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Cheese from Italy, Abruzzo

Formaggi di stazzo

A family name for the cheeses made at summer mountain folds from raw sheep, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed. The filtered milk is warmed over a fire if needed, with whey added to improve acidification, set with animal rennet, broken to maize-grain size, packed into rush baskets and dry-salted. The cheeses ripen at least 30 days, first in the stone huts of the fold, which stay around 10–12 °C, then down in the valley.

Fully documentedCheese30 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Abruzzo, 'Formaggi e ricotta di stazzo')Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed recipe; the PAT sheet stresses that each herder and each part of the season gives a different cheese, so no single description fits.
Raw whole sheep, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed in any share[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey, added to improve acidification with a thermophilic lactic flora[onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet or farm-made lamb or kid paste rennet (once fig latex or wild thistle)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterwhey added for acidification (thermophilic lactic flora)

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Fresh raw milk is filtered through cloth and warmed over a fire

Step 1 of 5
Filter and warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Fresh milk is filtered through cloths and sieves and briefly warmed over a direct fire if needed, in a copper cauldron, very often tinned inside.

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

At a glance

A family name for the cheeses made at summer mountain folds from raw sheep, goat or cow milk, alone or mixed. The filtered milk is warmed over a fire if needed, with whey added to improve acidification, set with animal rennet, broken to maize-grain size, packed into rush baskets and dry-salted. The cheeses ripen at least 30 days, first in the stone huts of the fold, which stay around 10–12 °C, then down in the valley. Made in 5 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen at the fold, then in the valley, takes at least 30 days (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)) and runs at 10–12 °C (Regione Abruzzo).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen at the fold, then in the valley
Temperature10–12 °CReported[pat-sheet]Ripen at the fold, then in the valley

What makes this one different

Not one cheese but the cheeses of the summer mountain folds, made by some of the oldest methods still practised, with a copper cauldron, a spino and rush baskets, and ripened in unconditioned stone huts.

Rind
None or thin and natural, with basket marks
Size
Variable cylinder
Season
May to October (ONAF)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ricotta di stazzoThe whey ricotta made at the same folds, on the same PAT sheet

Safety

Made from raw milk in simple huts often without running water; the PAT sheet says the stone huts are dark, which it says holds back some unwanted microbes, and stay at about 10–12 °C without cooling. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.

History and sources

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

The PAT sheet calls milk processing at the pastures perhaps the oldest form of food industry, tied to Abruzzo's transhumance.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Abruzzo, PAT sheet 'Formaggi e ricotta di stazzo' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Formaggi di stazzo'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Formaggi di stazzo' (id 322)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov