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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

MascarpaMascherpa

A boundary entry, set by heat and acid rather than by microbes. It is a ricotta made mainly from cow whey left from toma or Ossolano making, heated above 80 °C until the whey proteins rise, then hung in cloths to drain. Fresh mascarpa is often unsalted, while mascarpa for ageing is salted, sometimes smoked by the hearth, and ripened for up to several months.

Fully documentedCheeseTraditional food product (PAT, Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo doses are given. Each piece weighs 0.5–1.0 kg and takes a round shape from the cloth.
Whey from toma, Ossolano or goat cheesemaking, mostly cow[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Cow or goat milk5–10% at most (not always)[pat-sheet]
Soured whey (agra), aromatised soured whey (buna) or white vinegar, used in the past to help the proteins set[pat-sheet]
Salt (always for ageing; often left out of fresh mascarpa)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; soured whey (agra) was used in the past as an acidifier
Start
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at least 80 °C

What changes: Whey is heated above 80 °C until the ricotta rises to the top

Step 1 of 5
Heat the whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
at least 80 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

In the past soured whey (agra), aromatised whey (buna) or white vinegar were added to help the whey proteins flocculate. For mascarpa to be aged, the heating goes on a few minutes after the ricotta rises, so it comes out drier.

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 boundary entry, set by heat and acid rather than by microbes. It is a ricotta made mainly from cow whey left from toma or Ossolano making, heated above 80 °C until the whey proteins rise, then hung in cloths to drain. Fresh mascarpa is often unsalted, while mascarpa for ageing is salted, sometimes smoked by the hearth, and ripened for up to several months.

Key numbers
Temperatureat least 80 °CReported[pat-sheet]Heat the whey

What makes this one different

Unlike fresh ricotta it is often salted and aged for months, and sometimes smoked, and the whey was once set with soured whey (agra) or vinegar.

Ageing of ricotta ossolana
Slow Food's Ark of Taste says the smoked ricotta ossolana of the Antrona and Formazza valleys, aged several months and up to a year, becomes a hard grating cheese
Rind
None when fresh; grey or ochre when aged
Size
Roughly round from the cloth

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescaOften unsalted, white, soft, sweet
  • StagionataSalted, ivory, dry, crumbly; may be smoked

Safety

The PAT sheet notes that the strong heat treatment gives a medium-high safety level; the risks are in draining and moisture, so fresh mascarpa should go quickly into the cold and aged mascarpa be dried under control.

History and sources

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

ONAF's sheet says mascarpa arose from the need to use the by-products of cheesemaking to the full, and ageing let it keep longer. As a residual product of lower value it was mostly eaten by the producers themselves and the staff of the alpine pastures and farms. The PAT sheet cites G. Del Forno (1981) and S. Doglio (1996).

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460, schede tecniche prodotti PAT 2015, Category I product 04 'Mascarpa o Mascherpa' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Mascarpa'web
  3. [slowfood-mascherpa] Fondazione Slow Food, Ark of Taste, 'Mascherpa delle Valli Antrona e Formazza'web
  4. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Mascarpa' (id 762)web