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Cheese from Brazil, Minas Gerais

Queijo Minas Artesanal do Serro

Pingo, the salted whey of the last batch, goes into the vat before milking; raw milk and rennet follow, and the milk sets in about 50 minutes. The curd is pressed into moulds by hand, washed with running water, and dry-salted for one or two days. The 700–1,000 g cheeses ripen on wooden shelves, washed and turned every day, for a few weeks.

Fully documentedCheese17 days – 19 daysIP (INPI IG201001, 2011-12-13); QMA microregion (IMA)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedDoses are given per 100 litres of milk in the producers' rules and vary with season and room temperature. No additives are allowed. Cheeses weigh 700–1,000 g.
Raw whole cow milk from the farm's own herd[rtiq2303][inpi-ficha]
Pingo (natural whey starter), 100–500 ml per 100 litres of milk[serro-rules]
Rennet (strength 1:10,000), 20–40 ml per 100 litres of milk[serro-rules]
Coarse salt, 50–100 g per kg[serro-rules]
Starterpingo (salted, fermented whey from the previous batch); some makers use rala, young cheese grated before 8 days of ripening

Total time across the recorded steps: 17 days – 19 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Yesterday's salted whey waits in the vat as fresh raw milk is poured in

Step 1 of 8
Add pingo, then the milk
Time
up to 1.5 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus
Streptococcus
Lactobacillus

The pingo is put in the vat before milking begins and the filtered milk is poured onto it.

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

Pingo, the salted whey of the last batch, goes into the vat before milking; raw milk and rennet follow, and the milk sets in about 50 minutes. The curd is pressed into moulds by hand, washed with running water, and dry-salted for one or two days. The 700–1,000 g cheeses ripen on wooden shelves, washed and turned every day, for a few weeks. Made in 8 steps over 17 days – 19 days. The longest step, ripen on wooden shelves, takes at least 17 days (Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA) 2013) and runs at 17–22.5 °C (Carneiro J.O 2020). Lactic acid bacteria of the pingo; Lactococcus is the most frequent genus in Serro cheese, followed by Streptococcus and Lactobacillus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 17 daysSet[ima1305][inpi-ficha]Ripen on wooden shelves
Temperature17–22.5 °CMeasured[heliyon2020]Ripen on wooden shelves

What makes this one different

The pingo goes into the vat before milking begins and the milk is poured onto it. The curd is pressed by hand and washed with running water during moulding, and the cheeses are washed and turned every day on the shelves.

Rind
Thin, without cracks
Size
Cylinder 13–15 cm across, 4–6 cm high; 700–1,000 g
Composition
Total solids 46–52%; fat in total solids at least 50%

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw. The state standard requires processing to start within 90 minutes of the start of milking, moisture of at most 45.9%, and no Salmonella or Listeria monocytogenes in 25 g. The minimum ripening is set in separate IMA portarias. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, limited by the state standard (Salmonella and Listeria absent in 25 g).

History and sources

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

According to the INPI sheet, the Serro area turned to farming as the gold cycle declined, and the cheese, carried mainly to Diamantina, earned revenue for the region.

  1. [rtiq2303] Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA), Portaria IMA nº 2303 of 20 May 2024, technical regulation of identity and quality of Queijo Minas Artesanal (DOE-MG 21/05/2024, annex republished 30/05/2024), text as reproduced by LegisWebspec
  2. [ima1305] Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA), Portaria IMA nº 1305 of 30 April 2013, art. 2 as worded by Portaria 1736/2017 (revoked by Portaria 1969/2020), text as reproduced by LegisWebspec
  3. [serro-rules] APAQS (Associação dos Produtores Artesanais de Queijo do Serro), rules of use of the indication of provenance 'Serro' for Queijo Minas Artesanal, art. 10 manufacturing process, filed with INPIspec
  4. [inpi-ficha] INPI, technical sheet of the geographical indication registration 'Serro' (IG201001)spec
  5. [heliyon2020] Carneiro J.O., Chaves A.C.S.D., Stephan M.P., Boari C.A., Koblitz M.G.B. 2020, Artisan minas cheese of Serro, proteolysis during ripening, Heliyon 6(7):e04446paper
  6. [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
  7. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  8. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov