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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Ciambella di Morolo

Raw cow milk is warmed to 37–38 °C, set with calf rennet and the curd cooked to 46 °C. The curd ripens on steel tables until it stretches, is spun in water at about 90 °C and shaped by hand into a ring. After brining and a few days' drying, the rings are cold-smoked over smouldering beech shavings below 35 °C and ripen 20–30 days. Made in 9 steps over 23 days – 37 days. The longest step, ripen, takes 20–30 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 7–8 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Thermophilic lactic starter does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20–30 daysSet[arsial-morolo]Ripen
Temperature7–8 °CSet[arsial-morolo]Ripen
Fully documentedCheese23 days – 37 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are given per quantity of milk, not per batch. A ring weighs 500 g to 3 kg.
Raw cow milk · Filtered and chilled to about 4 °C[arsial-morolo]
50 units per 5 hl of milkThermophilic starter · Named on the ONAF sheet only[onaf-sheet]
About 20 g per 100 kg of milkCalf liquid rennet[arsial-morolo]
Salt (brine)[arsial-morolo]
Beech shavings · For cold smoking[arsial-morolo]
Starterthermophilic starter, then a 30-minute rest before renneting (ONAF sheet)

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days – 37 days

Start
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37–38 °C

What changes: Steam blown into the raw milk warms it to 37–38 °C

Step 1 of 9
Warm the milk with steam
Time
30 min
Set
Temperature
37–38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

ONAF adds a thermophilic starter before the rest. Output: warm raw 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 smoked stretched-curd cheese shaped as a ring with a hole. The rings are cold-smoked over beech for about an hour, never above 35 °C, after several days of drying.

Rind
Smooth, smoke-yellow
Size
Ring, 500 g to 3 kg

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk; the curd is cooked to 46 °C and stretched at about 90 °C. 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

With Gran cacio di Morolo it is a rare stretched-curd cheese of Morolo, an old village on the right bank of the Sacco. It survives thanks to a local maker who inherited his grandfather's dairy, active since 1933. The traditional steps are stretching in a wooden tub, ripening on fir boards and the old way of smoking.

  1. [arsial-morolo] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Ciambella di Morolo', p. 162gov
  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. 103 'Ciambella di Morolo*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Ciambella di Morolo'web