Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Southern Brazil, Campos de Cima da Serra

Queijo serranoQueijo artesanal serrano

Raw whole cow milk is set with rennet straight after milking, with no heating, for 45–60 minutes. The curd is broken into pieces over 2 cm, sometimes scalded with water at 70–80 °C, squeezed, salted and pressed for 24 hours. The state standard requires at least 60 days of ripening above 5 °C in a dry, ventilated place.

Fully documentedCheese2 monthsRio Grande do Sul identity and quality standard (IN SEAGRI 7/2014)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe standard fixes the process and limits, not amounts; no other ingredient may be added. Cheeses are bricks of 2–3 kg.
Raw whole cow milk, used straight after milkingThe standard names raw whole milk; Penna and colleagues say it is cow's milk[serrano-in7][penna2021]
Industrial rennet[serrano-in7]
SaltAdded to the milk during filtering, or to the curd before moulding[serrano-in7]
Starternone added; the standard allows only raw milk, industrial rennet and salt

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countEnterococcusLactococcusLactobacillusLeuconostoc

What changes: Rennet goes into the warm raw milk straight after milking

Step 1 of 7
Set the raw milk
Time
45 min – 1 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Enterococcus
Lactococcus
Lactobacillus
Leuconostoc

Industrial rennet; salt may go into the milk as it is filtered.

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

Raw whole cow milk is set with rennet straight after milking, with no heating, for 45–60 minutes. The curd is broken into pieces over 2 cm, sometimes scalded with water at 70–80 °C, squeezed, salted and pressed for 24 hours. The state standard requires at least 60 days of ripening above 5 °C in a dry, ventilated place. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 2 months (Secretaria da Agricultura 2014) and runs at at least 5 °C (Secretaria da Agricultura 2014). Lactic acid bacteria (Enterococcus, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc and Streptococcus), which ripening at 12.5 or 20 °C favoured over 5 °C does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[serrano-in7][penna2021]Ripen
Temperatureat least 5 °CSet[serrano-in7]Ripen

What makes this one different

A small-farm cheese of the southern highlands, made of raw milk set at once after milking, broken coarse, scalded with hot water rather than cooked and pressed for a day. The standard allows no starter and no additives.

Milk
Raw whole cow milk, set straight after milking
Ripening
At least 60 days above 5 °C (RS standard); a shorter period is allowed under federal rules for artisanal cheeses
Composition
Semi-fat, medium-moisture cheese; fat in total solids 25.0–44.9%
Size
Brick-shaped, 2–3 kg

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. The state standard requires at least 60 days of ripening above 5 °C, unless a federal or other artisanal-cheese rule allows less, and storage at no more than 12 °C. Studies cited in a review found Listeria monocytogenes in some cheeses at 14 to 45 days of ripening, and at every stage in one dairy. In a 60-day trial that read shares of DNA, not live counts, ripening at 5 °C favoured potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Serratia and Citrobacter over lactic bacteria. 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.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, found in some artisanal Serrano cheeses at 14 to 45 days of ripening in published studies; Potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Citrobacter and Serratia, favoured by ripening at 5 °C over 12.5 or 20 °C in a 60-day trial, by shares of DNA.

History and sources

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

The first record dates from 1831, when farmers of Rio Grande do Sul asked for better roads to move cheese and butter they bartered for goods. Producer associations in both states pushed for the 2014 standard and a geographical indication.

  1. [serrano-in7] Secretaria da Agricultura, Pecuária e Agronegócio do Rio Grande do Sul, Instrução Normativa SEAGRI nº 7 of 9 December 2014, Regulamento Técnico de Identidade e Qualidade do Queijo Serrano (DOE-RS 10/12/2014), text as reproduced by LegisWebspec
  2. [penna2021] Penna A.L.B., Gigante M.L., Todorov S.D. 2021, Artisanal Brazilian Cheeses, History, Marketing, Technological and Microbiological Aspects, Foods 10(7):1562paper
  3. [stroher2025] Ströher J.A. et al. 2025, Temperature Drives Microbial Dynamics during the ripening of Serrano Artisanal Cheese, Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 97(3):e20240169 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov