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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Caciocavallo vaccino (semplice e affumicato)Caciocavallo vaccino del Lazio

Whole cow milk, raw or pasteurised, is soured with a starter and set with calf, kid or lamb rennet. The curd is cooked, left under the whey until it reaches pH 5–5.2 and stretched in water at 93–95 °C into a flask, egg or globe with a head. After brining it ripens from two weeks to six months in cold rooms, or for years in tuff caves, and may be oiled or smoked. Made in 8 steps over 15 days – 8 years. The longest step, ripen, oil or smoke, takes 15 days – 8 years (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 4–12 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Thermophilic and mesophilic lactic starter cultures and Lactic bacteria of the naturally soured milk starter do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step15 days – 8 yearsSet[arsial-vaccino]Ripen, oil or smoke
Temperature4–12 °CSet[arsial-vaccino]Ripen, oil or smoke
AciditypH 5–5.2Set[arsial-vaccino]Mature under the whey
Fully documentedCheese15 days – 8 yearsTraditional 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; each maker's method differs. Cheeses weigh 0.2–3.0 kg on the ONAF sheet.
Whole cow milk from 2–4 milkings · Chilled to 4 °C and filtered through cloth or a centrifuge[arsial-vaccino]
Thermophilic and mesophilic starter cultures, or a milk starter (latto-innesto) · The milk starter is milk left to sour naturally for 2 days at 4 °C, used with raw milk[arsial-vaccino]
Calf liquid rennet, kid paste rennet or lamb paste rennet · Paste rennet makes a more piquant cheese[arsial-vaccino]
Salt · Brine, or salt worked into the paste while stretching[arsial-vaccino]
Oil, straw smoke or liquid smoke · Rind treatments during or after ripening[arsial-vaccino]
Starter: thermophilic and mesophilic cultures, or a milk starter soured 2 days at 4 °C (raw milk)

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 8 years

Start
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65–75 °C

What changes: The chilled milk is pasteurised at 65–75 °C, or used raw

Step 1 of 8
Chill, filter and heat-treat the milk
Time
0.2–0.5 min
Set
Temperature
65–75 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: filtered whole cow milk.

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

The region-wide Lazio caciocavallo. Each area keeps its own method, from starter and rennet to ripening, which runs from two weeks in a 4 °C room to eight years in a tuff cave.

Rind
Thin, smooth, straw-yellow; darker when smoked
Size
0.2–3.0 kg (ONAF); long flask, egg or globe with a head

Related ferments

Variants

  • SempliceNot smoked.
  • AffumicatoSmoked with burning straw or liquid smoke; brown rind.
  • PiccanteMade with kid or lamb paste rennet, which makes it sharper.

Safety

The milk is pasteurised at 65–75 °C or used raw; raw-milk curd is soured with a milk starter before renneting. 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 one of the oldest cheeses of southern Italy, traditional in all the lands of the old Kingdom of Naples. The saying "far la fine del caciocavallo" (to end like a caciocavallo) meant to be hanged. King Ferdinand IV asked in a letter to Cardinal Ruffo for plenty of caciocavalli.

  1. [arsial-vaccino] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Caciocavallo vaccino (semplice e affumicato)', p. 153gov
  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. 89 'Caciocavallo vaccino (semplice e affumicato)*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciocavallo vaccino (semplice e affumicato)'web