Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Peru, Puno region

Queso pariaqueso fresco tipo paria

Cow milk is pasteurised, cooled to 34 °C and set with rennet in about 30 minutes. The curd is cut fine, stirred, partly drained, washed with water at 65 °C, salted and pressed in straw moulds that mark the rind. It is a fresh cheese of the Peruvian altiplano, ready the next day and not ripened.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe review gives additive doses as percentages and 32 g of rennet, without the milk volume. About 7 litres of milk make a kilo of cheese (Sierra Exportadora, 2012).
Cow milkFresh, at 15–18 °D acidity; sometimes sheep milk[candelaria2020]
Calcium chloride0.06 %[candelaria2020]
Potassium nitrate0.04 %[candelaria2020]
Lipase0.002 %[candelaria2020]
Commercial coagulant with thermophilic bacteria, and rennet32 g of rennet in the plant flow described[candelaria2020]
Hot water at 65 °CFor washing the curd[candelaria2020]
Salt[candelaria2020]
Starterthermophilic bacteria in the commercial coagulant

Total time across the recorded steps: 56 min

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
75 °C

What changes: Filtered cow milk is pasteurised at 75 °C for a minute

Step 1 of 6
Pasteurise the milk
Time
1 min
Reported
Temperature
75 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: pasteurised 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

Cow milk is pasteurised, cooled to 34 °C and set with rennet in about 30 minutes. The curd is cut fine, stirred, partly drained, washed with water at 65 °C, salted and pressed in straw moulds that mark the rind. It is a fresh cheese of the Peruvian altiplano, ready the next day and not ripened. Made in 6 steps over 56 min. The longest step, cool and set with rennet, takes 30 min (Trujillo Miranda C. 2020) and runs at 34 °C (Trujillo Miranda C. 2020).

Key numbers
Main step30 minReported[candelaria2020]Cool and set with rennet
Temperature34 °CReported[candelaria2020]Cool and set with rennet

What makes this one different

Paria is a fresh pressed cheese, ready the day after making. Its curd is washed with hot water, which slows the souring, and it is pressed in straw moulds that leave a ridged rind. Queso andino, described in the same review, is brined and ripened for weeks.

Milk
Pasteurised cow milk; sometimes sheep milk
Ripening
None; ready the day after making. Peruvian technical standard NTP 202.044 (2014) treats it as an unripened cheese
Composition
Moisture 58.08 %, protein 14.56 %, fat 35.98 % (Caritas 2015, as cited); pH 5.5 (Apaza 2014, as cited)
Standard
Peruvian standard NTP 105.003:2023 (as reported by Agraria.pe) asks for pasteurised cow or sheep milk or a mix, at least 45 % fat in dry matter, a cylindrical or rectangular shape, a light natural rind that may carry the mould's roughness, and storage at no more than 6 °C
Yield
Reviewed yields are about 10 % (9.8 % from 1,000 litres; 10 % from 600 litres). A 2012 Sierra Exportadora figure is about 7 litres of milk per kilo

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised in the process described, and the cheese is eaten fresh. The thesis stores it at 12 °C, but a 2024 report on the Peruvian standard NTP 105.003:2023 says the standard requires pasteurised milk and cold stores that keep the cheese at no more than 6 °C, so the two sources differ on storage temperature. The 0.04 % potassium nitrate is one thesis's plant figure, not a home amount, and the review does not say what it is a percentage of.

History and sources

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

Puno produces more than 200,000 litres of milk a day, and 65 % of its cheese is fresh (MINAGRI 2019, as cited). In 2012 Sierra Exportadora, with Agrobanco and the La Molina agrarian university, announced a course on ripened cheeses in Puno, aimed at makers who produced only high-moisture fresh cheeses.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [candelaria2020] Trujillo Miranda C. 2020, Estudio del proceso de elaboración del queso fresco y madurado en la región Puno, bachelor's research work, Universidad Peruana Unión, Juliacaarchive
  2. [agraria2024] Agraria.pe, 'Inacal establece requisitos de calidad del queso paria para mejorar la seguridad en su consumo', 24 April 2024 (report on NTP 105.003:2023 Quesos regionales. Queso paria)web
  3. [agraria2012] Agraria.pe, 'Impulsan elaboración de quesos maduros en Puno', 19 April 2012web