Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Trentino

Ricotta di capra fresca o affumicata (Trentino)Poìna de caora fresca

Ricotta is a boundary entry, set by heat and acid, not by microbes. Whey from goat-milk cheesemaking is heated to 90 °C, wine vinegar is added, and the rising flakes are scooped into cloth bags or baskets to drain for 12–16 hours. It is eaten fresh, or smoked over a hearth or in a cabinet with juniper wood. Made in 6 steps over 3.5 days – 3.7 days. The longest step, keep fresh ricotta cold, takes up to 3 days (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main stepup to 3 daysReported[onaf][atlante2012]Keep fresh ricotta cold
Temperature90 °CReported[pat2013][onaf]Heat the whey
Fully documentedCheese3.5 days – 3.7 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product, Autonomous Province of Trento)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) familyMore whey cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe PAT sheet gives the method, not a batch recipe. Each ricotta weighs 200 g to 1 kg.
Whey from goat-milk cheesemaking · Goats fed permanent-meadow hay or pasture[pat2013][onaf]
0.25–0.30 %Wine vinegar[pat2013][onaf]
Starternone; heat and vinegar make the curd

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.5 days – 3.7 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: whey left after making goat cheese

Step 1 of 6
Keep the goat whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The whey stays in the copper cauldron after the goat cheese curd is made, or is poured back through a cloth.

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

This is the goat-whey poìna of Primiero and Fiemme. It is set with wine vinegar alone, at 90 °C, and drains longer than the cow-whey Trentino ricotta.

Shape and size
Truncated cone, 200 g to 1 kg
Fresh
No rind; very white, soft, creamy flakes with a hint of goat
Smoked
Thin brown crust; dry, compact, smoke-yellow paste; keeps longer

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fresca (poìna de caora)Eaten fresh, within about three days.
  • Affumicata (poìna de caora fumada)Smoked with juniper wood; firmer, brown-crusted and longer-keeping.

Safety

Fresh ricotta is moist and spoils fast, so the provincial atlas and the ONAF sheet keep it in a refrigerator for no more than three days.

History and sources

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

Goats were gathered into summer flocks on the Lagorai chain, where their milk was made into cheese on the spot. The ricotta from the leftover whey was shared out each week to the owners in proportion to their goats' milk, often wrapped in sorrel leaves to keep it fresh on the long walk down to the village.

  1. [pat2013] Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trentino Agricoltura, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali - Formaggi, «Ricotta di capra e ricotta di capra affumicata» (last updated 28 December 2013; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet «Ricotta di capra fresca o affumicata»web
  3. [atlante2012] Provincia autonoma di Trento, Servizio Agricoltura 2012, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari del Trentino (Bazzanella G., Gilli G., Miclet E.), p. 83book