h – 2 days (Regione Campania 2019) and runs at 4–8 °C (Regione Campania 2019).

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[pat-sheet]Chill and firm
Temperature4–8 °CReported[pat-sheet]Chill and firm

What makes this one different

Made like Lombard mascarpone, but from buffalo cream in Salerno. It was one of the first buffalo-milk products of the South other than pasta filata cheeses and ricotta.

Rind
None; a snow-white to porcelain-white cream
Size
Sold in 250 g or 500 g tubs
Composition
Fat about 48–52% of dry matter; moisture 45–48% (ONAF)
Boundary
Set by citric acid or lemon juice and heat; not fermented

Related ferments

Safety

Nothing acidifies it but the added acid. A survey of 1,017 retail samples of cow-milk mascarpone, 878 of them from a plant involved in a botulism outbreak, found Clostridium botulinum spores in 32.5 % and type A toxin in 7 of the 878. The pH, water activity and redox potential of all samples allowed it to grow. In naturally and experimentally contaminated cow-milk samples it grew and made toxin after 3 and 4 days at 28 °C. The 90–95 °C heating does not kill the spores, which WHO says can survive boiling, so keep it at 4 °C and eat it within its short life.

Hazards the sources name: Clostridium botulinum spores in 32.5% of 1,017 retail samples of (cow-milk) mascarpone in one survey; 878 samples came from a plant involved in a botulism outbreak, and 7 of those also held type A toxin. It grew and made toxin in naturally and experimentally contaminated samples held at 28 °C.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet credits Vincenzo Citro of the Valtusciano dairy in Battipaglia with bringing mascarpone south, citing Corrado Barberis's 'Atlante dei prodotti tipici. I formaggi' (2001). The sheet says that in the early 1980s it and buffalo stracchino were among the first southern cheeses made only from buffalo milk, other than pasta filata cheeses and ricotta.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura, traditional product page 'Mascarpone di bufala' (updated 13 March 2019; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Mascarpone di bufala'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Mascarpone di bufala' (id 1193)web
  4. [franciosa1999] Franciosa G., Pourshaban M., Gianfranceschi M., Gattuso A., Fenicia L., Ferrini A.M., Mannoni V., De Luca G., Aureli P. 1999, Clostridium botulinum spores and toxin in mascarpone cheese and other milk products, Journal of Food Protection 62:867–871 (abstract)paper
  5. [who-botulism] WHO, Botulism fact sheetgov