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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Formaggio SchizSchiz

Very fresh cow milk, raw or pasteurised, is set with calf rennet at 32–38 °C and cut to hazelnut-size grains while it is warmed to 41–42 °C. The curd is plunged in cold water for about 10 minutes to stop it souring, pressed lightly in square baskets for an hour and never salted. The white brick is kept in the fridge and eaten within days, usually fried in butter with polenta.

Fully documentedCheese1.4 h – 1.5 hTraditional food product (PAT, Veneto)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedDairy process; the sheets give no amounts. A brick weighs about 2 kg. No salt is used.
Very fresh cow milk, whole or part-skimmed by natural creaming, raw or pasteurised[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey starter (only with pasteurised milk)[onaf-sheet]
Starternone for raw milk; whey starter with pasteurised milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 1.4 h – 1.5 h

Start
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What changes: Fresh cow milk, raw or pasteurised, goes into the vat

Step 1 of 7
Prepare the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Raw milk is used as it is; pasteurised milk needs a whey starter.

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

Very fresh cow milk, raw or pasteurised, is set with calf rennet at 32–38 °C and cut to hazelnut-size grains while it is warmed to 41–42 °C. The curd is plunged in cold water for about 10 minutes to stop it souring, pressed lightly in square baskets for an hour and never salted. The white brick is kept in the fridge and eaten within days, usually fried in butter with polenta. Made in 7 steps over 1.4 h – 1.5 h. The longest step, shape without salt, takes 1 h (Regione Veneto).

Key numbers
Main step1 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Shape without salt
Temperature32–38 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Add rennet and set

What makes this one different

A barely ripened cheese that is semi-cooked, then chilled in cold water to stop it souring, and never salted. It is eaten within a week, fried, not as a table cheese.

Rind
None; a very thin skin forms after a few days
Size
Brick 20 x 10 cm, 8–10 cm high, about 2 kg
Salt
None added

Related ferments

Safety

The cheese is kept in the fridge and lasts only 2–3 days from raw milk or 7 days from pasteurised milk.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci and E. coli at high counts in cheeses from the mountain dairies (malghe) of the Veneto mountains (Belluno, Treviso, Verona, Vicenza), a related group of products; in 2006, 14.4 % of the cheese samples had coagulase-positive staphylococci at 10^5 CFU/g or more and 11.03 % had E. coli at 10^5 CFU/g or more. Listeria monocytogenes was found in one cheese sample in 2007 and Salmonella in none. Not measured in Schiz itself.

History and sources

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

Herders on mountain pastures fried the curd that squeezed out of the hoops of Malga bellunese or Agordino di malga and ate it with polenta. The name may come from 'schizar', to squirt, for that curd or for the whey that spits during frying.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, sheet 'Formaggio Schiz', p. 164gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Formaggio Schiz'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Formaggio Schiz' (id 1084)web
  4. [comin2010] Comin D, Ravella L, Paiusco A, Mioni R (2010) Valutazione igienico-sanitaria di prodotti lattiero-caseari di malga (Sanitary evaluation of milk products in mountain dairies), A.I.V.I. n. 7, p. 73, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Veneziepaper