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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

StaèlSta'el

Raw whole goat milk, used straight after a single milking, is set with liquid calf rennet at 36–38 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size while it is warmed to 42 °C, moulded, brined about 2 hours and ripened about 30 days at 8–14 °C.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedA farm cheese made in small batches through the kidding season; the sheets give no milk volume or rennet dose. A cheese weighs 0.4–0.5 kg.
Raw whole goat milk from one milking, used as soon as it is milkedCamosciata delle Alpi and Bionda dell'Adamello goats[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt (brine at 25%)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Raw whole goat milk goes into the vat straight after milking

Step 1 of 6
Take the fresh milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Whole raw milk from a single milking goes into the vat straight after milking.

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

Raw whole goat milk, used straight after a single milking, is set with liquid calf rennet at 36–38 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size while it is warmed to 42 °C, moulded, brined about 2 hours and ripened about 30 days at 8–14 °C. Made in 6 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen, takes 30 days (Regione Lombardia) and runs at 8–14 °C (Regione Lombardia). Salt is 25 % (Regione Lombardia).

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature8–14 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Salt25 %Reported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Brine

What makes this one different

Small soft-pasted goat cheese named from 'staèl' = cheese in the shepherds' Gaì jargon. It uses raw milk from one fresh milking, is semi-cooked at 42 °C and ripens only about a month.

Rind
Thin, slightly wrinkled from the moulds, straw to light brown
Size
Ø 11–15 cm, h 3–5 cm; 0.4–0.5 kg
Season
February to October, while the goats are in milk

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw goat milk from a single milking and ripened about 30 days. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. This cheese ripens for about 30 days. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: E. coli (β-glucuronidase-positive count) and coagulase-positive staphylococci, present naturally and not added, in three batches from one farm of Formaggella di capra, a related raw goat milk cheese of the Insubria area of northern Italy, made with an added mesophilic and thermophilic starter and ripened about 30 days. In one batch the milk held E. coli at 5.07 log CFU/mL, which ran at 6.14–6.89 during ripening and 5.69 in the last week, and staphylococci at 3.18 log CFU/mL, whose behaviour varied. In the other two batches neither was countable in the milk, but both grew during ripening. Not measured in Staèl itself.

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Lombardia, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Sta'el' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Staèl'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Staèl' (id 1031)web
  4. [dalzini2014] Dalzini E, Cosciani-Cunico E, Sfameni C, Monastero P, Daminelli P, Losio MN, Varisco G (2014) Microbiological and Physico-Chemical Changes During Manufacture of an Italian Goat Cheese Made from Raw Milk. Italian Journal of Food Safety, article 4586, doi 10.4081/ijfs.2014.4586paper
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov