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Cheese from Italy, Puglia

Ricotta salata o marzoticaR'cotta tost

Ricotta salata o marzotica is a boundary entry, set by heat and the whey's own acidity, not by microbes. Whey is heated over a fire to 78–82 °C, rested about 15 minutes and boiled 5 minutes; the flakes are drained in baskets at 15–25 °C, salted all over and sometimes rolled in durum-wheat bran. It ripens in cool underground rooms and is mostly grated.

Fully documentedCheese30 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product, Puglia); entry 329 of the Puglia section of the 2022 national listFamily: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give the method, not a batch recipe. ONAF gives 1–2 kg per ricotta.
Whey from sheep, cow or mixed cheesemakingFiltered through a fine-mesh strainer[puglia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Fine saltSprinkled by hand over the whole surface[puglia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Durum-wheat bran (some areas)Rolled onto the surface (incruscamento)[puglia-pat][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; heat and the whey's own acidity make the curd

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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78–82 °C

What changes: The whey is stirred and heated slowly over a fire to 78–82 °C

Step 1 of 5
Heat the whey over the fire
Time
Not documented
Temperature
78–82 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Ricotta salata o marzotica is a boundary entry, set by heat and the whey's own acidity, not by microbes. Whey is heated over a fire to 78–82 °C, rested about 15 minutes and boiled 5 minutes; the flakes are drained in baskets at 15–25 °C, salted all over and sometimes rolled in durum-wheat bran. It ripens in cool underground rooms and is mostly grated. Made in 5 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen in underground rooms, takes at least 30 days (Regione Puglia) and runs at 11–14 °C (Regione Puglia).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[puglia-pat]Ripen in underground rooms
Temperature11–14 °CReported[puglia-pat][onaf-sheet]Ripen in underground rooms

What makes this one different

Unlike the grass-coated marzotica of Lecce, it is boiled briefly after the flakes rise, salted by hand over the surface after draining, and in some areas coated with durum-wheat bran. It ripens in rock cellars and is mostly a grating cheese.

Rind
Thin, wrinkled, white, or brown if bran-coated
Size
Truncated cone or cylinder about 15 cm across and 20 cm high
Weight
1–2 kg (ONAF)
Eat within
Not later than 10–12 months (Puglia sheet)
Season
All year with cow whey; with sheep whey, during the lactation season

Related ferments

Variants

  • IncruscataRolled in durum-wheat bran; brown surface

Safety

The Puglia sheet asks for clean milking, washing of all tools, including wooden ones, and a visual check that discards any ricotta with an odd smell, colour or foreign matter.

History and sources

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

The ONAF sheet says the need to keep the large amount of spring milk for leaner times of the year was surely behind it, as an alternative to common fresh ricotta. It adds that no certain information exists, but it can be supposed that the ricotta came from some experiment while making cacioricotta. The Puglia sheet ties it to the cooking traditions of the farm estates (case padronali).

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [puglia-pat] Regione Puglia, Scheda identificativa per l'Elenco dei Prodotti Tradizionali 'Ricotta salata o marzotica' (schede A and B, no. 05)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Ricotta salata o marzotica'web
  3. [pat-national] MiPAAF, Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali ai sensi dell'articolo 12, comma 1, della legge 12 dicembre 2016, n. 238, Allegato I (22nd revision, 2022; copy hosted by Regione Puglia, veg.biodiversitapuglia.it)gov