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Cheese from Mexico

Queso añejoQueso añejo de Zacazonapan

Raw cow milk from grazing cows is set with calf rennet at 30–32 °C, and the curd is cut, drained, pressed under stones, ground and salted at about 3% with Araró salt. The moulded cheese ferments on a shelf for a few days to two weeks, then ripens 20–180 days and is often coated with chili (enchilado).

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFlow charts of two dairies in one study; the only proportions given are salt at 3% and, at one dairy, 1 L of cream removed per 100 L of milk.
Raw cow milk from free-grazing cowsOne dairy removes 1 L of cream per 100 L of milk[torres2024]
Calf rennet[torres2024]
Araró salt (from Araró, Michoacán)3%[torres2024]
Chili, to coat the surface after ripening[torres2024]
Starternone (raw milk, curdled without starter culture)

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days – 6.4 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
30–32 °C

What changes: Calf rennet sets the raw milk at about 30 °C

Step 1 of 7
Set the raw milk
Time
15 min – 1 h
Reported
Temperature
30–32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Dairy B first rests the milk 1–2 h and skims off a little cream.

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 cow milk from grazing cows is set with calf rennet at 30–32 °C, and the curd is cut, drained, pressed under stones, ground and salted at about 3% with Araró salt. The moulded cheese ferments on a shelf for a few days to two weeks, then ripens 20–180 days and is often coated with chili (enchilado). Made in 7 steps over 23 days – 6.4 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 20 days – 5.9 months (Torres-Salas V. et al. 2024). Salt is 3 % (Torres-Salas V. et al. 2024).

Key numbers
Main step20 days – 5.9 monthsReported[torres2024]Ripen
Temperature30–32 °CReported[torres2024]Set the raw milk
Salt3 %Reported[torres2024]Grind and salt

What makes this one different

A pressed and ground raw cow-milk cheese that ferments briefly in its moulds and is often finished with chili.

Milk
Raw cow milk from free-grazing cows
Ripening
20–180 days after a few days to two weeks of shelf fermentation

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is raw, and the cheese is salted at about 3% and ripened for 20 days or more (in the study, 20–180 days). Some curd is also sold fresh, straight from the salting step. Hernández-Morales and colleagues counted total viable bacteria and coliforms in añejo cheeses and found differences between them; the abstract gives no values. 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.

History and sources

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

Nobody knows where Zacazonapan añejo cheese began. A priest, José Castillo y Piña, wrote of the town's dairy herds and large stocks of cheese, and Colín-Navarro and colleagues conclude from this that the municipality has made cheese for more than 150 years. Since 1988 the town council has held an annual cheese fair on 25 December. The study found cheesemaking in Zacazonapan at risk of dying out, because the makers are aged 45–65 and young people see little profit in it.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [torres2024] Torres-Salas V. et al. 2024, Amino Acid Composition, Antioxidant and Antihypertensive Activity in Extracts from Mexican Añejo Cheese, Food Technology and Biotechnology 62(3):373, with supplementary flow charts S1 and S2paper
  2. [hernandez2010] Hernández-Morales C., Hernández Montes A., Aguirre-Mandujano E., Villegas de Gante A. 2010, Physicochemical, microbiological, textural and sensory characterisation of Mexican Añejo cheese, International Journal of Dairy Technology 63(4):552-560 (abstract)paper
  3. [colin2023] Colín-Navarro V., Sánchez-Valdés J.J., López-González F. and Estrada-Flores J.G. 2023, Queso zacazonapan madurado, una tradición con historia, Revista Digital Universitaria 24(5), UNAMpaper
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov