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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Gran cacio di Morolo

Raw cow milk is soured with thermophilic cultures, set with calf rennet and cooked to 46 °C, then the curd ferments on tables until it will stretch. It is stretched in hot water, shaped like a caciocavallo, brined, cold-smoked over beech shavings and ripened for months, up to about 18 months for the largest cheeses. Made in 11 steps over 5.1 months – 18 months. The longest step, ripen in fir straw, takes 5–18 months (ONAF) and runs at 7–12 °C (ARSIAL (Regione Lazio)). Thermophilic lactic acid bacteria from the added starter, which ferment the curd on the tables until it reaches stretching pH does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–18 monthsReported[onaf-gc][arsial-gc]Ripen in fir straw
Temperature7–12 °CSet[arsial-gc]Ripen in fir straw

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe regional sheet sets the method, not a batch. Cheeses weigh 1.2–5 kg, and 5 kg is the most traditional size.
Whole raw cow milk · Filtered through a cloth before it is worked[onaf-gc]
50 U per 5 hl of milkThermophilic starter[onaf-gc]
About 20 g per quintal of milkLiquid calf rennet · ONAF gives about 20 g per hl[arsial-gc][onaf-gc]
Brine[arsial-gc]
Beech shavings · For cold smoke; poplar or straw were also used in the past[arsial-gc][onaf-gc]
Fir straw and extra-virgin olive oil · Straw lines the ripening boxes; oil is rubbed on the rind[arsial-gc][onaf-gc]
Starterthermophilic starter cultures plus liquid calf rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.1 months – 18 months

Start
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4 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk, filtered through a cloth

Step 1 of 11
Collect and filter the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
4 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Milk comes mostly from farms within a few kilometres of Morolo and is filtered again through a cloth before cheesemaking. Output: whole raw cow 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

It begins like Ciambella di Morolo and other caciocavalli, but it is cold-smoked over beech and then aged much longer, bedded in fir straw. The large 5 kg cheese can age to 18 months, far past the usual fresh or semi-aged caciocavallo.

Milk
Whole raw cow milk
Smoking
Cold smoke from beech shavings, 1–1.5 h, never above 30–35 °C
Ripening
At least 5 months (1 kg) to about 18 months (5 kg)
Size
1.2–5 kg; oval caciocavallo shape with a small head

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk, though the curd is stretched in water near 90 °C and the cheese is ripened for months. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

Morolo's cheese dairies are recorded making Gran cacio, like the Ciambella di Morolo, since 1933. The regional sheet names the wooden stretching tub, the long ripening and the smoking as the traditional parts of the method.

  1. [arsial-gc] ARSIAL (Regione Lazio), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare - tra biodiversità e tradizione, Formaggi, Gran cacio di Morolo, p. 166gov
  2. [onaf-gc] ONAF, Gran cacio di Morolo, technical sheet (PAT Regione Lazio)web
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov