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Cheese from Greece, Cyprus, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balkans and Iberia

Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) familyricotta

Whey left over from rennet cheese is heated until its proteins clump into soft flakes. The flakes are ladled into moulds and drained. This is a heat-set cheese, not a microbial ferment. Salted and aged forms exist, such as ricotta salata and aged brocciu (passu).

Fully documentedCheese10 days – 11 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo single recipe covers the family. The amounts are those of the Brocciu corse specification, with Manouri noted where it differs. Sardinian industrial ricotta plants use open kettles of 1200–1500 L.
Fresh whey from rennet-set sheep or goat cheeseBrocciu uses it within 2 h of making the cheese, at pH 6.20 or higher[cdc-broc2015]
Raw whole sheep or goat milkUp to 25 % of the whey volumeBrocciu specification; Manouri adds sheep or goat milk or cream instead[cdc-broc2015][manouri-eu-1994]
Drinking water15 % of the whey volumeBrocciu specification[cdc-broc2015]
Salt0.5–1 % of the starting liquidBrocciu specification; Manouri adds 1 %[cdc-broc2015][manouri-eu-1994]
Starternone; the cheese is set by heat, which inactivates the whey's natural microflora

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 11 days

Start
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60–70 °CpH at least 6.2

What changes: Starting material: fresh sweet whey from rennet cheese

Step 1 of 5
Collect and warm the fresh whey
Time
up to 2 h
Set
Temperature
60–70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH at least 6.2
Set

The whey must be from rennet-set curd. Brocciu does not allow frozen or powdered whey. Output: warm whey.

Flavour
sweet, milky
Texture
thin liquid
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the whey's natural microflora, which the later heating inactivates; no starter culture is added

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

At a glance

Whey left over from rennet cheese is heated until its proteins clump into soft flakes. The flakes are ladled into moulds and drained. This is a heat-set cheese, not a microbial ferment. Salted and aged forms exist, such as ricotta salata and aged brocciu (passu). Made in 5 steps over 10 days – 11 days. The longest step, chill, or salt and age, takes at least 10 days (Casti D 2016) and runs at 4–12 °C (Greek Ministry of Agriculture 1994). Salt is 0.5–1 % (Ministère de l'agriculture 2013).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 10 daysReported[casti2016][cdc-broc2015]Chill, or salt and age
Temperature4–12 °CReported[manouri-eu-1994][casti2016]Chill, or salt and age
Salt0.5–1 %Set[cdc-broc2015][manouri-eu-1994]Add salt and milk or cream
AciditypH 6.1–6.9Reported[casti2016]Chill, or salt and age

What makes this one different

The curd comes from the whey, not from the milk. Heat, not rennet or acid-forming bacteria, sets it. The cheese is therefore soft, and low in fat unless milk or cream is added.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ricotta salatapressed, salted and dried; a firm, grating whey cheese
  • Mizithra, AnthotyrosGreek sheep milk whey cheeses that Casti lists beside Manouri, each with its own technology
  • Anari, Requesón, Requeijãowhey cheeses of Cyprus, Spain and Portugal, fresh and soft or semi-soft, each with its own technology
  • ManouriGreek PDO; whey enriched with cream, so it is rich; heated to 88–90 °C
  • BrocciuCorsican PDO; sheep or goat whey plus raw milk, salt and water; fresh or aged ("passu")
  • Urdăa whey cheese of the Balkans region, with its own technology

Made the whey cheese way

Other whey cheese kinds

Made the same way, each with what its own sources record.

Brossat (brull)brull (Ports de Tortosa-Beseit, Alt Maestrat)

Cheese from Spain and Andorra

The Catalan and Balearic whey cheese, from whey of cardoon-set sheep cheese, heated slowly to about 90–95 °C and drained without pressing.

Sources: Wikipedia (es); US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Mascarpin de la calzamascarpìn

Fermented milk from Italy, Lombardy

A whey ricotta drained in a stocking-shaped cloth (calza), then wrapped and aged. It is set by acid and heat, not by microbes; the aged forms grow a bloomy rind.

Rind
Bloomy on aged forms
Size
Elongated truncated cone of 3.0–5.0 kg, or ovoid of 0.150 kg
Boundary
Set by acid and heat, not by microbes

Sources: Mascarpin de la calza; ONAF; ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)

Ricotta salaprese

Cheese from Italy, Campania

It has no fresh form. It is salted repeatedly and dried for months to keep, and was once made only from unsold ricotta dried under cloths.

Rind
Thin, clean, hard, dry, pale ivory
Size
Elongated truncated cone, 1.0 kg or less
Season
Made all year

Sources: Regione Campania; ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)

Séras

Cheese from Italy, Valle d'Aosta

Aosta's whey cheese, the last dairy product made in the cheese chain, set with a little citric acid at 80–90 °C. Kneaded with garlic, oil, salt and spices it becomes Salignoùn.

Size
da 0,2 a 3 kgReported
Rind
None (fresh) or fairly hard, brown or reddish (smoked)

Sources: ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi); ONAF

Safety

Ricotta salata has high moisture and a high pH (6.1 to 6.9), and Casti and colleagues call it very susceptible to microbial spoilage. Listeria monocytogenes and psychrotrophic Bacillus cereus can grow in ricotta salata at refrigerator temperatures, so keep it cold and use hygienic handling. The Brocciu specification limits the age of the whey (2 h) and of the added raw milk (24 h).

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes; Bacillus cereus (psychrotrophic strains).

History and sources

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

The Manouri specification, summarised in a Greek ministerial decision of 11 January 1994, says the cheese has been made for at least the previous century in central and western Macedonia and Thessaly. The Brocciu specification cites Emile Bergerat in 1886 calling brocciu the national dish of Corsica, Ardouin-Dumazet describing it in 1898, and a 1929 agricultural monograph that describes whey heated in a cauldron; the current specification was homologated by decree 2013-849 of 23 September 2013.

  1. [cdc-broc2015] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Brocciu corse » ou « Brocciu », decree 2013-849 of 23 September 2013 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [manouri-eu-1994] Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Application for registration of the PDO Manouri, summary of the specification (ministerial decision 313028 of 11 January 1994), eAmbrosia attachment 63836, in Greekspec
  3. [casti2016] Casti D., Scarano C., Pala C., Cossu F., Lamon S., Spanu V., Ibba M., Mocci A.M., Tedde F., Nieddu G., Spanu C., De Santis E.P. 2016, Evolution of the microbiological profile of vacuum-packed ricotta salata cheese during shelf-life, Italian Journal of Food Safety 5(2):5501 (describes Sardinian industrial manufacture)paper