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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Stracciata del MateseStracciata ré Matese

Raw whole cow milk from the evening and morning milkings is set at 43 °C with calf rennet and a whey starter made on site. The curd is broken to walnut size and left 2–4 hours under hot whey to sour until it stretches, then stretched with boiling water into a smooth rope. The rope is torn into long pieces, shaped by hand, cooled in water and brined, and the cheese is eaten the same day.

Fully documentedCheese2.6 h – 4.6 hTraditional food product (PAT, Campania)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedMade by hand in artisan workshops; the sheets give no milk volume or doses. A piece usually weighs no more than 1 kg.
Raw whole cow milk from the evening and morning milkings, filtered through cloth[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey starter (sieroinnesto) prepared in the same dairy[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Boiling whey, boiling water and salt (brine)[pat-sheet]
Starterwhey starter prepared in the same dairy

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.6 h – 4.6 h

Start
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What changes: Raw whole cow milk from two milkings is filtered into the vat

Step 1 of 8
Take the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
S. thermophilus
Enterococcus faecium
Streptococcus

Evening and morning milk, kept chilled, is filtered through a cloth into the vat.

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 from the evening and morning milkings is set at 43 °C with calf rennet and a whey starter made on site. The curd is broken to walnut size and left 2–4 hours under hot whey to sour until it stretches, then stretched with boiling water into a smooth rope. The rope is torn into long pieces, shaped by hand, cooled in water and brined, and the cheese is eaten the same day. Made in 8 steps over 2.6 h – 4.6 h. The longest step, sour the curd under hot whey, takes 2–4 h (Regione Campania 2015). In a related product, the natural whey starter of cow's milk used for caciocavallo sampled in a 2022 study of two artisanal Campania dairies (this cheese's own starter was not tested), culture found Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Enterococcus faecium, and sequencing found mostly Streptococcus (read as S. salivarius) with some Lactococcus lactis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–4 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Sour the curd under hot whey
Temperature43 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Set the curd

What makes this one different

Named for tearing the stretched rope; firmer than the Irpinian stracciata. It sours fast, so it is little developed, made in modest amounts and valued as the Sunday cheese of the area.

Rind
Very thin white skin, glossy
Size
≤1.0 kg; flattened, slightly rolled rope 4–6 cm across
Keeping
Eaten the same day or kept a few days in a cold room

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk. The curd is stretched in boiling water, and the cheese is eaten the same day or kept a few days in a cold room. 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.

History and sources

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

Witnesses in the area confirm the cheese has been made for at least 25 years. Because it is delicate and made in small amounts, it has long been the Sunday cheese of the area.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Assessorato agricoltura, Prodotti tradizionali, page 'Stracciata del Matese' (updated 13 March 2015; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Stracciata del Matese'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Stracciata del Matese' (id 1173)web
  4. [foods2022-nws] Marasco R., Gazzillo M., Campolattano N., Sacco M., Muscariello L. (2022), Isolation and Identification of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Natural Whey Cultures of Buffalo and Cow Milk, Foods 11(2):233 (natural whey starters from two artisanal dairies in Campania)paper
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov