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Cheese from Mexico

Queso Oaxaca (quesillo)quesillo

Queso Oaxaca is a Mexican stretched-curd cheese. The milk is soured, either by leaving it to stand for hours or by adding acid, then set with rennet; the curd is left to acidify further, kneaded in water at about 70–80 °C and pulled into long ribbons. The salted ribbons are wound into balls and eaten fresh.

Fully documentedCheese55 min – 1.3 h

Recipe

Queso Oaxaca (quesillo), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: nsaum75 ¡שיחת! ‎, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are from a 5-litre artisanal-style lab make that followed Villegas's method; the sources give no other fixed amounts. A survey of makers found the process is not standardised.
Cow milkRaw milk in artisanal making[hj2022][sandoval2016]
Natural acidity of the milk, or glacial acetic acidMilk is soured to 35–38 °D; resting it for hours lets its own bacteria do this[profeco2012]
Rennet[hj2022][profeco2012]
Hot waterFor kneading and stretching the curd[hj2022][profeco2012]
Salt2 % (w/w)Rubbed onto the stretched ribbon in a lab make[hj2022]
Starternatural souring of raw milk by its own bacteria, with no initiator culture added; mesophilic or thermophilic cultures in pasteurised-milk makes in one study

Total time across the recorded steps: 55 min – 1.3 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactisLactobacillus plantarumLactobacillusMilk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Left to stand for hours, the milk's own bacteria turn its lactose into lactic acid

Step 1 of 7
Sour the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus

Artisanal makers let the milk stand for hours; industry may add glacial acetic acid. A lab make adjusted the milk to 37 °D (pH 5.8–5.9) with acetic acid.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the milk's own bacteria turn lactose into lactic acid

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

Queso Oaxaca is a Mexican stretched-curd cheese. The milk is soured, either by leaving it to stand for hours or by adding acid, then set with rennet; the curd is left to acidify further, kneaded in water at about 70–80 °C and pulled into long ribbons. The salted ribbons are wound into balls and eaten fresh. Made in 7 steps over 55 min – 1.3 h. The longest step, cut and let the curd acidify, takes 30–45 min (Huerta-Jimenez M. et al. 2022). Salt is 2 % (Huerta-Jimenez M. et al. 2022). Lactococcus lactis, isolated through the making of raw-milk Oaxaca cheese and Lactobacillus plantarum, the predominant lactobacillus in raw-milk Oaxaca cheese do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30–45 minReported[hj2022]Cut and let the curd acidify
Temperature32–34 °CReported[hj2022]Warm and set with rennet
Salt2 %Reported[hj2022]Salt and wind into balls
AciditypH 5.5–5.6Reported[hj2022]Cut and let the curd acidify

What makes this one different

Like mozzarella it is a pasta filata, but the curd is stretched into long ribbons that are salted and wound into a ball. Artisanal makers sour the raw milk naturally before renneting.

Standard composition (NMX-F-733-COFOCALEC-2010)
At least 21.5 % protein and 20 % fat, at most 51 % moisture
Survey of makers
pH 4.9–5.8 and salt 8.4–36.2 g/kg, because the process is not standardised

Related ferments

Safety

For raw-milk Oaxaca cheese, one study calls kneading the curd in water at 70–80 °C a critical surveillance point. Its lab cheeses, from three milkings at one university dairy, had no positive samples for Salmonella or E. coli and met the Mexican S. aureus limit. The authors infer that water at 75 °C would kill these bacteria if they were in the milk, but they did not add them to test this. One batch had higher S. aureus, which they put down to poor milk hygiene or recontamination after kneading. Mexican legislation excludes cheeses made from raw milk, and industrial versions use pasteurised milk with added cultures. Keep it cold; in vacuum packs at 8 °C its quality fell gradually over 24 days. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

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

Profeco (2012) says cheese reached Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors, who brought cows, sheep and goats, and that monks and friars taught indigenous peoples to make cream, butter and cheese during evangelisation. Oaxaca cheese takes its name from the state of Oaxaca, its probable place of origin (Huerta-Jiménez et al. 2022). The Mexican standard NMX-F-733-COFOCALEC-2010 defines the cheese and its name.

  1. [hj2022] Huerta-Jimenez M. et al. 2022, Properties of Oaxaca cheese elaborated with ultrasound-treated raw milk, physicochemical and microbiological parameters, Foods 11(12):1735paper
  2. [profeco2012] Profeco, Estudio de calidad, Queso oaxaca, Revista del Consumidor, June 2012 (quotes NMX-F-733-COFOCALEC-2010)gov
  3. [deoca2009] de Oca-Flores E.M., Castelán-Ortega O.A., Estrada-Flores J.G., Espinoza-Ortega A. 2009, Oaxaca cheese, manufacture process and physicochemical characteristics, International Journal of Dairy Technology 62(4):535–540 (abstract)paper
  4. [caro2013] Caro I. et al. 2013, Characterization of Oaxaca raw milk cheese microbiota with particular interest in Lactobacillus strains, Journal of Dairy Science 96(6):3461–3470 (abstract)paper
  5. [caro2020] Caro I. et al. 2020, Characterization of Lactococcus strains isolated from artisanal Oaxaca cheese, LWT 122:109041 (abstract)paper
  6. [sandoval2016] Sandoval-Copado J. et al. 2016, Sensory profile development of Oaxaca cheese and relationship with physicochemical parameters, Journal of Dairy Science 99(9):7075–7084 (abstract)paper
  7. [fuentes2015] Fuentes L., Mateo J., Quinto E.J., Caro I. 2015, Changes in quality of nonaged pasta filata Mexican cheese during refrigerated vacuum storage, Journal of Dairy Science 98(5):2833–2842 (abstract)paper
  8. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov