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Cheese from Italy, Molise

Treccia di Santa Croce di Magliano

Raw cow milk with whey starter from the previous day ('zizza') is warmed to 35–40 °C and set with rennet in 30–35 minutes. The gathered curd is covered with boiling whey and left 3–4 hours to ripen, then cut into thin strips, stretched in boiling water and drawn into strands about 1 cm thick. The strands firm in cold water, sit about 20 minutes in salted water and are braided into a flat ribbon about a metre long.

Fully documentedCheese4.1 h – 5.2 hTraditional food product (PAT, Molise)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no doses. A braid is about 100 cm long and 20 cm wide; ONAF gives 1–1.5 kg.
Whole raw cow milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey starter from the previous day's curd ('zizza')ONAF says more is added when needed, to sour the milk further[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf paste rennet[onaf-sheet]
Salted water, boiled and cooled[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterwhey starter from the previous day's curd ('zizza')

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.1 h – 5.2 h

Start
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35–40 °C

What changes: Yesterday's sour whey and rennet go into the milk at 35–40 °C and it sets in 30–35 minutes

Step 1 of 8
Add zizza and rennet
Time
30–35 min
Reported
Temperature
35–40 °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 with whey starter from the previous day ('zizza') is warmed to 35–40 °C and set with rennet in 30–35 minutes. The gathered curd is covered with boiling whey and left 3–4 hours to ripen, then cut into thin strips, stretched in boiling water and drawn into strands about 1 cm thick. The strands firm in cold water, sit about 20 minutes in salted water and are braided into a flat ribbon about a metre long. Made in 8 steps over 4.1 h – 5.2 h. The longest step, ripen under boiling whey, takes 3–4 h (ARSARP Molise (regional agency for agricultural).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 hReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen under boiling whey
Temperature35–40 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Add zizza and rennet

What makes this one different

A metre-long flat braid of dozens of thin strands, worn across the shoulder at the April feast of the Madonna dell'Incoronata.

Size
About 100 cm long and 20 cm wide; ONAF gives 1–1.5 kg
Eating time
Eaten at once or after 6–7 days
Output
About 1,000 kg a year, from a single producer (Slow Food Ark of Taste)
Season
Made all year; the spring cheese, around the feast of the Madonna dell'Incoronata (last Saturday of April), is especially valued

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk; ONAF says a stronger whey starter is used when needed to favour the right lactic flora. The curd is stretched in boiling water.

History and sources

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

The braid is worn across the shoulder as an ornament by shepherds, and for the animals that receive the blessing of the patron San Giacomo, during the feast of the Madonna dell'Incoronata. A dialect poem from the early 1900s by Raffaele Capriglione describes the rite.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] ARSARP Molise (regional agency for agricultural, rural and fisheries development), L'atlante dei prodotti tradizionali del Molise, sheet 'Treccia di Santa Croce di Magliano' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Treccia di Santa Croce di Magliano'web
  3. [slowfood-treccia] Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto, 'Treccia di Santa Croce di Magliano'web