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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Seirass di latteSairass di latte

Seirass di latte is a "ricotta" made from milk, not whey. Cow milk is heated fast with salt and a small dose of calf rennet to about 80 °C, so the whey proteins and part of the casein float up as moist flakes. It is a boundary entry, since the regional sheet describes an acid and rennet coagulation. The cheese is eaten within 3–4 days.

Fully documentedCheese8 h – 12 hTraditional food product (PAT, Piemonte, schede tecniche 2015)Family: Acid-heat set cheese family (FERMENTATION BOUNDARY)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts per 100 litres of milk, as the regional technical sheet gives them.
Cow milk100 LFreshly milked or well chilled, never acidified beforehand and never mixed with whey; the ONAF sheet adds that it is raw and whole[piemonte-pat][onaf-sheet]
Table saltAbout 0.5 kgAdded at about 20 °C[piemonte-pat]
Liquid calf rennetAbout 100 mlAdded at about 35 °C, not to set the milk but to prepare it to flocculate[piemonte-pat]

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 h – 12 h

Start
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20 °C

What changes: Whole milk is heated fast with constant stirring, and salt goes in at about 20 °C

Step 1 of 6
Heat the milk and add salt
Time
Not documented
Temperature
20 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: warm salted milk.

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

Seirass di latte is a "ricotta" made from milk, not whey. Cow milk is heated fast with salt and a small dose of calf rennet to about 80 °C, so the whey proteins and part of the casein float up as moist flakes. It is a boundary entry, since the regional sheet describes an acid and rennet coagulation. The cheese is eaten within 3–4 days. Made in 6 steps over 8 h – 12 h. The longest step, scoop out and cool, takes 8–12 h (Regione Piemonte 2015).

Key numbers
Main step8–12 hReported[piemonte-pat][onaf-sheet]Scoop out and cool
Temperature20 °CReported[piemonte-pat][onaf-sheet]Heat the milk and add salt

What makes this one different

Most ricotta is made from whey. Seirass di latte is made from whole milk with a little rennet and heat to about 80 °C, so it holds part of the casein and more fat as well as the whey proteins.

Rind
None; cloth marks
Size
1.0–1.5 kg; rounded cone
Season
October to May

Related ferments

Safety

It is a very moist fresh product. The regional sheet makes the cold chain compulsory, because microbes that get in after heating can spoil it fast or make it unsafe; eat it within 3–4 days.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet thinks it began around Roaschia (Cuneo), known for transhumant sheep, and spread to the provinces of Cuneo and Turin. It was once made mainly from sheep milk, always unmixed.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [piemonte-pat] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 luglio 2015 n. 460, schede tecniche dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, Seirass (Sairass) di latte o Ricotta piemontese, Bollettino Ufficiale BU38S1, 24 September 2015gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Seirass di latteweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Seirass di latte' (id 772)web