Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Formaggio inbriagoformaggio ubriaco

Formaggio inbriago ("drunk cheese") is a finishing method, not a make. Sound semi-cooked wheels aged at least 60 days are buried in soft, freshly drawn grape pomace for 8–30 days, then dried, cleaned and aged 15–30 days more. The pomace stains the rind straw yellow or violet and gives the paste a wine aroma. Made in 4 steps over 2.7 months – 2.1 years. The longest step, choose sound aged wheels, takes 2 months – 2 years (Regione Veneto). Flora of the base cheese and of the fermented pomace does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 months – 2 yearsSet[veneto-atlante]Choose sound aged wheels

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe atlas gives times but no amounts; the pomace must surround each wheel completely.
Semi-cooked cow cheese wheels, aged at least 60 days and up to 24 months · Asiago, Montasio, Latteria or wheels made for the purpose; no cracks, swelling or mould[veneto-atlante]
Soft grape pomace, just drained and not pressed · Local white or red grapes such as Prosecco, Cabernet, Clinton, Fragolino or passito grapes[veneto-atlante]
Starter: none; the base cheese and the pomace bring their own flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.7 months – 2.1 years

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: sound wheels of semi-cooked cow cheese, at least two months old

Step 1 of 4
Choose sound aged wheels
Time
2 months – 2 years
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Only wheels with no cracks, swelling or mould are used. Output: base wheels.

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

The cheese is made like any Treviso dairy cheese; what makes it inbriago is weeks buried in unpressed grape pomace after at least two months of ripening.

Milk
Cow milk, as for the base cheese
Rind
Slightly lees-stained ('morchiata'): deep straw yellow from white pomace, violet from red pomace
Size
As the base cheese; wheels made for the purpose may be marked 'inbriago' on the side

Related ferments

Variants

  • White-grape pomaceStraw-yellow rind.
  • Red-grape pomaceViolet rind.
  • Passito pomaceOften given a second immersion.

Safety

Only sound wheels with no cracks, swelling or mould go into the pomace.

History and sources

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

The story in the regional atlas is that during the First World War farmers around Conegliano and Oderzo hid cheeses under grape pomace from requisitioning Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and found the wheels improved.

  1. [veneto-atlante] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, Formaggi, Formaggio inbriago, p. 151gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Formaggio inbriagoweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Formaggio inbriago' (id 1069)web