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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Sardinia, Italy

Gioddugioddu

firm, acidic, lightly alcoholic sheep/goat fermented milk. Made in 3 steps over 12 h. The longest step, incubate, takes 12 h (Manis C 2025) and runs at 35 °C (Manis C 2025). Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 hReported[manis2025]Incubate
Temperature35 °CReported[manis2025]Incubate
AciditypH 6.6–6.7TypicalPasteurise sheep milk (modern farm practice)
DocumentedFermented milk12 hMore fermented milkMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
sheep or goat milk
Starter: backslop: 10–15 % w/v of previous gioddu, or whey (with or without curd pieces) from raw-milk cheesemaking; traditional 'sa madrighe' starter reported; historically bread dough or fig latex drops

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 h

Start
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71 °CpH 6.6–6.7

What changes: Sheep milk is pasteurised at 71 °C for 15 s

Step 1 of 3
Pasteurise sheep milk (modern farm practice)
Time
0.2 min
Reported
Temperature
71 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.6–6.7
Typical
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. delbrueckii
S. thermophilus
L. kefiri
Lactococcus
Yeasts

Output: pasteurised milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

most raw flora killed

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

Variants

  • Sa madrighe (traditional starter)Raw milk treated with calf rennet ~30 min at 30–40 °C, then left 1–2 days at room temperature; used at 1–2 % (as reported via search summary; primary source not opened).

Safety

Pasteurisation now required for sale (EU Reg 853/2004).

History and sources

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

The only Italian fermented milk on the national register of traditional agri-food products (PAT; G.U. no. 168, 22 July 2015). In ancient times probably spontaneous or started with bread dough or fig latex.

  1. [manis2025] Manis C., Casula M., Chessa M., Mangia N. P. & Caboni P. 2025, Lipidomic and metabolomic signatures of the traditional fermented milk product Gioddu, Dairy 6(5):61paper
  2. [maoloni2025] Maoloni A. et al. (metataxonomic study of gioddu; cited in Manis 2025) and Mangia N. P. et al. (Univ. Sassari, gioddu microbiota), via searchpaper