Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Marche and Emilia-Romagna

Casciotta d'Urbino PDOCasciotta d'Urbino

Casciotta d'Urbino is a small, soft, fresh cheese made from whole ewe milk (70–80%) mixed with cow milk. The milk, raw or pasteurised, is set at about 35 °C with calf rennet, the curd is cut to hazelnut size and shaped by hand in moulds into a low, round-edged cylinder. Salted dry or in brine, it ripens only 15 to 30 days. Made in 6 steps over 15 days – 30 days. The longest step, ripen briefly, takes 15–30 days (European Commission 2020) and runs at 8–14 °C (European Commission 2020). The milk's lactic bacteria, with optional added lactic cultures; natural gas production makes the few small eyes does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step15–30 daysSet[oj-casc2020]Ripen briefly
Temperature8–14 °CSet[oj-casc2020]Ripen briefly
Fully documentedCheese15 days – 30 daysPDO (EU, 1996); Italian DO since 1982; specification amended 2020More pressed uncooked cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese is 12–16 cm across and weighs 800–1,200 g.
70–80% of the milkWhole ewe milk · Sarda, Sopravvissana, Comisana, Lacaune, Assaf and other listed breeds[oj-casc2020]
20–30% of the milkWhole cow milk · Italian Friesian, Italian Brown, Pezzata Rossa, Jersey and their crosses[oj-casc2020]
Calf rennet, liquid or powder[oj-casc2020][onaf-sheet]
Lactic cultures (optional) · Allowed since 2020 because cleaner milk now holds too few bacteria for a reliable set[oj-casc2020]
Salt · Dry or as brine[oj-casc2020]
Starterthe milk's own lactic bacteria, with optional added lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 30 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: whole ewe milk mixed with about a quarter cow milk

Step 1 of 6
Mix ewe and cow milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Milk may be raw or pasteurised; the 2020 amendment dropped the old rule of two milkings a day to allow robot milking.

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

Casciotta d'Urbino is a short-ripened mixed-milk cheese with ewe milk dominant and cow milk making up the rest, a mix the specification ties to the small family flocks and herds of the area. It is shaped by hand in moulds once made of local terracotta and majolica. The 2020 amendment dropped the label "semi-cooked", which did not fit the cheese.

Composition
Fat in dry matter at least 45%
Size
12–16 cm across, sides 5–9 cm high, 800–1,200 g; rind about 1 mm

Related ferments

Safety

The milk may be raw or pasteurised, and the cheese ripens only 15–30 days. No safety study of this cheese was found.

History and sources

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

Ewe and cow herds were kept year-round in the area from the 1500s, when the dukes of Montefeltro and della Rovere discouraged transhumance. ONAF cites a 1590 letter sending four of these cheeses to the Duke of Urbino, and tells that Michelangelo bought farms near Casteldurante to keep it on his table. It became an Italian DO in 1982 and an EU PDO in 1996.

  1. [oj-casc2020] European Commission, Publication of an application for approval of a non-minor amendment to the specification of «Casciotta d'Urbino», PDO-IT-0005-AM01, Official Journal C 223/20, 7 July 2020 (ONAF copy of the Italian text)spec
  2. [dm-casc1995] Ministero delle Risorse Agricole, Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine del formaggio "Casciotta d'Urbino", DM 4 agosto 1995, GURI n. 208 of 6 September 1995 (ONAF copy)spec
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), scheda tecnica 'Casciotta di Urbino DOP'web