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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Ubriaco (Formaggio inbriago)formaggio inbriago

Ubriaco is not a cheese recipe but a finishing step. Local semi-cooked cow cheeses such as Asiago, Montasio or Latteria, matured at least 60 days, are buried in soft, freshly drained grape pomace for 8–10 days, or up to 30 days for older cheeses. They are then dried, cleaned and aged 15–30 days or more, and the rind turns straw-yellow or purple from the grapes.

Fully documentedCheese2.7 months – 2.2 yearsTraditional agri-food product (PAT) of VenetoFamily: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe atlas sheet gives times but no amounts; the wheels are spaced so the pomace surrounds each one.
Whole wheels of local semi-cooked cheese, matured at least 60 days (up to 24 months)Asiago pressato or d'Allevo, Montasio, Latteria and similar Treviso cheeses[veneto-pat]
Soft grape pomace, freshly drained and not pressed, from various grapesBlack grapes give a more or less deep purple rind; white grapes a marked straw-yellow one[veneto-pat][marchi-ubriaco]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.7 months – 2.2 years

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Sound wheels at least two months old are picked for the wine bath

Step 1 of 4
Choose matured cheeses
Time
2 months – 2 years
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus paracasei
L. mesenteroides
Lactococcus lactis
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

Ubriaco is not a cheese recipe but a finishing step. Local semi-cooked cow cheeses such as Asiago, Montasio or Latteria, matured at least 60 days, are buried in soft, freshly drained grape pomace for 8–10 days, or up to 30 days for older cheeses. They are then dried, cleaned and aged 15–30 days or more, and the rind turns straw-yellow or purple from the grapes. Made in 4 steps over 2.7 months – 2.2 years. The longest step, choose matured cheeses, takes 2 months – 2 years (Regione Veneto). Endogenous lactic acid bacteria (7.0 to 9.0 log10 cfu/g; no primary starter was used), in a study of four cheeses that included Ubriaco di Raboso. Species found across the four cheeses together, not given per cheese: Lactobacillus paracasei, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactococcus lactis, Enterococcus sanguinicola, Lactobacillus brevis, Enterococcus durans/faecium, Lactobacillus plantarum, Weissella cibaria/confusa does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 months – 2 yearsReported[veneto-pat]Choose matured cheeses

What makes this one different

An affinage, not a separate make; a finished Treviso cheese is buried in fresh grape pomace for 8 to 10 days, or up to 30 days for aged cheese.

Base cheese
Local semi-cooked cow cheese, at least 60 days old
In pomace
8–10 days, up to 30 days for aged cheese
Raboso version
One distributor's sheet describes a cheese kept 30 days in Raboso pomace after some months of traditional ageing, which gives the rind a ruby-red colour

Related ferments

Safety

The Veneto atlas gives no safety limits for the pomace treatment, and no safety study of it was found. One distributor's Raboso version is made from pasteurised cow milk, declares lysozyme (from egg) as a preservative and so lists egg as an allergen, and is stored at +2 to +4 °C.

History and sources

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

The atlas sheet says the treatment seems to have been found by chance in the First World War, when farmers near Conegliano and Oderzo hid cheeses under pomace from requisitioning soldiers.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [veneto-pat] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, 'Formaggio inbriago', p. 151 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [dicagno2007] Di Cagno R, Buchin S, de Candia S, De Angelis M, Fox PF, Gobbetti M (2007). Characterization of Italian cheeses ripened under nonconventional conditions. Journal of Dairy Science 90:2689–2704, doi:10.3168/jds.2006-654 (abstract)paper
  3. [marchi-ubriaco] Marchi SpA, product sheet 'Formaggio Ubriaco Classico kg 1,5x1' (code 04375) (distributor)other