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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Puglia

Canestrato Pugliese PDOCanestrato Pugliese

A large hard cheese of whole raw ewe milk, set with animal rennet at 38–45 °C in 15–25 minutes. The curd is pressed into rush baskets, which mark the rind, and is salted again and again for 30–60 days while it stays in the basket. It then ripens 2–10 months in cool, lightly aired rooms, with the rind rubbed with olive oil. Made in 7 steps over 3 months – 12 months. The longest step, ripen in cool rooms, takes 2–10 months (Presidential Decree of 10 September 1985). Lactococcus (87.2 % of bacteria at 90 days), with Lactobacillus (mainly L. plantarum and L. sakei) and Leuconostoc and Enterococcus (most raw-milk cheese isolates), with Lactobacillus brevis, L. plantarum and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–10 monthsSet[pugliese-dpr1985]Ripen in cool rooms
Temperature38–45 °CSet[pugliese-dpr1985][pugliese-sum]Set with animal rennet

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives no batch size. A finished cheese weighs 7 to 14 kg.
Whole ewe milk · From one or two daily milkings; flocks fed mainly on local pasture and hay[pugliese-dpr1985]
Animal rennet · Only animal rennet; the EU summary names lamb rennet[pugliese-dpr1985][pugliese-sum]
Salt · Dry or in brine; coarse sea salt from Margherita di Savoia is traditional[pugliese-dpr1985][onaf-pugliese]
Olive oil, sometimes mixed with wine vinegar · For the rind[pugliese-dpr1985]
Starter: none; raw-milk flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months – 12 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: whole raw ewe milk from one or two milkings

Step 1 of 7
Collect whole ewe milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus
Lactobacillus
L. sakei
Leuconostoc
Lactobacilli rise

Output: whole raw ewe 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

Made only of ewe milk and much larger (7–14 kg) than Canestrato di Moliterno. The salting runs for weeks while each cheese stays in its rush basket.

Milk
Whole raw ewe milk only
Ripening
Two to ten months; used for the table or grating once at least six months old
Size
25–34 cm across, 10–14 cm high, 7–14 kg
Composition
Fat at least 38 % of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Giovane (trade term)About 90 days old; not defined in the specification.
  • Maturo (trade term)Ripened up to 10 months or longer.

Safety

Made only from raw ewe milk. A study of thermised milk found that heating lowered coliforms and enterococci but cost the cheese some of its typical flavour.

History and sources

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

The name comes from the woven baskets (canestri) used to shape it. It was once made only from December to May, after the flocks came down from the Abruzzo mountains to winter on the Tavoliere plain. Italy protected the name in 1985.

  1. [pugliese-dpr1985] Presidential Decree of 10 September 1985, Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine del formaggio 'Canestrato pugliese' (GURI no. 112, 16 May 1986), copy held by ONAFspec
  2. [pugliese-sum] Italy, Ministry of Agriculture, application for registration of 'Canestrato Pugliese' PDO, summary sheet (EU file IT/0004), eAmbrosia registerspec
  3. [onaf-pugliese] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Canestrato pugliese'web
  4. [depasquale2014] De Pasquale I. et al. 2014, Causal relationship between microbial ecology dynamics and proteolysis during manufacture and ripening of PDO cheese Canestrato Pugliese, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 80(14):4085–4094 (abstract)paper
  5. [aquilanti2006] Aquilanti L. et al. 2006, Resident lactic acid bacteria in raw milk Canestrato Pugliese cheese, Letters in Applied Microbiology 43(2):161–167 (abstract)paper
  6. [natrella2023] Natrella G., Gambacorta G., Squeo G., Faccia M. 2023, Impact of milk thermization on the quality characteristics of PDO Canestrato Pugliese ovine hard cheese, Foods 12(5):1080 (abstract)paper