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Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Scamorza vaccina (semplice e ripiena)

Raw cow milk, chilled to 4 °C, is warmed to 38 °C and set in 10 minutes with calf rennet and a starter of milk soured 2 days in the fridge. The curd ripens 3–5 hours under whey, then is stretched and salted in water at 75–85 °C and shaped into a ball with a neck and head, plain or filled with olives and anchovies. After 6 hours in cold water it ripens 10 days at about 4 °C.

Fully documentedCheese10 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedRegional dairy process; the sheets give no amounts or batch size. A cheese weighs about 400 g.
Raw whole cow milk from two milkings[arsial2025][onaf-sheet]
Milk starter (latto-innesto), milk left to sour 2 days in the fridge[arsial2025][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[arsial2025]
Salt[arsial2025]
Black olives and anchovies (ripiena only)[arsial2025][onaf-sheet]
Startermilk starter (milk soured 2 days in the fridge), added with the rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
4 °C

What changes: Raw cow milk from two milkings is chilled and strained through a cloth

Step 1 of 6
Chill and filter the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
4 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
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, chilled to 4 °C, is warmed to 38 °C and set in 10 minutes with calf rennet and a starter of milk soured 2 days in the fridge. The curd ripens 3–5 hours under whey, then is stretched and salted in water at 75–85 °C and shaped into a ball with a neck and head, plain or filled with olives and anchovies. After 6 hours in cold water it ripens 10 days at about 4 °C. Made in 6 steps over 10 days. The longest step, ripen cold, takes 10 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agriculture)) and runs at 4 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agriculture)). Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, which dominated the fermentation of Scamorza Altamurana, a related Southern Italian scamorza started by backslopping does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 daysReported[arsial2025][onaf-sheet]Ripen cold
Temperature4 °CReported[arsial2025][onaf-sheet]Ripen cold

What makes this one different

A raw-milk Lazio scamorza set fast, in 10 minutes, with a starter of milk soured in the fridge. It is salted in the paste while stretching, and the Latina version is filled with black olives and anchovies.

Rind
Thin, smooth skin, ivory to straw, sometimes waxy
Size
About 400 g; ball or pear with a head, 8–12 cm long
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • SemplicePlain, sweet
  • RipienaFilled with black olives and anchovies; typical of Latina province

Safety

The milk is not pasteurised; it is chilled to 4 °C, the curd is stretched in water at 75–85 °C (ARSIAL; ONAF gives 43–45 °C), and the cheese ripens at about 4 °C. ARSIAL lists the product as eligible for the traditional-product hygiene exemptions. NHS pregnancy advice says unpasteurised dairy foods may contain listeria, which can cause miscarriage or stillbirth.

History and sources

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

ARSIAL's sheet says the cheese is of southern Italian origin and is now made mainly in Lazio, Campania, Abruzzo and Molise, and that the filled version is characteristic of Latina province. It says the name seems to come from 'scamozzare', to cut off a part, after the pinch that forms the head.

  1. [arsial2025] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agriculture), Lazio Patrimonio Agroalimentare, PAT sheet 'Scamorza vaccina (semplice o ripiena)', p. 180gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Scamorza vaccina (semplice o ripiena)'web
  3. [lazio-pat-list] Regione Lazio, Bonus Lazio Km (0) call, Allegato B, list of regional products (PAT class, Formaggi, Scamorza vaccina (semplice e ripiena))gov
  4. [baruzzi2002] Baruzzi F., Matarante A., Morea M., Cocconcelli P.S. 2002, Microbial community dynamics during the Scamorza Altamurana cheese natural fermentation, Journal of Dairy Science 85, 1390-1397 (abstract; a related backslopped Southern Italian scamorza, not this Lazio cheese)paper
  5. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese and dairy section)gov