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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

PaneronePannerone

Whole raw cow milk, still warm from milking, is set with a large dose of calf rennet at 30 °C. The finely broken curd drains in cloths, goes into perforated hoops and is kept in a warm room at 30–35 °C for up to a week. It is never salted, and ripens only 10–15 days.

Fully documentedCheese16 days – 23 daysPAT (traditional food product, Lombardia); Slow Food PresidioFamily: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe only amount given is about 10 litres of milk for 1 kg of cheese. A cheese weighs 10–13 kg.
Raw whole cow milk, warm from milkingAbout 10 L per kg of cheese[onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennetA large dose[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
No saltThe cheese is not salted at any stage[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days – 23 days

Start
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30 °C

What changes: A large dose of calf rennet sets warm raw milk at 30 °C in 30 minutes

Step 1 of 7
Set warm milk with rennet
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Milk is used warm from a single milking, with a large dose of liquid calf rennet. 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 raw cow milk, still warm from milking, is set with a large dose of calf rennet at 30 °C. The finely broken curd drains in cloths, goes into perforated hoops and is kept in a warm room at 30–35 °C for up to a week. It is never salted, and ripens only 10–15 days. Made in 7 steps over 16 days – 23 days. The longest step, ripen briefly, takes 10–15 days (Regione Lombardia).

Key numbers
Main step10–15 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen briefly
Temperature30 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Set warm milk with rennet

What makes this one different

It is one of very few cheeses that are never salted. It looks like Gorgonzola but has no blue mould, and the sheets say its technology and taste differ greatly. The heavy rennet dose gives its bitter finish, and its odour and aroma come from the bacterial flora working without salt.

Rind
Thin, smooth, yellowish turning pinkish from surface moulds; not edible
Size
Ø 25–30 cm, h 25–35 cm; 10–13 kg
Composition
Fat 50 % of dry matter
Season
Made all year; eaten mainly in winter

Related ferments

Safety

Panerone is made from raw milk, is never salted, is held up to a week at 30–35 °C and ripens only 10–15 days, and the sheets record no safety tests. ANSES, the French food safety agency, says Listeria and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli in raw-milk cheeses can kill, and names soft bloomy-rind cheeses and short-ripened uncooked pressed cheeses as the main sources. It advises pregnant women, people with weak immunity, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses except cooked pressed ones such as Comté, which Panerone is not, and says cheese cooked well, as in an oven dish, no longer carries the risk. This page records what the dairies do. It is not a recipe to follow at home with raw milk.

History and sources

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

ONAF says its origins go back to the Middle Ages and that monks probably created it and taught the farmers. Before the Second World War it was made across lower Lombardy, centred on Pandino. Demand for sweet cheeses dimmed its fame, and ONAF reports only two producers today. Slow Food made it a Presidio in 2003 because it risked dying out.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Lombardia, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, 'Panerone o Pannerone' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Panerone - Pannerone'web
  3. [slowfood-ark] Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Ark of Taste, 'Lodi Pannerone'web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov