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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia

Formai del cìtformai del cìt

Formai del cìt is a strong, slightly spicy cheese spread made at home from leftover or faulty Latteria or Montasio cheese. The cheese is minced, kneaded by hand with milk or cream, left for 6–7 hours at room temperature, minced again and seasoned. It is a cheese preparation, not a new make; the flavour comes from the aged cheese and grows sharper as it is kept. Made in 5 steps over 10 days. The longest step, keep in tubs in a cool room, takes up to 10 days (ERSA 2017). Flora carried over from the aged cheese does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 10 daysSet[ersa]Keep in tubs in a cool room

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold preparation with no fixed amounts; the sources give only the ingredients and the resting time.
Latteria or Montasio cheese, aged 2–12 months · Leftovers or wheels with minor faults; grated if very old[ersa][onaf-sheet]
Milk · To make the paste smooth; cream was often used instead in the past[ersa][onaf-sheet]
Salt and ground pepper · Added after the second mincing[onaf-sheet]
Starter: none added; the flora of the aged cheese

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
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What changes: Old cheese is put through a meat mincer

Step 1 of 5
Mince the old cheese
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Latteria or Montasio aged 2–12 months. Output: minced cheese.

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

It is not made from milk but from old cheese, minced and kneaded with milk or cream. The name comes from the stone jar ('cìt') it was once stored in.

Rind
None
Size
No fixed shape; tubs

Related ferments

Safety

It is a soft, moist spread; the sources keep it in a cool room and eat it within 10 days.

History and sources

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

Every family in the valley once made it from leftover cheese. It is listed in the INSOR Atlante dei Prodotti Tipici (1989–1995), and people still travel to Tramonti di Sopra to buy it.

  1. [ersa] ERSA, Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, prodotti tradizionali, Formai del cìt (page saved 22 August 2017)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Formai del cìtweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Formai del cìt' (id 398)web