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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Murazzano PDOTuma di Murazzano

Whole milk of Langhe sheep, alone or with up to 40 % cow milk, is set with liquid calf rennet at about 37 °C. The curd rests, is put into perforated cylinders to drain, and is dry-salted. The rindless cheese is washed briefly with warm water each day and ripens at least 4 days.

Fully documentedCheese5.3 days – 5.4 daysPDO (EU, 1996)Family: Lactic soft-ripened cheese family (goat/sheep/cow lactic curd)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification sets the milk mix but no doses. A cheese weighs 250–400 g at the minimum ripening.
Whole milk of Langhe sheep, pure or at least 60 % of the mixFrom two or more milkings; raw or pasteurised (ONAF)[murazzano-disc][murazzano-onaf]
Cow milk, up to 40 %[murazzano-disc]
Liquid calf rennet[murazzano-disc][murazzano-onaf]
Fine dry salt[murazzano-disc][murazzano-onaf]

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.3 days – 5.4 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
34–40 °C

What changes: Liquid calf rennet sets the warm sheep milk

Step 1 of 5
Set with rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
34–40 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Whole milk of Langhe sheep, alone or with up to 40 % cow milk, is set with liquid calf rennet at about 37 °C. The curd rests, is put into perforated cylinders to drain, and is dry-salted. The rindless cheese is washed briefly with warm water each day and ripens at least 4 days. Made in 5 steps over 5.3 days – 5.4 days. The longest step, ripen with daily washing, takes at least 4 days (Regione Piemonte 2012).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 4 daysSet[murazzano-disc][murazzano-onaf]Ripen with daily washing
Temperature34–40 °CSet[murazzano-disc]Set with rennet

What makes this one different

A fresh rennet robiola of the Langhe made mostly from sheep milk; it is dry-salted and only washed with warm water for a few days. Cheeses of 100 % sheep milk may be labelled as such.

Milk
Langhe sheep milk, pure or at least 60 %, with up to 40 % cow milk
Ripening
At least 4 days
Size
10–15 cm across, 3–4 cm high, 250–400 g; fat in dry matter at least 44 %

Related ferments

Safety

This fresh cheese may be made from raw or pasteurised milk and sold after only 4 days. Raw-milk cheese can carry Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, and Listeria and that E. coli can kill. ANSES, the French food-safety agency, advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat it, except cooked pressed kinds such as Gruyère, which this cheese is not. ANSES also says to follow the storage temperature and use-by date on the pack or from the seller. The sealed glass jars that tradition uses for longer keeping are not a safety control. They keep air out, and WHO says Clostridium botulinum grows without air.

History and sources

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

Named after the village of Murazzano, its centre of production and trade. Women of the Langhe carried the tume to market in wicker baskets.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [murazzano-disc] Regione Piemonte, DGR 27 April 2012 n. 89-3799, favourable opinion on the amended Disciplinare del formaggio Murazzano DOP (annexed), Bollettino Ufficiale n. 22, 2012 (archived copy)spec
  2. [murazzano-onaf] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Murazzano'web
  3. [murazzano-eu1996] Application for registration, 'Murazzano' DOP, national file 15, Regulation (EEC) 2081/92 (EU register summary sheet)spec
  4. [who-botulism] WHO, Botulism fact sheetgov
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov