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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Treccia di Montella

Raw cow milk, delivered within 24 hours, is warmed to 36–37 °C with a little farm milk starter and set with liquid calf rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is broken to hazelnut size, warmed to about 40 °C if needed and left to sour under or out of the whey until it stretches. It is stretched by lifting with a paddle, which keeps it drier than mozzarella, braided from three cords, cooled and brined.

Fully documentedCheese4.3 h – 5.5 hTraditional food product (PAT, Campania)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no doses. ONAF gives about 0.6–1.0 kg for a braid and 0.15 kg for knots (nodini).
Whole raw cow milk of one or more consecutive milkingsDelivered within 24 hours of the first milking; ONAF names Bruna cows and chilling to 5–7 °C[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Farm milk starter (latto-innesto)Good-quality milk left to sour from the day before; a small amount[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, as brine (rarely in the curd)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Startera small amount of farm milk starter (milk soured since the day before)

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.3 h – 5.5 h

Start
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36–37 °C

What changes: Farm starter and liquid calf rennet go into the milk at 36–37 °C and it sets in 20–30 minutes

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk with starter and rennet
Time
20–30 min
Reported
Temperature
36–37 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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, delivered within 24 hours, is warmed to 36–37 °C with a little farm milk starter and set with liquid calf rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is broken to hazelnut size, warmed to about 40 °C if needed and left to sour under or out of the whey until it stretches. It is stretched by lifting with a paddle, which keeps it drier than mozzarella, braided from three cords, cooled and brined. Made in 7 steps over 4.3 h – 5.5 h. The longest step, sour the curd until it stretches, takes 3–4 h (Regione Campania 2017).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Sour the curd until it stretches
Temperature36–37 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk with starter and rennet

What makes this one different

Stretched by lifting with a paddle rather than by the rotary stretch of buffalo mozzarella, so it is drier; it is moister and keeps for less time than the Scamorza of Montella.

Rind
Almost none; thin, smooth, shiny skin, milk-white to ivory
Size
Braid about 0.6–1.0 kg; nodini about 0.15 kg
Nutrition
Per 100 g of fresh cheese, 219 kcal, fat 16.50 g, carbohydrate 1.40 g, protein 16.00 g
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • TrecciaThree cords braided by hand
  • NodiniA single cord knotted, about 0.15 kg

Safety

Made from raw milk; the curd is stretched in boiling water, and the cheese is kept in a cold room. The sheets give no pH or salt figures and no temperature the curd reaches in the hot water (only about 40 °C for the curd and whey before), so stretching cannot be counted on to kill germs. The CDC says raw-milk products can expose people to germs such as Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet says Montella cheesemakers were known abroad by the 1950s, some going to the United States to show stretched-curd cheeses, and keeps a 1955 photo of a cheesemaker braiding a treccia.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura, traditional food products (PAT), page 'Treccia di Montella' (updated August 2017; capture of 28 November 2019 hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Treccia di Montella'web
  3. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (food safety page)gov