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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Paglierina

Paglierina is a soft cow cheese from Piedmont with a white bloomy rind of Geotrichum candidum. Whole milk, now almost always pasteurised and seeded with mould spores, is set with calf rennet in 30–40 minutes. The moulded curd is kept warm at 20–30 °C so it sours, then salted and ripened from about 7–10 days to a month, turning creamy as it ages.

Fully documentedCheese7 days – 30 daysPAT (Regione Piemonte, 2015 technical sheets, category D no. 24)Family: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives the method but no amounts. A cheese weighs 200–400 g.
Whole cow milk, now almost always pasteurised[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Spores of surface moulds, usually Geotrichum candidumAdded to the milk; in the past the mould came by chance[pat-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, dry or (now mostly) as brine[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Startermilk inoculated with Geotrichum candidum spores (formerly the mould arrived by chance)

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days – 30 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaGeotrichum candidumMoulds

What changes: Mould spores go into the pasteurised whole milk

Step 1 of 6
Seed the milk with mould spores
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Geotrichum candidum
Moulds

Pasteurised whole milk is inoculated with spores of the rind moulds, usually Geotrichum candidum.

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

Paglierina is a soft cow cheese from Piedmont with a white bloomy rind of Geotrichum candidum. Whole milk, now almost always pasteurised and seeded with mould spores, is set with calf rennet in 30–40 minutes. The moulded curd is kept warm at 20–30 °C so it sours, then salted and ripened from about 7–10 days to a month, turning creamy as it ages. Made in 6 steps over 7 days – 30 days. The longest step, ripen on grids as the white mould grows, takes 7–30 days (Regione Piemonte 2015). Lactic acid bacteria, which grow during the warm stufatura and give the right acidity and Geotrichum candidum, the white 'noble' mould of the rind, which softens the paste to cream do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–30 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen on grids as the white mould grows
Temperature20–30 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Mould and keep warm (stufatura)

What makes this one different

Paglierina is named for the straw (paglia) mats it once ripened on, which drew moisture out of the soft cheese. Its bloomy rind is Geotrichum candidum, now seeded into the milk, and a few hours of warm stufatura sour the curd.

Rind
Thin, soft, bloomy white with grid marks
Size
Low, slightly spread cylinder Ø 10–15 cm, height 1–3 cm, 200–400 g

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is now almost always pasteurised. The regional sheet finds no hazards beyond ordinary cheesemaking and says the straw mats are no longer used. Where mats are used, they must be kept clean and replaced regularly.

History and sources

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

The cheese once ripened on straw or on light mats woven from wheat or barley straw, changed daily, which soaked up moisture and stopped over-souring. The paste used to start chalky and soften from rind to core; today it is soft from the start.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 no. 460, Schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015, category D product no. 24 'Paglierina', BU38S1 24/09/2015 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Paglierina'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Paglierina' (id 467)web