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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Calabria

Rasco

Rasco is a small, fresh, raw-milk cow cheese from Calabria, made entirely by hand from the milk of Podolica cattle. The milk is set with kid rennet paste at 36–38 °C, broken very coarsely with a fig-wood stick, packed into rush baskets, scalded in hot whey and dry-salted twice. It is eaten fresh, or smoked for about 20 days. Made in 6 steps over 20 days. The longest step, eat fresh or smoke, takes 20 days (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Native lactic flora of the raw milk; no starter is added does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20 daysReported[onaf-sheet]Eat fresh or smoke
Temperature36–38 °CSet[calabria-pat][onaf-sheet]Filter and warm the milk, add kid rennet

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRennet about 30 g per quintal (100 kg) of milk, as the regional sheet gives it; no other amounts. A cheese weighs about 0.5–0.75 kg.
Raw whole milk of Podolica cows · Cows fed on pasture[calabria-pat][onaf-sheet]
About 30 g per 100 kg of milkKid rennet paste · ONAF gives 30 g per hectolitre[calabria-pat][onaf-sheet]
Fine salt · Rubbed on twice[calabria-pat][onaf-sheet]
No starter · The milk's own flora is used[onaf-sheet]
Starternone; native milk flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Kid rennet paste goes into the warmed milk at 36–38 °C

Step 1 of 6
Filter and warm the milk, add kid rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36–38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: rennet curd.

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

The name comes from "scraping the cauldron" (rascare la caldaia). Rasco was made from the curd scraped from the cauldron while the rest became pasta filata cheeses such as caciocavallo. The curd is never stretched; it is broken coarsely, packed into baskets and scalded in hot whey.

Rind
None or thin; white, brown if smoked; basket marks
Size
0.50–0.75 kg; Ø 8–12 cm
Season
March to September in the 2005 regional sheet; November to July in the ONAF sheet

Related ferments

Variants

  • AffumicatoSmoked about 20 days; brown, firmer rind.

Safety

The regional derogation text names raw milk, wooden tools and rush baskets as hygiene risks and asks for milk checks and good hygiene practice.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, named by the regional derogation text as a risk of raw milk.

History and sources

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

Landowners' herds of Podolica cattle made rasco as a prized gift for the Christmas holidays, ordering a set number from their herd foremen. The regional sheet cites Calabrian folk-tradition texts as evidence that it is over 25 years old. ONAF says the cheese has now disappeared, but the 2005 regional sheet describes it as still made.

  1. [calabria-pat] Regione Calabria, Prodotti agro-alimentari tradizionali, scheda Rasco (fax to MiPAF dated 13 January 2005; scanned image, read visually)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Rasco, with the Regione Calabria derogation notesweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Rasco' (id 1128)web