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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Formaggio misto pecora fresco dei Berici

Whole milk, 80% cow and 20% sheep, is heated at 60 °C for 3 minutes (the sheet's "light pasteurisation"), warmed to 30–35 °C and set with rennet in about 12 minutes. The curd is broken, rewarmed to 33 °C for 5–6 minutes, pressed by hand into hoops and dry-salted on both faces. It ripens 60 days in cool rooms at 10–12 °C, turned and washed.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedMade on farms in small amounts with no published batch size or doses. A cheese weighs 250 g to 2 kg.
Whole cow milk80% of the mix[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whole sheep milk20% of the mix[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet, powder or liquidLady's bedstraw (Galium verum) was used in the past[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, rubbed on dry[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months

Start
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60 °C

What changes: Cow milk and one-fifth sheep milk are mixed and held at 60 °C for 3 minutes

Step 1 of 7
Mix and heat lightly
Time
3 min
Reported
Temperature
60 °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

Whole milk, 80% cow and 20% sheep, is heated at 60 °C for 3 minutes (the sheet's "light pasteurisation"), warmed to 30–35 °C and set with rennet in about 12 minutes. The curd is broken, rewarmed to 33 °C for 5–6 minutes, pressed by hand into hoops and dry-salted on both faces. It ripens 60 days in cool rooms at 10–12 °C, turned and washed. Made in 7 steps over 2.1 months. The longest step, ripen, turn and wash, takes 2 months (Regione Veneto) and runs at 10–12 °C (Regione Veneto).

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, turn and wash
Temperature10–12 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, turn and wash

What makes this one different

Mostly cow milk with a fifth sheep milk, a habit from peasant farms that kept a few sheep beside the cows. The milk is only lightly heated, the curd is barely rewarmed at 33 °C, and the rind is washed while it ripens.

Rind
Thin, soft, fairly elastic, straw-yellow
Size
Cylinder 14–18 cm across and 6–7 cm high, 250 g to 2 kg
Season
February to October (ONAF)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Tenero (fresh)Curd broken to walnut size; softer paste; ready in 60 days.
  • Stagionato (aged)Curd broken to rice size so it drains better; ONAF gives 90 days.
  • Ricotta di misto pecoraMade from the leftover whey.

Safety

The regional sheet calls the milk "lightly pasteurised" at 60 °C for 3 minutes. That falls well short of pasteurisation as US rules define it (145 °F, about 63 °C, for 30 minutes, or 161 °F, about 72 °C, for 15 seconds), so do not treat this milk as pasteurised. The cheese ripens 60 days at 10–12 °C.

History and sources

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

Peasant households of the Berici hills kept cattle and sheep together. The cows gave far more milk than the sheep, so the two were mixed with more cow milk to make more cheese.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, Formaggi, 'Formaggio misto pecora fresco dei Berici', p. 155 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Formaggio misto pecora fresco dei Berici'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Formaggio misto pecora fresco dei Berici' (id 1073)web
  4. [cfr-131-3] US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 131.3 Definitions (pasteurized)gov