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Cheese from Italy, Lombardia

Strachet

Raw cow milk, whole from one fresh milking or from two milkings with the first lightly skimmed, is warmed to 36–38 °C and set with rennet. The curd is broken to hazelnut size, rests 10–15 minutes under the whey and drains in a linen cloth on a draining table, where it is cut into pieces. After 1–2 days the pieces are dry-salted once and ripen up to about 15 days.

Fully documentedCheese16 days – 17 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lombardia)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedA farm cheese with no fixed amounts; the sheets give no milk volume or rennet dose. A piece weighs about 1.2–1.5 kg.
Raw cow milk, whole from one milking, or from two milkings with the first skimmed by letting the cream rise[pat-sheet][onaf]
Rennet (calf rennet, per ONAF)[pat-sheet][onaf]
Coarse salt[pat-sheet]
Starterno starter or culture is named in the sheets; only rennet is added

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days – 17 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Raw cow milk goes into the vat straight after milking

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

Whole milk straight after milking, as was done at first; some makers now use two milkings, the first lightly skimmed by letting the cream rise.

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 cow milk, whole from one fresh milking or from two milkings with the first lightly skimmed, is warmed to 36–38 °C and set with rennet. The curd is broken to hazelnut size, rests 10–15 minutes under the whey and drains in a linen cloth on a draining table, where it is cut into pieces. After 1–2 days the pieces are dry-salted once and ripen up to about 15 days. Made in 6 steps over 16 days – 17 days. The longest step, ripen, takes up to 15 days (Regione Lombardia).

Key numbers
Main stepup to 15 daysReported[pat-sheet]Ripen
Temperature36–38 °CReported[pat-sheet]Set the curd

What makes this one different

An 'anomalous' stracchino that may use part-skimmed milk; once alpine-only, now year-round in the valley floor too. Its shape comes from cutting the drained curd with a knife, not from a mould.

Rind
Clean or with moulds; thin, marked by the moulds, light straw or greyish (ONAF)
Size
Square or roughly triangular pieces cut with a knife, 1.2–1.5 kg

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw cow milk and eaten young. The regional sheet says ripening lasts up to 15 days, though the cheese can be aged longer, and gives no longer figure. 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. At 15 days this cheese is well short of 60 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: Coagulase-positive staphylococci (S. aureus) and enterotoxins, in a 2021 survey of 123 Alpine raw or thermised milk cheeses from Austria, Italy and Switzerland, sampled by the makers before or just after brining. 52% had none, 16% were over the legal limit, and 2 samples (1.6%) held enterotoxins, which the study links to low heating (37–43.6 °C) and poor souring. Its text does not name Strachet, and this cheese was not measured.

History and sources

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

The ONAF page says Strachet first came only from the alpine pastures (malghe) in summer and is now also made on the valley floor all year. The regional sheet adds that it was originally made from whole milk straight after milking, and that some makers now use two milkings with the first lightly skimmed.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Lombardia, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Strachet' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), cheese page 'Strachet' (id 1037)web
  3. [berger2025] Berger T.F.H. et al., 2025, Critical Factors Affecting the Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcal Enterotoxins in Raw Milk Cheese in the Alpine Region of Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, Foods 14(13):2176paper
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov