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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Romania, Cluj county

Brânză de Năsal

Raw cow milk is set with rennet at 29–30 °C, cut, salted in the vat and warmed, then moulded into small bricks and brined. The bricks ripen for 25–30 days in a natural cave at Țaga that stays at about 14–15 °C and 90–95 % humidity all year, washed with brine as a red-orange smear of Brevibacterium linens and other surface bacteria from the cave grows on them. Made in 9 steps over 25 days – 31 days. The longest step, ripen in the cave with brine washes, takes 25–30 days (Criste A. et al. 2020) and runs at 14–15 °C (Criste A. et al. 2020). Salt is 1 % (Criste A. et al. 2020). Lactococci and Leuconostoc, high at first and falling during ripening and Lactobacilli, the dominant lactic bacteria through ripening do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step25–30 daysReported[criste2020]Ripen in the cave with brine washes
Temperature14–15 °CMeasured[criste2020]Ripen in the cave with brine washes
Salt1 %Reported[criste2020]Salt and warm the curd
AciditypH 5.5 → 5.65Measured[criste2020]Ripen in the cave with brine washes

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne batch a day from one vat, giving about 140 kg of cheese. Bricks weigh about 0.6 kg or 0.3 kg.
Raw cow milk · Filtered and tested; fat standardised to 2.7–3.1 %[criste2020]
Rennet[criste2020]
1 % of the curd weightSalt · Mixed into the curd in the vat[criste2020]
16–18 % (w/v)Brine · For salting; a 10 % brine is used to wash the rind in the cave[criste2020]
Starch powder and parchment paper · To finish and wrap[criste2020]
Starternone reported; rennet only, with the raw milk's own bacteria and the cave's surface flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 25 days – 31 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk, filtered and partly skimmed

Step 1 of 9
Filter and standardise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Leuconostoc
Lactobacilli
Lactic acid bacteria
Brevibacterium linens
Corynebacteria

Raw cow milk is filtered to remove dirt and tested for density, acidity, protein and fat. Output: 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 is Romania's cave-ripened smear cheese. Nobody adds the red-smear bacteria by hand; the cave at Țaga, with its steady 14–15 °C and 90–95 % humidity, already carries Brevibacterium linens, micrococci and corynebacteria on its walls and ceiling, and they colonise the washed rinds.

Milk
Raw cow milk, fat standardised to 2.7–3.1 %
Ripening
25–30 days in the Țaga cave at about 14–15 °C and 90–95 % humidity
Composition
Dry matter 42.25 % on day 2 rising to 46.13 % on day 25; fat about 22 %
Size
Rectangular bricks of about 0.6 kg or 0.3 kg

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened only 25–30 days. One study found Escherichia coli on the cave's ripening shelves, though a later one found no enterobacteria in the finished cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli on the ripening shelves and inner cave walls (enterobacteria were absent from the finished cheese in a later study).

History and sources

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

Studies from Cluj in 2007 and 2008 called it a cheese unlike any other in Romania and traced its surface flora to the Țaga cave. The 2020 study reports about 140 kg made a day and about 51,100 kg a year.

  1. [criste2020] Criste A. et al. 2020, Determination of changes in the microbial and chemical composition of Țaga cheese during maturation, PLoS ONE 15(12):e0242824paper
  2. [mihaiu2008] Mihaiu M., Mihaiu R., Dan S.D., Chirila F., Ghidali M., Mihaiu L. and Valasutean G. 2008, The ripening of the traditional cheese "Năsal", quality aspects and characteristics, Buletin USAMV Veterinary Medicine 65(2)paper
  3. [mihaiu2007] Mihaiu R., Mihaiu M., Dan S.D. and Silivestru A. 2007, Research concerning Nasal traditional cheese's quality and typicity, Bulletin USAMV-CN 64(1-2)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov