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Cheese from Italy, Piemonte

Seirass di siero di pecora

Seirass is a boundary entry, set by heat, not by microbes. Whey from rennet sheep cheeses such as Sola and Murazzano is heated at once, before the whey gets more acid, to 60 °C, when 5–10% milk may be added, and then to about 90 °C, where the ricotta floats up. It drains a few hours in hanging linen cloths, is chilled, and is eaten within the first week.

Fully documentedCheese12 h – 24 hPAT (traditional agri-food product, Piemonte; D.D. 460/2015, product I 10)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe sheet gives the milk share (5–10% of the whey) but no batch size. A seirass weighs 0.5–3.0 kg.
Whey from rennet sheep cheeses (Sola, Murazzano, Testun di pecora and others)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Sheep milk (optional, for yield)5–10% of the whey[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt (the old practice)a small amount[pat-sheet]
Starternone; heat makes the curd

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 h – 24 h

Start
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60 °C

What changes: The fresh sheep whey is heated to 60 °C and a little milk is stirred in

Step 1 of 4
Heat the whey and add milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
60 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The ricotta is started straight after the cheese so the whey does not grow more acid. In the past a little salt went in at this stage.

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

Seirass is a boundary entry, set by heat, not by microbes. Whey from rennet sheep cheeses such as Sola and Murazzano is heated at once, before the whey gets more acid, to 60 °C, when 5–10% milk may be added, and then to about 90 °C, where the ricotta floats up. It drains a few hours in hanging linen cloths, is chilled, and is eaten within the first week. Made in 4 steps over 12 h – 24 h. The longest step, drain in hanging linen, takes 12–24 h (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 20–25 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main step12–24 hReported[onaf-sheet]Drain in hanging linen
Temperature20–25 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Drain in hanging linen

What makes this one different

The fresh Piedmontese ricotta from sheep whey only, made at once so the whey does not get more acid, and heated to about 90 °C.

Size
Squat panettone shape, 0.5–3.0 kg
Rind
None; white, slightly wrinkled surface

Related ferments

Safety

The whey is heated to about 90 °C and the ricotta is kept cold and eaten within a week. The regional sheet notes that keeping the cold chain lowers the small risks further.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet lists three books as its record that the method has been steady for at least 25 years. They are Del Forno's I formaggi tipici del Piemonte e della Valle d'Aosta (1981), Doglio's Le cose buone del Piemonte, I formaggi (1996) and the ONAF Cuneo booklet I formaggi della Provincia di Cuneo (1997). It says that in the past a little salt went into the whey, and the ONAF sheet says the seirass was once also aged for more than 4 months.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Piemonte, D.D. 24 July 2015 n. 460 (BU38S1, 24 September 2015), Schede tecniche prodotti PAT, category I product 10 'Seirass di siero di pecora' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Seirass di siero di pecora'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Seirass di siero di pecora' (id 767)web