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Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Cacio di nonno Nino di Montalto di Castro

Raw morning milk from mainly Sarda ewes is warmed to 36 °C with kid rennet paste, cut to rice-grain curd and packed into baskets. The forms drain 5–6 hours in a warm room, are dry-salted about a day and ripen at 9 °C for 60 days to 6 months. The mouldy rind is rubbed with olive oil and brushed.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 6 monthsPAT (Regione Lazio, Arsial survey sheet under D.M. 350/99)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedFarm dairy process with no fixed batch size or doses in the regional sheet. A cheese weighs 4–5 kg.
Raw whole sheep milk from the morning milking, mainly Sarda breed grazing in the Tuscia[arsial-sheet]
Kid rennet paste[arsial-sheet]
Salt (dry, by hand)[arsial-sheet]
Extra-virgin olive oilRubbed on the mouldy rind during ripening[arsial-sheet]
Starternone added in the Arsial sheet; the maker's site says its sheep cheeses are made with natural paste rennet, ferments and salt

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 6 months

Start
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8–10 °C

What changes: The raw morning sheep milk is held cool for a few hours

Step 1 of 6
Cool the morning milk, or work it at once
Time
6 h
Reported
Temperature
8–10 °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 morning milk from mainly Sarda ewes is warmed to 36 °C with kid rennet paste, cut to rice-grain curd and packed into baskets. The forms drain 5–6 hours in a warm room, are dry-salted about a day and ripen at 9 °C for 60 days to 6 months. The mouldy rind is rubbed with olive oil and brushed. Made in 6 steps over 2 months – 6 months. The longest step, ripen, oil and brush, takes 2–6 months (Arsial (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 9 °C (Arsial (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Native flora of the raw sheep milk, kept by raw-milk making does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–6 monthsReported[arsial-sheet]Ripen, oil and brush
Temperature9 °CReported[arsial-sheet]Ripen, oil and brush

What makes this one different

A raw-milk ewe cheese brought by a Sardinian shepherd family to the Lazio coast. It is set with kid rennet paste at 36 °C, warmed in baskets for 5–6 hours, and its mouldy rind is oiled and brushed during two to six months at 9 °C.

Rind
Thin, semi-hard, ochre or greyish, oily from the olive-oil treatment, with basket marks
Size
Cylinder with flat faces and straight side, 4–5 kg
Paste type
The Arsial sheet calls the paste semi-hard and cooked; the ONAF page classes it as uncooked (pasta cruda)

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw sheep milk and ripened at least 60 days in a cold room at 9 °C. The maker gives the 60-day minimum as the time needed to make harmful microorganisms inactive, but the evidence does not support relying on that. The US FDA says 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in raw-milk cheese, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing. The maker also says the milk comes from one barn it selects for milk quality, hygiene, feed and animal health. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than hard cooked ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

History and sources

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

The Manca family came from Sardinia with their sheep in the 1950s, first only rearing them and then making cheese from their own milk, mostly for the family. The cheese is still made from raw milk in the way handed down in the family. The family dairy, Caseificio Maremma in Tuscia, was founded in 2000 by Francesca Manca with the help of her father, who had emigrated from Sardinia as a young man and first kept sheep, then made cheese.

  1. [arsial-sheet] Arsial (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), 'Scheda di rilevamento dei prodotti tradizionali della Regione Lazio (D.M. 350/99)', 'Cacio di nonno Nino di Montalto di Castro', copy hosted by ONAFgov
  2. [onaf] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), cheese page 'Cacio di nonno Nino di Montalto di Castro' (id 1310)web
  3. [maremma-tuscia] Caseificio Maremma in Tuscia (Manca family dairy, Montalto di Castro), own website, 'Chi siamo' and product page 'Cacio Nonno Nino'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. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov