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Cheese from Colombia, Boyacá, the municipalities of Paipa and Sotaquirá

Queso Paipa

Raw cow milk, mostly hand-milked, has its floating cream skimmed off by hand and is set with rennet with no added starter. The curd is kneaded, pressed and moulded by hand, then ripened on wooden shelves at ambient temperature (12–20 °C) for a standard 21 days, up to 28. It has held a Colombian designation of origin since 2011.

Fully documentedCheese21 days – 28 daysProtected designation of origin (Colombia), Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio Resolution 70802 of 8 December 2011Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

Queso Paipa, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Lácteos CampoReal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed recipe is published; the designation fixes milk and cheese composition, not doses.
Raw cow milk, partly skimmed by removing the floating creamThe designation sets 3 % fat, 3 % protein and 11.4 % total solids, pH 6.5[castellanos2020][benavides2022]
Coagulant (microbial protease, animal chymosin or recombinant chymosin, varying by producer)[benavides2022]
SaltThe finished cheese holds about 2.1 % salt[benavides2022]
Starternone added

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days – 28 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
pH 6.5

What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk with the cream skimmed off by hand

Step 1 of 4
Collect and skim the raw milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.5
Set
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus
Enterococcus
Leuconostoc
Streptococcus

The floating cream is removed by hand.

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

Raw cow milk, mostly hand-milked, has its floating cream skimmed off by hand and is set with rennet with no added starter. The curd is kneaded, pressed and moulded by hand, then ripened on wooden shelves at ambient temperature (12–20 °C) for a standard 21 days, up to 28. It has held a Colombian designation of origin since 2011. Made in 4 steps over 21 days – 28 days. The longest step, ripen on wooden shelves, takes 21–28 days (Castellanos-Rozo J 2020) and runs at 12–20 °C (Castellanos-Rozo J 2020). Lactococcus, the main genus, with Enterococcus, Leuconostoc and Streptococcus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21–28 daysReported[castellanos2020]Ripen on wooden shelves
Temperature12–20 °CReported[castellanos2020]Ripen on wooden shelves
AciditypH 5.2–5.2Reported[castellanos2020][benavides2022]Ripen on wooden shelves

What makes this one different

Described in a 2022 study as the one Colombian ripened cheese with a designation of origin; it is made from raw milk without starter and kneaded and pressed entirely by hand.

Composition
About 47.4 % moisture, 21.8 % fat, 24.3 % protein, 2.1 % salt and pH 5.21 under the designation
Area
Paipa and Sotaquirá, Boyacá, about 2581 m above sea level

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk with hand handling. A sensory study found Listeria monocytogenes in 3 of its 17 samples. A three-year survey of 16 of the roughly 70 Paipa dairies found Staphylococcus above the Colombian limits in 98 to 100 % of 48 samples, Listeria monocytogenes in 38 % and no Salmonella.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus, relevant in some samples; Listeria monocytogenes, found in 3 samples in a sensory study; Listeria monocytogenes in 38 % of 48 cheese samples from formal and informal Paipa dairies; Staphylococcus above the Colombian limits in 98 to 100 % of samples, with 56 % of the isolates S. aureus; Salmonella was not detected.

History and sources

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

The Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio granted the designation in Resolution 70802 of 8 December 2011. About 15 of some 70 producers are formally registered and use the seal.

  1. [castellanos2020] Castellanos-Rozo J., Pérez Pulido R., Grande M.J., Lucas R., Gálvez A. 2020, Analysis of the Bacterial Diversity of Paipa Cheese (a Traditional Raw Cow's Milk Cheese from Colombia) by High-Throughput Sequencing, Microorganisms 8(2):218paper
  2. [benavides2022] Benavides-Sánchez D.A., Pena-Serna C. 2022, Approaching the sensory profile of Paipa cheese, the Colombian ripened cheese with protected designation of origin, Brazilian Journal of Food Technology 25:e2022121paper
  3. [castellanos2021] Castellanos-Rozo J., Pérez Pulido R., Grande M.J., Lucas R., Gálvez A. 2021, Potentially pathogenic bacteria isolated from Paipa cheese and its susceptibility profiles to antibiotics and biocides, Brazilian Journal of Microbiology 52(3):1535–1543 (abstract)paper