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Cheese from Ecuador, Carchi province

Queso amasado (Carchi)queso amasado

Milk is heated, set with rennet at about 38 °C, cut twice and drained. The curd is milled to crumbs, kneaded by hand with salt for about ten minutes, moulded and firmed overnight in the cold. It is a fresh rennet cheese eaten within days and is not ripened.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe thesis gives temperatures and times but no batch size. Its flow chart writes the additive doses as amounts per 100 ml without saying of what, so they are left out here.
MilkAt least 3.20 % protein and 3.0–3.2 % fat at reception[martinez2018]
Calcium chloride[martinez2018]
Rennet[martinez2018]
SaltKneaded into the milled curd[martinez2018]
Potassium sorbatePreservative added at reception in the dairy flow studied[martinez2018]

Total time across the recorded steps: 9.6 h – 9.9 h

Start
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66–70 °C

What changes: The milk is held hot for 45 minutes to kill most of its bacteria

Step 1 of 7
Heat the milk
Time
45 min
Reported
Temperature
66–70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: heat-treated 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

Milk is heated, set with rennet at about 38 °C, cut twice and drained. The curd is milled to crumbs, kneaded by hand with salt for about ten minutes, moulded and firmed overnight in the cold. It is a fresh rennet cheese eaten within days and is not ripened. Made in 7 steps over 9.6 h – 9.9 h. The longest step, mould and firm in the cold, takes 8 h (Martínez Sotelo P.G. 2018) and runs at 5 °C (Martínez Sotelo P.G. 2018).

Key numbers
Main step8 hReported[martinez2018]Mould and firm in the cold
Temperature5 °CReported[martinez2018]Mould and firm in the cold
AciditypH up to 6.8Measured[pozo2021]Keep cold

What makes this one different

After draining, the curd is milled and kneaded by hand with salt before moulding, which gives it its grainy texture; longer kneading makes it softer. Unlike most cheeses here, it is not ripened.

Milk
Milk (the sources do not name the animal); heat-treated in the dairy flow studied
Ripening
None; fresh
Shelf life
Estimated at 1 day at three of nine plants and 10 days at the one plant with trained staff
Composition
In nine-plant samples, moisture up to 59.94 %, water activity up to 0.98 and pH up to 6.82

Related ferments

Safety

Studies of Carchi artisanal queso amasado found poor hygiene. In Tulcán every sample held more than 10² CFU/g of S. aureus and many held high E. coli counts; in nine plants, mesophilic aerobes and coliforms exceeded the limits and shelf life was as short as one day. Keep it at 5 °C and eat it within days.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, above 10² CFU/g in every artisanal sample tested in Tulcán; Escherichia coli, at high counts in artisanal Tulcán samples (below 10 CFU/g in a later nine-plant study).

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [martinez2018] Martínez Sotelo P.G. 2018, Impacto de tres alternativas de corte y moldeo del queso amasado, master's thesis, Universidad de las Américas (UDLA), Quitopaper
  2. [benavides2015] Benavides Caicedo E.G. 2015, Evaluación de la calidad sanitaria de quesos amasados elaborados artesanalmente en el cantón Tulcán, research article CI-06-2015, Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi (UPEC)paper
  3. [pozo2021] Pozo Rosero P.M., Salcedo Viana M.J., Determinación de la vida útil de los quesos amasados de las PYMES del Carchi, mediante análisis fisicoquímicos y microbiológicos, engineering thesis, Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi (UPEC)paper