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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Caciocavallo di bufala (semplice e affumicato)

Buffalo milk, raw or heated to 72 °C, is soured with a whey starter and set with calf rennet. The curd ripens on a bench until it stretches, is spun in water at 93–95 °C, shaped by hand into a round with a tied head and salted. It is smoked over straw or wood or left plain, and ripens 20 days to 3 months at 6–8 °C. Made in 9 steps over 21 days – 3.1 months. The longest step, ripen in a cold room, takes 20 days – 3 months (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 6–8 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Lactic bacteria of the whey starter does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20 days – 3 monthsSet[arsial-bufala]Ripen in a cold room
Temperature6–8 °CSet[arsial-bufala]Ripen in a cold room
Fully documentedCheese21 days – 3.1 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives temperatures and times but no batch size. A cheese weighs 0.5–1 kg.
Buffalo milk from two milkings · Worked raw or heated to 72 °C in the vat[arsial-bufala]
Whey starter (siero-innesto)[arsial-bufala]
Calf liquid rennet[arsial-bufala]
Salt · In brine, or rubbed on dry[arsial-bufala]
Straw or wood · For the smoked version[arsial-bufala]
Starter: whey starter (siero-innesto) added at 36–37 °C

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days – 3.1 months

Start
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72 °C

What changes: Starting material: buffalo milk, raw or first heated to 72 °C

Step 1 of 9
Prepare the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
72 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: buffalo 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

Caciocavallo made from buffalo milk, the milk of the Lazio mozzarella herds. The Lazio sheet describes small cheeses of 0.5–1 kg ripened 20 days to 3 months. The Campania buffalo caciocavallo on the ONAF sheet weighs 1.5–4 kg and ripens 60 days to over a year.

Shape
Round to globe-shaped with a small head made by the tying string
Size
0.5–1 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • SempliceNot smoked.
  • AffumicatoSmoked over straw or wood before ripening.

Safety

The milk may be used raw or first heated to 72 °C, and the cheese ripens at 6–8 °C. 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 ARSIAL sheet calls it a stretched-curd cheese of very old origin, tied to the making of buffalo mozzarella.

  1. [arsial-bufala] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Caciocavallo di bufala (semplice e affumicata)', p. 152gov
  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. 87 'Caciocavallo di bufala (semplice e affumicata)*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  3. [onaf-campania] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciocavallo di bufala' (Campania PAT; used here only for the comparison in differs)web