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Cheese from Venezuela, traditional in the south of Bolívar state

Queso telita

Raw whole milk is soured with 5–35 % acid whey, a sweet whey left 24–48 hours at room temperature until pH 3.4–4.2, then set with rennet. The drained curd is salted, melted over a low fire at 40–65 °C and stretched with paddles, kneaded cool into a smooth white mass, folded into a round and eaten fresh within about a week.

Fully documentedCheese26 h – 2.1 daysFamily: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are per 100 l of milk or per kg of curd, as described for seven Aragua dairies in a 2011 study; makers vary.
Raw whole cow milk, received at about 35 °C[maldonado2011]
Acid whey (sweet whey left 24–48 h at room temperature to pH 3.4–4.2)5 to 35 % of the milk[maldonado2011]
Commercial rennet3–6 g per 100 l of milk (powder) or 30–40 ml per 100 l (liquid)[maldonado2011]
Salt, mixed into the curd; or a brine of 100 g salt per kg of whey at 150–350 g per kg of curd1.5 to 3.5 % of the curd weight[maldonado2011]
Starterback-slopped acid whey

Total time across the recorded steps: 26 h – 2.1 days

Start
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pH 6.6 → 3.4Milk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Kept warm for a day or two, sweet whey turns sour

Step 1 of 7
Make the acid whey
Time
24 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.6 → 3.4
Reported
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 whole milk is soured with 5–35 % acid whey, a sweet whey left 24–48 hours at room temperature until pH 3.4–4.2, then set with rennet. The drained curd is salted, melted over a low fire at 40–65 °C and stretched with paddles, kneaded cool into a smooth white mass, folded into a round and eaten fresh within about a week. Made in 7 steps over 26 h – 2.1 days. The longest step, make the acid whey, takes 24 h – 2 days (Maldonado Gómez R.J 2011). Salt is 1.5–3.5 % (Maldonado Gómez R.J 2011).

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[maldonado2011]Make the acid whey
Temperature35 °CReported[maldonado2011]Sour the milk with acid whey
Salt1.5–3.5 %Reported[maldonado2011]Cut and salt the curd
AciditypH 6.6 → 5.1Reported[maldonado2011]Sour the milk with acid whey

What makes this one different

The milk is soured before setting with back-slopped acid whey, and the salted curd is melted over a low fire at 40–65 °C rather than in hot water. It is soft and high in moisture, and eaten within about a week.

Composition
Moisture 58.56 % on average; fat 46.93 % and NaCl 5.12 % of dry matter; pH 5.2
Stretching pH
In a lab study, stretching between pH 5.2 and 5.7 gave 11.4–12.9 kg cheese per 100 kg milk

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk. In 30 freshly made artisanal cheeses, Staphylococcus aureus averaged 9.74×10³ CFU/g and total coliforms 1.25×10⁴ MPN/g, both above the Venezuelan COVENIN-3822 limits (10³ CFU/g and 1.1×10³ MPN/g). All 30 were coagulase-negative. The authors judged that a cheese starting at about 10² CFU/g of S. aureus stayed acceptable for 21 days at about 5 °C, although S. aureus counts at 21 days were above the limit in the standard, and they put the eating limit at about 7 days because of rising acidity. 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.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, averaging 9.74×10³ CFU/g (10²–2.5×10⁴) in 30 freshly made cheeses, above the COVENIN-3822 limit of 10³ CFU/g; raw milk, souring, salting, kneading, moulding and packing are the points where pathogens can enter; Escherichia coli, found in 43.3 % of 60 retail samples of telita-type cheese from Upata (Bolívar), and coliforms; a sign of hygiene faults after making.

History and sources

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

Telita is a traditional artisanal cheese of southern Bolívar state. The 2011 study visited seven production centres in Aragua state.

  1. [rodriguez2009] Rodríguez C., Caldas L., Ogeerally P. 2009, Calidad sanitaria en queso artesanal tipo "telita". Upata, estado Bolívar, Venezuela, Revista de la Sociedad Venezolana de Microbiología 29:98–102paper
  2. [maldonado2011] Maldonado Gómez R.J., Rodríguez M., Llanca Córdova L.R. et al. 2011, Esquema tecnológico general y caracterización del queso hilado tipo telita, Agronomía Tropical 61(3-4):177–188paper
  3. [maldonado2013] Maldonado R., Melendez B., Arispe I., Boeneke C., Torrico D., Prinyawiwatkul W. 2013, Effect of pH on technological parameters and physicochemical and texture characteristics of the pasta filata cheese Telita, Journal of Dairy Science (abstract)paper
  4. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov