Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Sicily, the Hyblean plateau

Ragusano PDOtina (the wooden vat)

Whole raw cow milk is set at about 34 °C in a wooden tina vat with lamb or kid paste rennet and no added starter, so acid comes from the milk flora and the biofilm on the vat. The curd is broken to rice size, scalded with hot water, left on supports to dry about 20 hours, then sliced, stretched in water at about 80 °C and moulded into a long square block. The blocks are brined and ripen at least three months at 14–16 °C, traditionally hung in pairs on ropes.

Fully documentedCheese3 monthsPDO (EU), Reg. (EC) No 1263/96; national decree DM 2 May 1995; an amendment application was published in OJ C 216 of 27 June 2019Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe decree gives conditions, not a batch recipe; blocks weigh 12–16 kg.
Whole raw cow milk from one or more milkings[rag-dm1995][rag-eu2019]
Lamb or kid paste rennet dissolved in a salt solutionThe 1995 summary sheet says calf or kid rennet; the decree says lamb or kid[rag-dm1995][rag-summary]
Water at 80 °C ± 5 °C, added while breaking the curd8 litres per hectolitre of milk[rag-dm1995]
Ricotta whey or water at about 80 °C, for scalding and stretching the curd[rag-dm1995]
Salt brine[rag-dm1995]
Olive oil for the rind (optional)[rag-dm1995][rag-eu2019]
Starternone added; milk flora and the tina biofilm

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
31–37 °C

What changes: Lamb or kid rennet sets the raw milk in the wooden tina

Step 1 of 7
Set the raw milk in the tina
Time
1–1.3 h
Set
Temperature
31–37 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
Lactobacilli
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

no starter; Streptococcus thermophilus and thermophilic lactobacilli are released from the tina biofilm into the milk

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

Whole raw cow milk is set at about 34 °C in a wooden tina vat with lamb or kid paste rennet and no added starter, so acid comes from the milk flora and the biofilm on the vat. The curd is broken to rice size, scalded with hot water, left on supports to dry about 20 hours, then sliced, stretched in water at about 80 °C and moulded into a long square block. The blocks are brined and ripen at least three months at 14–16 °C, traditionally hung in pairs on ropes. Made in 7 steps over 3 months. The longest step, ripen in a ventilated room, takes at least 3 months (European Commission 2019) and runs at 14–16 °C (Disciplinare di produzione della denominazion…). Streptococcus thermophilus, predominant in the tina biofilms and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis and thermophilic lactobacilli released from the tina do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsSet[rag-eu2019]Ripen in a ventilated room
Temperature14–16 °CSet[rag-dm1995][rag-eu2019]Ripen in a ventilated room

What makes this one different

A stretched-curd cheese made from raw milk with no added starter, soured by the milk flora and the biofilm of the wooden tina, with the curd left about 20 hours on supports to dry before stretching. It is shaped as a long square block of 12–16 kg and ripened hanging in pairs or on slats.

Shape and size
Long block with a square section of 15–18 cm and length of 43–53 cm, 12–16 kg
Composition
Fat in dry matter at least 40 % for table cheese and 38 % for cheese aged over six months; moisture at most 42 %
Season
Production is concentrated in the fodder season, November to May

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ragusano da vacca modicanaMade only from milk of Modicana cows.
  • Ragusano affumicatoSmoked by natural methods.

Safety

Made from raw milk. A study of 15 tina biofilms found no Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes or E. coli O157:H7, but it tested the vats, not the milk or the finished cheese. 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. Ragusano is a stretched-curd cheese that ANSES does not name, so do not assume it counts as one of those.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7, tested for and absent from 15 tina biofilms.

History and sources

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

Ragusano was regulated under Italian law for decades before the 1995 decree. The 2019 amendment set the three-month minimum ripening, raised the minimum weight to 12 kg and allowed ripening on slatted shelves.

  1. [rag-dm1995] Disciplinare di produzione della denominazione di origine del formaggio "Ragusano", DM 2 maggio 1995, GURI n. 133 del 9 giugno 1995 (copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  2. [rag-eu2019] European Commission 2019, publication of an amendment application and single document 'Ragusano' PDO-IT-1505-AM01, OJ C 216, 27.6.2019 (CELEX 52019XC0627(02)), via publications.europa.euspec
  3. [rag-summary] Ministero delle risorse agricole, application for registration "Ragusano" PDO, national file No 145, summary sheet (English), eAmbrosia attachment 72342spec
  4. [licitra2007] Licitra G., Ogier J.C., Parayre S. et al. 2007, Variability of bacterial biofilms of the "tina" wood vats used in the Ragusano cheese-making process, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (abstract)paper
  5. [lortal2009] Lortal S., Di Blasi A., Madec M.N. et al. 2009, Tina wooden vat biofilm, a safe and highly efficient lactic acid bacteria delivering system in PDO Ragusano cheese making, International Journal of Food Microbiology (abstract)paper
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov