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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Sfoglia di mozzarella

Pasteurised cow milk is set at about 35 °C with a natural starter, lactic cultures and calf rennet, and the curd sours for several hours under hot whey, as for mozzarella. After stretching in near-boiling water and brining for 30 minutes to 2 hours, the curd is rolled out into thin sheets instead of balls. The sheets are rolled up and sold to be filled and rolled again.

Fully documentedCheese30 min – 2 hTraditional food product (PAT, Campania, 23rd regional list)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedDairy process; the sheets give no amounts. One sheet is up to 30 x 40 cm and a pack weighs about 1 kg.
Whole cow milk, pasteurised[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Natural starter and lactic cultures[pat-sheet]
Calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, as brine[pat-sheet]
Starternatural starter (fermento naturale) plus lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 min – 2 h

Start
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4 °C

What changes: The chilled cow milk is pasteurised

Step 1 of 8
Chill and pasteurise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
4 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
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

Pasteurised cow milk is set at about 35 °C with a natural starter, lactic cultures and calf rennet, and the curd sours for several hours under hot whey, as for mozzarella. After stretching in near-boiling water and brining for 30 minutes to 2 hours, the curd is rolled out into thin sheets instead of balls. The sheets are rolled up and sold to be filled and rolled again. Made in 8 steps over 30 min – 2 h. The longest step, brine, takes 30 min – 2 h (Regione Campania).

Key numbers
Main step30 min – 2 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Brine
Temperature4 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Chill and pasteurise the milk

What makes this one different

Made like mozzarella, but after stretching the curd is rolled out into large thin sheets instead of being cut into balls, so it can be filled and rolled.

Rind
None; smooth, glossy, snow-white surface
Size
Sheet up to 30 x 40 cm and a few millimetres thick; packs about 1 kg
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised and the curd is stretched in near-boiling water. The sheets are kept at 2–4 °C and eaten within a few days.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet says sources confirm it was being made by the late 1970s and that producers in Montella were already making it in the early 1900s. Filled with raw ham, cherry tomatoes and rocket, it was a fixture of wedding starters in the province in the 1980s.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Prodotti tradizionali PAT, sheet 'Sfoglia di mozzarella'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Sfoglia di mozzarella'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Sfoglia di mozzarella' (id 1335)web