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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Spain, Valencian Community

Queso de cassoleta (saladito valenciano)formatge de cassoleta

A small, salty fresh cheese of cow, goat or sheep milk, or a mix, set with rennet and calcium salts at 35 °C and cut to pea-sized grains. The curd is packed hard by hand into a little volcano-shaped mould, the cassoleta, and kept in a light brine until it is sold. The quality rules list no starter culture, so it is a rennet-set fresh cheese rather than a ripened one. Made in 6 steps over 25 h. The longest step, keep in light brine, takes up to 24 h (Conselleria d'Agricultura 2008).

Key numbers
Main stepup to 24 hSet[dogv2008]Keep in light brine
Temperatureup to 6 °CSet[dogv2008]Filter and chill the milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe quality rules fix limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs about 200–500 g.
Whole cow, goat and/or sheep milk · Filtered and kept at 6 °C or below; free of colostrum and preservatives[dogv2008]
Calcium salts[dogv2008]
Rennet or coagulant (vegetable coagulant allowed)[dogv2008]
Salt · A light, fresh brine, or rubbed on by hand[dogv2008]
Starter: rennet only; no culture is listed

Total time across the recorded steps: 25 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 6 °C

What changes: Starting material: cow, goat or sheep milk, filtered and kept cold

Step 1 of 6
Filter and chill the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
up to 6 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Cow, goat or sheep milk, or a mix in any proportion.

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

Queso de cassoleta is named after its little casserole-shaped mould and is sold straight from a light brine rather than ripened. Unlike the other Valencian quality-mark cheeses, it may use cow, goat or sheep milk in any mix.

Shape
Small volcano shape from the cassoleta mould
Size
About 200–500 g
Rind
None; white, moist paste
Ripening (general CV rule)
The 2008 rules for five Valencian cheeses set ripening at 75–90 % relative humidity, below 15 °C, for at least 6 days; the cassoleta itself is sold from the brine

Related ferments

Variants

  • BrinedKept in a light, fresh brine until sale.
  • Rubbed with saltSalted by hand-rubbing instead of brining.

History and sources

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

The quality rules say herders of goats and sheep once made it by hand in an olive-wood mould of the same shape. Today cow milk is also used and the mould is no longer wooden, but small dairies in Castellón and Valencia still make it by hand. The Valencian CV quality mark has covered it since 2008.

  1. [dogv2008] Conselleria d'Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació, Orden de 23 de diciembre de 2008, reglamentación de calidad del queso de cassoleta, queso blanquet, queso de la Nucia, queso de servilleta y queso tronchón (marca de calidad CV), DOCV no. 5924, 31 December 2008, pp. 93919–93922gov
  2. [wp-es] Wikipedia (es), «Queso de cassoleta» (outline only)wiki