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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Cacio magno (semplice e alle erbe)Cacio Magno

Pasteurised ewe milk from the lower Sabina is soured with a mesophilic starter and set with lamb or calf rennet at 36 °C. The curd is broken to walnut size, cooked briefly at 38 °C, shaped into low square blocks, brined and warmed twice at 43 °C. The blocks ripen 20–30 days at 13 °C with potato starch dusted on their faces; the herb version has rocket, olives, radicchio or chilli in the curd. Made in 9 steps over 20 days – 30 days. The longest step, ripen with potato starch, takes 20–30 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 13 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Mesophilic lactic starter cultures does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20–30 daysSet[arsial-magno]Ripen with potato starch
Temperature13 °CSet[arsial-magno]Ripen with potato starch

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives temperatures and times but no batch size. A block weighs about 1.2–1.5 kg.
Ewe milk from two milkings · Ewes grazed only on lower Sabina pastures; evening milk chilled to 4 °C[arsial-magno]
Mesophilic starter culture[arsial-magno]
Lamb paste rennet and/or calf powder rennet[arsial-magno]
Salt (saturated brine)[arsial-magno]
Potato starch · Dusted on the faces during ripening[arsial-magno]
Rocket, olives, radicchio and/or chilli (to taste) · Herb version only, added while the milk sets[arsial-magno]
Starter: mesophilic cultures added at 36 °C

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days – 30 days

Start
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4 °C

What changes: Starting material: ewe milk from two milkings, filtered into the vat

Step 1 of 9
Collect and chill the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
4 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: filtered ewe milk from two milkings.

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

What makes this one different

A young ewe cheese shaped as a low square block, not a round. Its faces are dusted with potato starch while it ripens, which gives the rough grey rind.

Rind
Rough and greyish from the potato starch
Size
Rectangular block with a low side, about 1.2–1.5 kg
Season
Made from September to June

Related ferments

Variants

  • SemplicePlain.
  • Alle erbeRocket, olives, radicchio and/or chilli added while the milk sets.

Safety

The milk is pasteurised at 70 °C for 20 seconds before the starter goes in. The Lazio list marks it as allowed to use derogations from the standard hygiene rules for its traditional methods.

History and sources

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

The cheese was revived from the oral tradition of the lower Sabina and from old documents in town archives; it has been sold in local shops and restaurants for at least 25 years. A legend says Charlemagne tasted it at Farfa Abbey on his way to be crowned in Rome.

  1. [arsial-magno] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Cacio Magno (semplice e alle erbe)', p. 151gov
  2. [pat-lazio] Regione Lazio and ARSIAL, PAT Lazio 2026, Lazio section of the national list of traditional agri-food products (law 238/2016, art. 12), no. 86 'Cacio magno (semplice e alle erbe)*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Cacio magno (semplice e alle erbe)'web