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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Basilicata

Canestrato di Moliterno PGICanestrato di Moliterno

A hard cheese of 70–90 % ewe milk and 10–30 % goat milk, set with lamb or kid paste rennet at 36–40 °C. The rice-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, salted and dried at the farm for 30–40 days. It then ripens for at least 60 days in the fondaci, cool stone cellars of Moliterno, where the rind is rubbed with olive oil, vinegar or soot water. Made in 8 steps over 3.4 months – 3.7 months. The longest step, ripen in the fondaci of Moliterno, takes at least 2 months (European Commission 2024). Lactic bacteria of the raw milk, or a natural starter or selected local cultures added to thermised milk and Lactococci, lactobacilli and enterococci do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[moliterno-sd2024][moliterno-disc]Ripen in the fondaci of Moliterno
Temperature36–40 °CSet[moliterno-disc][moliterno-sd2024]Set with lamb or kid paste rennet

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes the milk mix by percentage, not by volume. A finished cheese weighs 2 to 5.5 kg.
70–90 %Whole ewe milk · Gentile di Puglia, Gentile di Lucania, Leccese, Sarda or Comisana sheep; raw or thermised[moliterno-sd2024]
10–30 %Whole goat milk · Garganica, Grigia Lucana, Maltese, Jonica, Camosciata or Rossa Mediterranea goats[moliterno-sd2024]
Lamb or kid rennet paste · Made from the dried stomachs of suckling lambs or kids, with 100–200 g of salt per kg of paste[moliterno-disc]
Natural starter or selected local cultures · Only when the milk has been thermised[moliterno-disc]
Salt · Dry salt or saturated brine[moliterno-disc]
Olive oil, wine vinegar or soot water · Rind treatments during ripening[moliterno-disc]
Starterraw-milk flora; natural starter or selected local cultures if the milk is thermised

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.4 months – 3.7 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: ewe milk with a share of goat milk

Step 1 of 8
Collect ewe and goat milk
Time
up to 2 days
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacilli

Output: mixed raw or thermised 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

A mixed ewe and goat cheese, unlike the all-ewe Canestrato Pugliese. Its mark is where it ripens, the fondaci of Moliterno, and it is the only canestrato whose rind may be treated with soot water.

Milk
70–90 % whole ewe milk and 10–30 % whole goat milk, raw or thermised
Ripening
At least 60 days; primitivo up to 6 months, stagionato 6–12 months, extra over 12 months
Size
15–25 cm across, 10–15 cm high, 2–5.5 kg
Composition
Fat at least 30 % of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • PrimitivoRipened up to 6 months; white paste, yellow rind.
  • StagionatoRipened more than 6 and up to 12 months.
  • ExtraRipened more than 12 months.

Safety

Made from raw or thermised milk and ripened at least 60 days. A survey of ripening shelves and rinds found no Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli or S. aureus.

History and sources

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

Moliterno people have made and cured ewe cheese since at least the 1700s, the date of the first records. Mule trains once carried young cheese up from the Ionian coast to cure in the town's cellars. In 1906 one exporter alone shipped about 1,300 quintals of aged cheese, much of it to the United States.

  1. [moliterno-sd2024] European Commission 2024, Canestrato di Moliterno PGI, standard amendment and single document (PGI-IT-0487-AM01), Official Journal of the EU C/2024/3834spec
  2. [moliterno-disc] MASAF 2024, Disciplinare di produzione 'Canestrato di Moliterno' IGP (consolidated specification, February 2024)spec
  3. [moliterno-oj2009] European Commission 2009, Canestrato di Moliterno PGI, application summary, Official Journal of the EU C 235, 30.9.2009, p. 28spec
  4. [faccia2022] Faccia M., Natrella G., Gambacorta G., Trani A. 2022, Cheese ripening in nonconventional conditions, a multiparameter study applied to PGI Canestrato di Moliterno cheese, Journal of Dairy Science 105(1):140–153 (abstract)paper
  5. [trani2016] Trani A. et al. 2016, Chemical and sensory characteristics of Canestrato di Moliterno cheese manufactured in spring, Journal of Dairy Science 99(8):6080–6085 (abstract)paper
  6. [busetta2024] Busetta G. et al. 2024, The wooden shelf surface and cheese rind mutually exchange microbiota during the traditional ripening process, International Journal of Food Microbiology 409:110478 (abstract)paper