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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

Stracchino tipicoStraness (the Nesso cheese)

Raw whole cow milk, used fresh on alpine pastures from June to September, is set with calf rennet and first cut after 35–40 minutes. The hazelnut-size curd goes in linen cloths into square Taleggio moulds, is kept 24 hours in a warm room, then salted twice and stored in a cave at 5–6 °C. It is rubbed with salt water for 15–20 days and ripened for 30 days up to two months.

Fully documentedCheese47 days – 2.7 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Lombardia)Family: Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedAn alpine-pasture cheese with no fixed amounts; the sheets give no milk volume or rennet dose. A cheese weighs about 1 kg.
Raw whole cow milk, used warm from milking on the alpine pasture[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[onaf-sheet]
Salt (dry-salting) and salt water for rubbing the rind[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 47 days – 2.7 months

Start
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What changes: Raw whole cow milk goes into the vat warm from milking

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

Whole raw milk goes into the vat warm from milking, without heating; if it cannot be used at once it is warmed to setting temperature.

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 cow milk, used fresh on alpine pastures from June to September, is set with calf rennet and first cut after 35–40 minutes. The hazelnut-size curd goes in linen cloths into square Taleggio moulds, is kept 24 hours in a warm room, then salted twice and stored in a cave at 5–6 °C. It is rubbed with salt water for 15–20 days and ripened for 30 days up to two months. Made in 7 steps over 47 days – 2.7 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 30 days – 2 months (Regione Lombardia) and runs at 6–10 °C (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters…).

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen
Temperature6–10 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen

What makes this one different

Alpine-only stracchino; best known are Stracchino di Nesso (CO) and Stracchino dei Campelli (BG); liquefied sub-rind, chalky core. It is salted twice and rubbed with salt water for weeks.

Rind
Very thin and moist, ridged from the mats, white to light straw, may carry grey moulds
Size
Square (sometimes round), side 20–22 cm, h ~4 cm; ~1 kg
Season
Made only on alpine pastures above 1000 m, June to September

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk on alpine pastures; the sheets rely on fresh milk, salting and cool cave storage and give no pH or safety limits. 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

The Jacini parliamentary inquiry into Italian farming (report published 1884) described stracchini as small soft cheeses made in a hurry at rest stops from the milk of cows tired by the journey between mountain and plain. ONAF notes that Slow Food protects the cheese with a Presidio.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  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] Regione Lombardia, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Stracchino tipico' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Stracchino tipico' (web.archive.org copy of 10 June 2023)web
  4. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Stracchino tipico' (id 1036)web