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Cheese from Italy, Sardegna

Semicotto di capra

Whole goat milk, raw in artisan making or heat-treated in industrial making, is set at 37–39 °C with calf rennet or lamb or kid rennet paste and a scotta starter from the last make. The curd is cut to maize-size grains, semi-cooked to 41–43 °C and moulded, then soured in a warm room for about 24 hours to pH 5.1–5.3. It is brined or dry-salted and ripened about 60 days, or up to 12–18 months.

Fully documentedCheese2.1 months – 18 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Sardegna)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm and dairy process; the sheets give no amounts or batch size. A cheese weighs 2.5–3 kg.
Whole goat milk, raw or heat-treated[pat-sheet]
Scotta starter (scotta-innesto) from the previous make[pat-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet, or lamb or kid rennet paste[pat-sheet]
Salt, as a 22 °Bé brine or dry[pat-sheet]
Starterscotta-innesto (whey-based starter) from the previous make

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months – 18 months

Start
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37–39 °C

What changes: Scotta starter and rennet go into the goat milk at 37–39 °C

Step 1 of 7
Add starter and rennet
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
37–39 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: curd.

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

Whole goat milk, raw in artisan making or heat-treated in industrial making, is set at 37–39 °C with calf rennet or lamb or kid rennet paste and a scotta starter from the last make. The curd is cut to maize-size grains, semi-cooked to 41–43 °C and moulded, then soured in a warm room for about 24 hours to pH 5.1–5.3. It is brined or dry-salted and ripened about 60 days, or up to 12–18 months. Made in 7 steps over 2.1 months – 18 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 2–18 months (Laore Sardegna (regional agricultural develop…).

Key numbers
Main step2–18 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature37–39 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Add starter and rennet
AciditypH 5.1–5.3Reported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Sour in a warm room

What makes this one different

A Sardinian semi-cooked goat-milk wheel, set with a scotta starter and soured in the mould to pH 5.1–5.3 before salting. A fresh 15-day version is sold but is not covered by the PAT listing.

Rind
Thin, smooth, straw-yellow, browning with age
Size
Cylinder 18–22 cm across and 9–15 cm high, 2.5–3 kg (ONAF gives 2.5–3.5 kg)
Season
Made from January to October

Related ferments

Variants

  • GiovaneAbout 60 days
  • StagionatoUp to 12–18 months, slightly sharp
  • FrescoFrom 15 days; not covered by the PAT listing

Safety

Farm cheese is made from raw milk. The regional sheet says that because the cheese ripens at least 60 days, it would fall within the limits of Italy's 1997 rule (D.P.R. 54/97) on the bacterial count of the milk. That rule is about the milk, and the sheet reports no test of the cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked ones such as Gruyère or Comté, because of Listeria, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin E. coli.

History and sources

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

Shepherds made it in the mountains in the early 1900s; the first specific records found are accounting records of cooperative dairies from the early 1970s.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  2. [pat-sheet] Laore Sardegna (regional agricultural development agency), Prodotto tradizionale della Sardegna, sheet 'Semicotto di capra'gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Semicotto di capra'web
  4. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Semicotto di capra' (id 376)web