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Cheese from Italy, Sicilia

Tumazzu di vaccaTumazzo di vacca

Raw milk of free-range Modicana cows, sometimes with a little ewe milk, is set at 35 °C with kid or lamb paste rennet. The rice-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, which are plunged into hot whey at about 85 °C for 1–3 hours. Salting by wiping with salt water starts 3–8 days later, and the cheese is eaten from 45 days or aged up to 18 months.

Fully documentedCheese48 days – 18 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Siciliana; D.M. 16 February 2018 list)Family: Whey-cooked rennet curd family (halloumi type)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm make with no fixed amounts; the sheets give no doses. Yield is 10–12 %, and a cheese weighs 5–20 kg.
Raw whole cow milk, Modicana breedSometimes with a small amount of ewe milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Kid or lamb paste rennet ('u quacchiu')Dissolved in a little milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltApplied as salt water wiped on the rind[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Black peppercorns or crushed chillioptionalMixed into the curd on request (tumazzu ccu pipi)[onaf-sheet]
StarterNo culture is added; the curd forms through the raw milk's natural microflora, with kid or lamb paste rennet (ONAF sheet)

Total time across the recorded steps: 48 days – 18 months

Start
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35 °C

What changes: Raw milk at 35 °C goes into a wooden tub and kid or lamb rennet paste is stirred in

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add paste rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The rennet paste is dissolved in a little milk; the setting time varies.

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 milk of free-range Modicana cows, sometimes with a little ewe milk, is set at 35 °C with kid or lamb paste rennet. The rice-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, which are plunged into hot whey at about 85 °C for 1–3 hours. Salting by wiping with salt water starts 3–8 days later, and the cheese is eaten from 45 days or aged up to 18 months. Made in 6 steps over 48 days – 18 months. The longest step, ripen and age, takes 45 days – 18 months (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)).

Key numbers
Main step45 days – 18 monthsReported[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]Ripen and age
Temperature35 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk and add paste rennet

What makes this one different

Unlike Ragusano, the curd is never stretched; the formed cheese in its basket is instead scalded in hot whey before salting, which the PAT list calls its distinguishing step.

Rind
Rough, marked by the rush basket, straw-yellow to brown, clean or oiled
Size
5–20 kg; about 30 cm across and 20 cm high on average; yield 10–12 %
Season
October to July in the PAT list; ONAF says the best is made March to May

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoAt least 45 days.
  • Semistagionato3–8 months.
  • Stagionato12–18 months; used for grating.
  • Tumazzu di vacca ccu pipiWith black peppercorns or chilli in the curd.

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk; the formed cheese is immersed in hot whey at about 85 °C, which the ONAF sheet calls a kind of cooking, and it is ripened at least 45 days. The sheets give no microbial tests. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says pregnant women, newborns, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity should avoid any cheese made with raw milk 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

ONAF notes it was once used to pay land rent (tirràgghiu), and that in the 1950s as much was made as of Ragusano. ONAF says it was anciently called Caciocavallo ragusano, a name it lost, and that it is made without stretching the curd.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Siciliana, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (2018; D.M. 16 febbraio 2018), entry 'Tumazzo di vacca (o canistratu o formaggiu di vacca)'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Tumazzu di vacca'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Tumazzu di vacca' (id 1227)web
  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