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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Piedmont

Castelmagno PDOCastelmagno

Raw cow milk, sometimes with 5–20 % ewe or goat milk, is set with calf rennet at 30–38 °C. The curd rests at least 18 hours, then sours under whey from earlier batches for two to four days before it is milled fine, salted, wrapped in cloth and pressed. The cheeses ripen at least 60 days in cool, damp caves, where they may be pierced and grow blue-green veins. Made in 8 steps over 2.1 months – 2.2 months. The longest step, ripen in cool, damp caves, takes at least 2 months (European Commission 2009) and runs at 5–15 °C (European Commission 2009). Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum, L. paracasei and L. casei do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[castelmagno-oj2009]Ripen in cool, damp caves
Temperature5–15 °CSet[castelmagno-oj2009]Ripen in cool, damp caves

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification gives temperatures and times but no batch size. A cheese weighs 2 to 7 kg.
Raw cow milk · From no more than four consecutive milkings; may be partly skimmed by surface creaming[castelmagno-oj2009]
5–20 %Raw ewe and/or goat milk · Optional[castelmagno-oj2009]
Liquid calf rennet · At least 70 % chymosin; no other enzymes allowed[castelmagno-oj2009]
Whey from earlier batches · The rested curd is soaked in it to ferment[castelmagno-oj2009]
Salt · Mixed into the milled curd; extra dry salting of the rind allowed[castelmagno-oj2009]
Starternone; raw-milk flora, with whey from earlier batches

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months – 2.2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk from up to four milkings

Step 1 of 8
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactobacillus plantarum
L. casei
S. thermophilus
Lactic acid bacteria

Milk may be stored up to two days (four milkings), cooled to no lower than 6 °C. Output: raw cow milk, sometimes with ewe or goat 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 curd is fermented for days under old whey, then milled, salted and pressed again. This gives the crumbly paste, and old cheeses may vein blue-green from the natural cave moulds.

Milk
Raw cow milk, with 5–20 % ewe or goat milk allowed; no pasteurisation or thermisation
Ripening
At least 60 days in caves at 5–15 °C and 70–98 % humidity
Size
15–25 cm across, heel 12–20 cm, 2–7 kg
Composition
Fat at least 34 % of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Di AlpeggioMilk from animals on summer pasture (May to October, at least 90 % local flora), made above 1,000 m.
  • Prodotto della montagnaLabel term for all Castelmagno, since every cheese is made above 600 m.

Safety

Made only from raw milk; pasteurisation and thermisation are not allowed, and the cheese must ripen at least 60 days. One study isolated Streptococcus agalactiae, a mastitis pathogen, early in manufacture.

Hazards the sources name: Streptococcus agalactiae (isolated early in manufacture, in winter batches).

History and sources

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

The PDO dates from 1996. A 2009 amendment wrote the traditional method into the specification in detail, including the old practice of piercing the cheeses with long iron needles.

  1. [castelmagno-oj2009] European Commission 2009, Castelmagno PDO, amendment application and summary (IT-PDO-0217-0006), Official Journal of the EU C 320, 24.12.2009, p. 27spec
  2. [dolci2008] Dolci P. et al. 2008, Microbial dynamics of Castelmagno PDO, a traditional Italian cheese, with a focus on lactic acid bacteria ecology, International Journal of Food Microbiology 122(3):302–311 (abstract)paper
  3. [dolci2010] Dolci P. et al. 2010, Microbial diversity, dynamics and activity throughout manufacturing and ripening of Castelmagno PDO cheese, International Journal of Food Microbiology 143(1–2):71–75 (abstract)paper
  4. [bertolino2011] Bertolino M. et al. 2011, Evolution of chemico-physical characteristics during manufacture and ripening of Castelmagno PDO cheese in wintertime, Food Chemistry 129(3):1001–1011 (abstract)paper