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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Venezuela

Queso de mano / Guayanésqueso de mano

Queso de mano is a soft, fresh Venezuelan pasta filata cheese. The milk and then the curd are left to sour until the curd can be stretched, and the curd is worked by hand in hot whey or water (around 80 °C in Zulia) into soft sheets or rounds. Artisanal cheeses keep about a week. Made in 5 steps over 7 days. The longest step, keep cold and eat fresh, takes 7 days (Maldonado Gómez R.J. 2013).

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[maldonado2013]Keep cold and eat fresh
Temperature80 °CReported[farias2002]Stretch in hot whey
AciditypH 5.6Measured[farias2002]Let the curd sour

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed recipe or amounts were found.
Cow milk · Artisanal makers often use raw milk[maldonado2013]
Hot water or whey · For stretching the curd[farias2002][wp]
Starter: natural souring of milk and curd

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days

Start
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What changes: The milk sets and curd separates from whey

Step 1 of 5
Set the milk into curd (cuajada)
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: curd (cuajada).

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 mano is a fresh pasta filata eaten within days, softer and wetter than mozzarella. Guayanés reaches its stretching point by souring twice, in the milk and again in the curd.

Milk
Cow milk
Shelf life
About 7 days for artisanal cheese

Related ferments

Variants

  • GuayanésBolívar state version, acidified in two stages.
  • TelitaAcidified in a single stage.

Safety

Artisanal cheeses made from raw milk under poor hygiene had high microbial counts. In a Venezuelan study, pasteurising the milk and adding nisin extended shelf life and held back Staphylococcus aureus.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and high general counts in artisanal cheeses.

History and sources

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

  1. [farias2002] Faría Reyes J.F., García Urdaneta A.C., de Hernández A. 2002, Efecto de la tecnología quesera sobre la composición del suero lácteo, Multiciencias 2(2):126–130paper
  2. [maldonado2013] Maldonado Gómez R.J. 2013, standardising the method for stretched-curd cheeses (Telita and Guayanés) from pasteurised milk with nisin, CDCH project, Universidad Central de Venezuela (abstract)archive
  3. [wp] Wikipedia, Queso de mano (outline only)wiki