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Cheese from Southern Italy in origin

Scamorzascamorza

Cow milk is set with calf rennet and a soured-milk or whey starter, and the curd sours under its whey for a few hours until it will stretch. It is then stretched in hot water, shaped by hand into a sphere with a pinched neck, firmed in cold water and aged briefly, often tied in pairs; one version is smoked.

Recipe

Scamorza, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Thomon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedTraditional make with no fixed amounts.
Whole cow milkRaw in the Lazio traditional make[arsial-scamorza]
Liquid calf rennet[arsial-scamorza]
StarterMilk soured in the fridge for 2 days (Lazio); natural whey starters or Streptococcus thermophilus in other makes[arsial-scamorza][baruzzi2002][guidone2015]
SaltAdded while stretching in the Lazio make[arsial-scamorza]
Startersoured milk (latto-innesto), natural whey starter or Streptococcus thermophilus

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countS. thermophilusL. delbrueckii38 °C

What changes: Rennet and a soured-milk starter go into warm milk and it sets fast

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add rennet and starter
Time
10 min
Reported
Temperature
38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

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 set with calf rennet and a soured-milk or whey starter, and the curd sours under its whey for a few hours until it will stretch. It is then stretched in hot water, shaped by hand into a sphere with a pinched neck, firmed in cold water and aged briefly, often tied in pairs; one version is smoked. Made in 5 steps over 10 days. The longest step, firm in cold water and age briefly, takes 10 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency)) and runs at 4 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency)). Streptococcus thermophilus, dominant in Scamorza Altamurana and used as the starter in a 30-day ripening study of Scamorza and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, dominant with S. thermophilus in Scamorza Altamurana, a back-slopped make do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 daysReported[arsial-scamorza]Firm in cold water and age briefly
Temperature4 °CReported[arsial-scamorza]Firm in cold water and age briefly

What makes this one different

Scamorza is stretched like mozzarella but shaped into a sphere with a pinched neck, tied in pairs and firmed in cold water and aged for days, so it is firmer. Its ripening is short, under a month, and a smoked version (scamorza affumicata) is also made.

Milk
Cow milk
Ripening
Short, under 30 days; 10 days at 4 °C in the Lazio make

Related ferments

Variants

  • Scamorza affumicataSmoked version.
  • Scamorza ripiena (Latina)Filled with olives and anchovies.
  • Scamorza AltamuranaA typical Southern Italian make, studied by Baruzzi and colleagues, with a back-slopped whey starter; curd ferments 18 h, cheese ripens 6 days.

Safety

The Lazio make uses raw milk with no pasteurisation, only warming to 38 °C. The milk is chilled to 4 °C and filtered first, the paste is stretched in water at 75–85 °C, and the cheeses age at 4 °C. ARSIAL lists the product among the Lazio traditional products that may use hygiene-sanitary derogations. 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

The sheet from ARSIAL says the name seems to come from scamozzare, to cut off part, which refers to the cheesemaker breaking the paste by hand to shape the cheese with its constriction. It calls the cheese without doubt southern Italian in origin, made today mainly in Lazio, Campania, Abruzzo and Molise; the filled version is characteristic of the province of Latina.

  1. [arsial-scamorza] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, traditional product sheet Scamorza vaccina (semplice o ripiena)gov
  2. [guidone2015] Guidone A., Braghieri A., Cioffi S., Claps S., Genovese F., Morone G., Napolitano F., Parente E. 2015, Effect of adjuncts on microbiological and chemical properties of Scamorza cheese, Journal of Dairy Science 98(3):1467–1478, doi:10.3168/jds.2014-8554 (abstract)paper
  3. [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(6):1390–1397, doi:10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(02)74206-9 (abstract)paper
  4. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese and dairy section)gov