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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Scamorza appassita (Cacetto di Supino)Cacetto

Raw cow milk from Ciociaria herds is warmed to 36–38 °C and set with calf rennet and a whey starter. The curd is broken with a lyre-shaped tool and left to sour until it stretches, then stretched with near-boiling water and shaped by hand into small pears. They are eaten fresh within two days, or hung in a cool, airy room for about 10 days until a thin waxy skin forms. Made in 5 steps over 10 days. The longest step, hang to wither (appassita), takes 10 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 10–12 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Lactic acid bacteria of the whey starter and Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, dominant in Scamorza Altamurana, a Puglia scamorza made with a carried-over whey starter do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 daysSet[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]Hang to wither (appassita)
Temperature10–12 °CSet[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]Hang to wither (appassita)
Fully documentedCheese10 daysPAT (traditional food product, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give temperatures and times but no amounts. A cacetto weighs about 300 g and is 8–10 cm long.
Raw whole cow milk · From Ciociaria herds, delivered to the dairy within 24 hours of the first milking[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]
Whey starter (siero-innesto) · Added while the milk sets[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]
Liquid calf rennet[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]
Near-boiling water · At least 55 °C, for stretching[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]
Salt · Sea salt worked in while stretching, or brine[arsial-supino][onaf-supino]
Starter: whey starter (siero-innesto) added during coagulation

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
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36–38 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Calf rennet and a whey starter go into raw cow milk at 36–38 °C

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and set it
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36–38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the whey starter brings lactic bacteria

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

It is a small scamorza of about 300 g made from raw milk with a whey starter. Instead of being eaten fresh it is often hung for about 10 days in a cool, airy room, which dries it and gives it a thin waxy skin.

Milk
Raw whole cow milk from Ciociaria herds
Ripening
Fresh within 48 hours, or withered about 10 days
Rind
Very thin, elastic, sometimes waxy skin; straw-yellow
Size
About 300 g; 8–10 cm long; egg or pear with a head

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescaKept in a liquid of water, salt and/or buttermilk at 4 °C and eaten within 48 hours.
  • AppassitaHung about 10 days at 10–12 °C until waxy.

Safety

The milk is raw. Fresh cacetti are kept at 4 °C and eaten within 48 hours. The UK NHS advises that soft cheese made from unpasteurised milk be cooked until steaming hot for people at risk, because of Listeria.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, a risk in fresh soft cheese made from unpasteurised milk.

History and sources

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

The cheese dates from the early 1800s. Craft cheesemaking in Supino is recorded from 1940, when a maker began heating milk in a copper cauldron (callaro) set over an old wood-fired brick kiln; three generations have kept the method since.

  1. [arsial-supino] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Scamorza appassita (o cacetto) di Supino', p. 179gov
  2. [onaf-supino] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Scamorza appassita - Cacetto di Supino', PAT Regione Lazioweb
  3. [baruzzi2002] Baruzzi F., Matarante A., Morea M., Cocconcelli P.S. 2002, Microbial community dynamics during the Scamorza Altamurana cheese natural fermentation, Journal of Dairy Science 85(6):1390–1397, doi:10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(02)74206-9 (abstract)paper
  4. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov