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Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Ricotta viterbese

Ricotta viterbese is a boundary entry, set by heat and acid, not by microbes. Sheep whey with 1.5–2% whole ewe milk is heated to 83–90 °C, and the flakes are lifted out as soon as they start to surface. They are moulded in cone baskets, never salted, and dried briefly in the cold before sale.

Fully documentedCheese12 h – 36 hPAT (traditional agri-food product, Lazio)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe sheets give no batch size. A ricotta weighs 0.5–1.0 kg.
Whey from sheep cheese only, raw or pasteurised[lazio-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whole ewe milk1.5–2%, up to 3%[lazio-sheet][onaf-sheet]
StarterHeat sets the curd; ONAF classes the set as acid-thermal.

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 h – 36 h

Start
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What changes: A little whole ewe milk goes into the filtered sheep whey

Step 1 of 4
Filter the whey and add milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The whey is filtered in the vat to remove impurities.

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 viterbese is a boundary entry, set by heat and acid, not by microbes. Sheep whey with 1.5–2% whole ewe milk is heated to 83–90 °C, and the flakes are lifted out as soon as they start to surface. They are moulded in cone baskets, never salted, and dried briefly in the cold before sale. Made in 4 steps over 12 h – 36 h. The longest step, dry in the cold, takes 12–36 h (Regione Lazio / ARSIAL) and runs at 4–5 °C (Regione Lazio / ARSIAL).

Key numbers
Main step12–36 hReported[lazio-sheet][onaf-sheet]Dry in the cold
Temperature4–5 °CReported[lazio-sheet][onaf-sheet]Dry in the cold

What makes this one different

Unsalted and lifted from the whey as soon as the flakes surface, with no further cooking; it is only dried for about a day in the cold and never ripened.

Size
Truncated cone, 0.5–1.0 kg
Rind
None; white, basket-marked
Season
Made all year; no ripening

Related ferments

Safety

The ricotta is never salted. At Cellere the sheets send it straight to a cold room at 4 °C for about 24 hours. At Capodimonte, Piansano and Bagnoregio it first dries 12 hours at room temperature in cool rooms, then at most 24 hours at 5 °C.

History and sources

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

The ONAF sheet says the method comes from Sardinian emigrant and local shepherds and has been handed down for about 90 years. Viterbo chamber of commerce price lists show ricotta on the city's markets from 1949.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [lazio-sheet] Regione Lazio / ARSIAL, Prodotti tipici e tradizionali del Lazio, 'Scheda analitica del prodotto' for Ricotta viterbese (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Ricotta viterbese'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Ricotta viterbese' (id 877)web