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Cheese from Italy, Piedmont, the Langa Astigiana and nearby municipalities of the provinces of Asti and Alessandria

Robiola di Roccaverano PDOpignatin (the coagulation jar)

Raw goat milk from Roccaverano and Camosciata Alpina goats is left to start souring, then gets animal rennet at 18–24 °C and curdles slowly over 8–36 hours, an acid-led set. The curd drains in moulds up to 48 hours, is dry-salted on both faces and ripens at least 3 days and is sold from day 4; from day 11 it counts as matured, with a natural bloom of mould.

Fully documentedCheese6.3 days – 8.5 daysPDO (EU), Reg. (EC) No 1263/96; amended 2011 (Reg. (EU) No 217/2011) and 2023 (OJ L 47, 15.2.2023), which made it goat milk onlyFamily: Lactic soft-ripened cheese family (goat/sheep/cow lactic curd)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives conditions, not doses. A coagulation jar (bicchierone) holds at most 1.8 litres of milk; each cheese weighs 250–400 g.
Raw goat milk from successive milkings within 24 to 48 hoursUntil the 2023 amendment up to 50 % raw cow and/or sheep milk was allowed[rocc-2022][rocc-2010]
Natural milk culture, from the previous day's fermented materialBiolcati 2022 describes it in the PDO dairies it sampled[biolcati2022]
Animal rennet, added after souring has begun[rocc-2010]
Dry salt for both faces[rocc-2010]
Starternatural milk culture, back-slopped from the previous day's fermented material (Biolcati 2022); the EU single document says rennet goes in after souring has begun

Total time across the recorded steps: 6.3 days – 8.5 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw goat milk from a day or two of milkings

Step 1 of 6
Collect raw goat milk
Time
24 h – 2 days
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Kluyveromyces marxianus
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

At a glance

Raw goat milk from Roccaverano and Camosciata Alpina goats is left to start souring, then gets animal rennet at 18–24 °C and curdles slowly over 8–36 hours, an acid-led set. The curd drains in moulds up to 48 hours, is dry-salted on both faces and ripens at least 3 days and is sold from day 4; from day 11 it counts as matured, with a natural bloom of mould. Made in 6 steps over 6.3 days – 8.5 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 3 days (European Commission 2010). Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides, the main bacteria of the cheese does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 daysSet[rocc-2010]Ripen
Temperature18–24 °CSet[rocc-2010]Add rennet to the souring milk

What makes this one different

A raw goat milk robiola set mostly by souring, with rennet added at 18–24 °C once souring has begun and a slow set of up to 36 hours, often in small two-litre jars. Since 2023 it may be made only from goat milk.

Size
Faces 10–14 cm across, 2.5–4 cm high, 250–400 g
Fresh and matured
Fresh 4–10 days; matured (affinato) 11 days or more
Fat
Fat in dry matter at least 40 % (2010 amendment)

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk. A sequencing study of cheeses from five dairies, at 5 and 15 days of ripening, found a few Staphylococcus sequences, including S. aureus, at 1 % relative abundance in some samples. It reports no toxin-producing S. aureus, but it did not count live bacteria and says its method may miss minor populations. The US FDA says even ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, a few sequences at 1 % relative abundance in some samples of this cheese, taken at 5 and 15 days (DNA sequencing only, no live counts).

History and sources

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

A manuscript by the priest Pistone dated 1899 records five yearly fairs at Roccaverano where Robiola was sold for export. The 2023 amendment dropped cow and sheep milk because mixed-milk production had fallen almost to zero.

  1. [rocc-2010] European Commission 2010, publication of an amendment application and single document 'Robiola di Roccaverano', OJ C 168, 26.6.2010 (CELEX 52010XC0626(04)), via publications.europa.euspec
  2. [rocc-2022] European Commission 2022, publication of an amendment application and single document 'Robiola di Roccaverano' / 'Roccaverano', OJ C 397, 17.10.2022 (CELEX 52022XC1017(04)), approved by OJ L 47, 15.2.2023, via publications.europa.euspec
  3. [biolcati2022] Biolcati F., Ferrocino I., Bottero M.T., Dalmasso A. 2022, The Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota of "Robiola di Roccaverano" Protected Designation of Origin Raw Milk Cheese, Frontiers in Microbiology 12:776862paper
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov