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Cheese from Italy, Po valley

Provolone Valpadana PDO

Whole cow milk, kept at no more than 12 °C and used within 60 hours of milking, is soured with the whey starter of the previous make and set with calf rennet (dolce) or kid or lamb paste rennet (piccante). The curd is cooked, left to acidify on tables, stretched in hot water and shaped by hand into salami, melon, cone or pear forms. The cheeses are brined, dried and hung to ripen for at least 10 days for small pieces and up to more than 8 months for large piccante ones.

Fully documentedCheese49 days – 50 daysPDO (EU, Reg. (EC) 1107/96)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe, and gives no doses. Cheeses weigh from 0.5 kg to more than 100 kg.
Whole cow milk from the production areaKept and transported at no more than 12 °C and collected within 60 hours of the first milking[pv-oj2012][pv-am2018]
Natural whey starter (siero innesto) from the previous make[pv-oj2012][pv-onaf]
Calf rennet (dolce), or kid and/or lamb paste rennet (piccante)[pv-oj2012]
Salt, as brine[pv-oj2012][pv-am2018]
Starternatural whey starter from the previous make

Total time across the recorded steps: 49 days – 50 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 12 °C

What changes: Whole raw milk arrives cool, within 60 hours of milking

Step 1 of 9
Collect the milk
Time
up to 2.5 days
Set
Temperature
up to 12 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Whole milk from cows raised in the area, at its natural fermentation acidity. The 2018 amendment set the 12 °C limit so the milk keeps the lactic bacteria the acid-rennet make needs.

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 cow milk, kept at no more than 12 °C and used within 60 hours of milking, is soured with the whey starter of the previous make and set with calf rennet (dolce) or kid or lamb paste rennet (piccante). The curd is cooked, left to acidify on tables, stretched in hot water and shaped by hand into salami, melon, cone or pear forms. The cheeses are brined, dried and hung to ripen for at least 10 days for small pieces and up to more than 8 months for large piccante ones. Made in 9 steps over 49 days – 50 days. The longest step, brine, takes up to 30 days (Consorzio di Tutela Provolone Valpadana 2018).

Key numbers
Main stepup to 30 daysSet[pv-am2018]Brine
Temperatureup to 12 °CSet[pv-am2018]Collect the milk

What makes this one different

A northern Italian provolone made in many shapes and sizes, soured with whey from the previous make. The rennet sets the type, calf for the mild dolce and kid or lamb paste for the sharp piccante.

Milk
Whole cow milk, kept at no more than 12 °C, used within 60 hours of milking; raw, thermised or pasteurised by type
Ripening
Dolce at most 2–3 months; piccante over 3 months; P.V.S. (piccante, over 30 kg) more than 8 months
Size
Salami, melon, truncated cone or pear shapes, 0.5 kg to more than 100 kg
Composition
Fat in dry matter 44–54%; moisture no more than 46% (dolce, and piccante up to 6 kg) or 43% (piccante over 6 kg)

Related ferments

Safety

Milk must stay at or below 12 °C. The specification starts from raw milk and heat is optional. Dolce milk may be pasteurised and piccante milk may be thermised, a milder heat than pasteurisation; small piccante cheeses that will not reach 60 days of ripening may also be pasteurised. Every cheese ripens at least 10 days before sale. Where the milk stays raw, ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked ones such as Gruyère, because of Listeria, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin E. coli.

History and sources

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

The word provolone appears in 1871, when two cheesemakers from the south, the Margiotta brothers, moved north and began making hard stretched-curd cheese, later extending production thanks to the plentiful milk of the Po plain. The name was protected in Italy in 1955 and registered as an EU PDO in 1996.

  1. [pv-oj2012] European Commission, Publication of an amendment application, 'Provolone Valpadana' PDO, with the single document, Official Journal of the EU C 64, 3.3.2012, p. 15 (2012/C 64/15) (copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  2. [pv-am2018] Consorzio di Tutela Provolone Valpadana, Application for approval of a minor amendment, PDO-IT-0021-AM02, 20.04.2018 (eAmbrosia register)spec
  3. [pv-dpcm1993] Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine 'Provolone Valpadana', DPCM 9 April 1993, GURI n. 196, 21 August 1993 (copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  4. [pv-onaf] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Provolone Valpadana'web
  5. [zago2026] Zago M. et al. 2026, Detection, Identification, and Diffusion of Yeasts Responsible for Structural Defects in Provolone Valpadana PDO Cheese Using Multiple Research Techniques, Foods 15(1):129 (abstract)paper
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov