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Fermentation Atlas

Fresh acid-set cheeses

Milk set slowly by lactic bacteria, drained and eaten fresh.

56 entries listed here.

How these cheeses are made

The shared make of fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family. Each cheese below says what it does differently.

  1. Heat-treat the milk0.2–1 min · 72–90 °C
  2. Add starter and let the milk sour slowly7 h – 2 days · 20–30 °C
  3. Cut and warm the curd40 °C
  4. Drain in cloth45 min – 24 h · 20–28 °C
  5. Season, pack and keep cold5–28 days · 0–6 °C

Compare them

CheeseRegionMilkRipeningRind
Afuega'l Pitu PDOSpain, central-western AsturiasWhole cow milk, pasteurised unless the cheese ripens 60 days5 to 60 days
AnevatoGreece, West MacedoniaSheep milk, goat milk or a mixAt least 2 monthsNone; soft, grainy cheese
BundzPoland, PodhaleEwe milk; the related PDO cheeses oscypek and bryndza allow up to 40 % Polish Red cow milkEaten fresh; or soured about two weeks for bryndza
BüscionSwitzerland, Ticinoup to 15 days
Casatella Trevigiana PDOItaly, VenetoWhole cow milk from Treviso province, raw or pasteurised4–8 days at 2–8 °C
Cervelle de canutFrance, LyonCow milk, made into fromage blancNone; fromage blanc is an unripened cheese by French law, and the dish is eaten fresh
FaisselleFrancePasteurised whole cow milk enriched with its own cream (Label Rouge)up to 31 days
Majevički dimljeni sir ZaracBosnia and Herzegovina, Majevica mountain in the north-eastRaw cow milk, partly skimmed by hand after natural souring30 days – 2 months
MottaItaly, Piemonte7–14 daysIrregular, pale yellow to hazelnut; none or slightly mouldy
Pichtogalo ChanionGreece, Crete24 h
QuarkCentral EuropeUsually skim milk20 h
Rögös túró TSGHungary4–20 h
Stracchino / CrescenzaLombardy, northern ItalyPasteurised cow milkNone; chilled about 7 days, then sold fresh with a shelf life of about 20 days
TvorogRussia, Ukraine, Belarus and the former Soviet UnionPasteurised cow milk, skimmed or standardisedNone; eaten fresh
Xygalo Siteias PDOGreece, eastern CreteGoat and/or sheep milk of local breeds, raw or pasteurised7–10 days souring, then about one month at 10–15 °C
Agrì di ValtortaItaly, Lombardiaat least 7 daysNone (white, moist); thin wrinkled yellow or grey skin forms with maturation
Caprino a coagulazione latticaItaly, Lombardia7 daysNone; thin bloomy skin on aged product
Formaggio AcidinoItaly, Veneto5 minNone
Formaggio caprino morbidoItaly, Friuli Venezia Giulia24 hNone
TsalafoutiGreece, central and southern Pindus15–20 daysNone; creamy spread
Tuma molaItaly, Piemonte24–36 hNone when fresh; thin yellow-ochre after some days, may carry ground pepper
ByaslagMongoliaYak or cow milk, raw or boiledFresh, not ripened
CabocScotland, HighlandsDouble cream from local cow milk, pasteurisedup to 6 months
CașRomaniaSheep milk, sometimes cow milkFresh; soured up to two weeks when it is to become brânză de burduf
ClaquebitouFrance, Burgundy
CrowdieScotland, HighlandsCow milk, pasteurised todayFresh; shelf life about 14 days
CuajadaSpainMilk; skim UHT milk in one Spanish studyFresh; not ripened
Demi-sel (fresh salted cheese)FranceCow milk
Formaggio ZigherItaly, Veneto7 daysNone; a mould bloom when mature
Galotyri PDOEpirus/Thessalysheep/goat milk≥2 mo
JbenMoroccocow/goat milkfresh–weeks
Karish / AreeshEgyptcow/buffalo milk, skim (laban rayeb)fresh
Katiki Domokou PDOGreece, Domokos area of the Othrys mountainsPasteurised goat milk, or goat and sheep milkNone; eaten fresh, kept cold
Labneh mkabbas / anbarisLevantgoat/cow milkweeks in oil or clay jar (anbaris fermented in jar)
Lietuviškas varškės sūris / LiliputasLithuaniacow milkfresh–months
Liptói túróHungary/Slovakiasheep/cow milk
Petit-suisseNormandycow + milk, creamfresh
Quagliata ligure (Prescinsêua)Italy, Liguria2 daysNone
Queso andino / quesillo andinoPeru/Boliviacow/sheep milkfresh
Queso costeñoColombian Caribbeancow milk
Queso crema de ChiapasChiapascow milk, rawfresh–months
Queso de cabra (Chilean goat)Chilegoat milk
Queso duro blandito / queso secoHonduras/El Salvadorcow milkdays–weeks
Queso llanero / Guayanés / de añoVenezuelacow milkfresh–1 yr
Queso panelaMexicocow milkfresh
Requeijão cremosoBrazil
RequeixoSpain, Galicia
Rygeost (BOUNDARY-ish)Funencow milkfresh
SnøfriskNorway80% goat milk and 20% cow cream
Squacquerone di Romagna PDORomagnacow milkfresh
Suzma / chakkaUzbekistan/Tajikistancow/sheep milkfresh
Tome fraîche (aligot curd)Aubraccow milk1 d
Tomino canavesano asciuttoItaly, Piemonte6–12 hNone or very thin, edible, wrinkled
Tomino canavesano frescoItaly, Piemonte6–12 hNone
TwarógPolandcow milkfresh
Zhazhik (Armenia)Armeniacow/sheep milk

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

ByaslagMongolia

Also called бяслаг, byasulag, biaslag, Mongolian pressed curd cheese.

Byaslag is a mild, unripened Mongolian cheese. Yak or cow milk is heated over a gentle fire and curdled by stirring in whey or yoghurt (tarag), so the curd is set mainly by acid and heat; it is then wrapped in cloth and pressed between boards until the whey is out. Lactic bacteria from the sour starter are found in the finished cheese.

Milk
Yak or cow milk, raw or boiled
Ripening
Fresh, not ripened
  1. Heat the milk gently
  2. Curdle with whey or yoghurt
  3. Wrap and press between boards
CabocScotland, Highlands

A rich Highland cheese made from double cream soured by lactic cultures, with no rennet. The soured cream is salted, pressed to drive out moisture, shaped into small logs and rolled in toasted pinhead oatmeal. The maker says it can be aged for up to six months.

Milk
Double cream from local cow milk, pasteurised
Composition
58.5 g fat per 100 g; 0.5 g salt per 100 g (maker's label)
  1. Pasteurise and add cultures
  2. Sour to a firm set
  3. Salt and press out moisture
  4. Shape into logs and roll in oatmeal
  5. Age (optional)up to 6 months

Safety: Made from pasteurised milk and cream.

CașRomania

Also called caș, caş, cash, Romanian fresh sheep curd.

Caș is the fresh rennet curd made by setting sheep milk (or cow milk) with lamb or calf rennet and draining it in a cloth under a weight. It is the starting point for other Romanian cheeses; for brânză de burduf it is left unsalted in a fir tub for up to two weeks to sour before it is ground with salt.

Milk
Sheep milk, sometimes cow milk
Ripening
Fresh; soured up to two weeks when it is to become brânză de burduf
  1. Set the milk with rennet40 min
  2. Drain under a weight and break up
  3. Sour the caș (for brânză de burduf)up to 14 days
ClaquebitouFrance, Burgundy

Also called quiaque-bitou.

Burgundian herbed fresh goat curd (45 % fat), kin to Lyon's cervelle de canut. 'Clacbitou' is a separate trade mark for raw goat cheeses affined in Saône-et-Loire.

  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd
  3. Cut and drain the curd
CrowdieScotland, Highlands

Also called crowdie, gruth, Scottish crowdie, Gruth Dhu (crowdie with cream, oatmeal and pepper).

Crowdie is a soft, crumbly fresh cheese from the Scottish Highlands. Cow milk was left to sour naturally, often with a little rennet, and the warmed curd was hung in muslin to drip, then salted. Raw-milk crowdie may no longer be made in Scotland, so today it starts from pasteurised milk and cultures.

Milk
Cow milk, pasteurised today
Ripening
Fresh; shelf life about 14 days
  1. Sour the milk
  2. Warm the curd and hang it in muslin
  3. Salt, and sometimes add cream
  4. Keep cold and eat fresh14 days

Safety: Scotland no longer allows raw-milk crowdie, because the cheese is moist and keeps only a short time, which leaves it open to pathogens.

CuajadaSpain

Also called cuajada, queso cuajada, curdled milk (Spain), Colombian cuajada.

Cuajada is a boundary entry with little or no fermentation. In Spain it is curdled milk, a soft, semisolid dairy product; in Colombia it is a fresh, non-acid curd cheese. Neither is soured by bacteria, so both must be kept cold and eaten fresh.

Milk
Milk; skim UHT milk in one Spanish study
Ripening
Fresh; not ripened
  1. Set the milk with rennet
  2. Drain the curd (Latin American cheese)
  3. Keep cold and eat fresh
Demi-sel (fresh salted cheese)France

Also called Demi-sel, fromage demi-sel, demi-sel cheese.

Demi-sel is a French fresh cow cheese, an unripened curd that is lightly salted and sold in small squares of about 100 g with about 40 % fat. French law reserves the name and defines it in an annex to the 2007 cheese decree. As a fromage blanc it is soured mainly by lactic fermentation, and if sold as fresh it must still hold live bacteria when sold.

Milk
Cow milk
Legal status
Unripened fromage blanc; unlike other fresh cheeses it may not use the lower dry-matter minimum that French law allows for fromage blanc, because the annex defines it separately
Fat
About 40 % (French Wikipedia)
Size
About 100 g, square (French Wikipedia)

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Safety: No published data on its acidity or keeping were found.

Formaggio ZigherItaly, Veneto

Rare herbed, peppered acid-curd cone of Ladin Belluno valleys, akin to South Tyrol Zieger; spreadable fresh, grateable when aged; name possibly from Celtic 'tsigros'.

Rind
None; a mould bloom when mature
Size
About 150 g; small cone
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
  5. Ripen7 days
Galotyri PDOEpirus/Thessaly

spontaneously soured salted curd stored in skins/barrels

Milk
sheep/goat milk
Ripening
≥2 mo

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

JbenMorocco

lactic fresh cheese; some salted and dried

Milk
cow/goat milk
Ripening
fresh–weeks

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Karish / AreeshEgypt

from naturally soured skimmed milk in clay pots

Milk
cow/buffalo milk, skim (laban rayeb)
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Katiki Domokou PDOGreece, Domokos area of the Othrys mountains

Also called Κατίκι Δομοκού, Katiki, Katiki Domokos.

Pasteurised goat milk, or goat and sheep milk, is cooled to 27–28 °C and left at 20–22 °C to sour and curdle, with or without a little rennet. The soft curd is broken up and drained in cloth sacks until it holds 75–80% water, lightly salted and kept cold as a white, creamy spread.

Milk
Pasteurised goat milk, or goat and sheep milk
Composition
At most 75% moisture and 1% salt; at least 40% fat in dry matter
Ripening
None; eaten fresh, kept cold
  1. Pasteurise and cool the milk27–28 °C
  2. Sour and curdle20–22 °C
  3. Break up and drain in cloth sacks
  4. Salt and keep cold1 % salt

Safety: The PDO method uses pasteurised milk, and the fresh cheese is kept refrigerated until it is sold and eaten.

Labneh mkabbas / anbarisLevant

anbaris: goat yogurt fermented in clay jar, topped up

Milk
goat/cow milk
Ripening
weeks in oil or clay jar (anbaris fermented in jar)

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Lietuviškas varškės sūris / LiliputasLithuania

pressed triangular curd cheese, sometimes smoked; Liliputas PGI

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh–months

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Liptói túróHungary/Slovakia
Milk
sheep/cow milk

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Petit-suisseNormandy

enriched fresh

Milk
cow + milk, cream
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Quagliata ligure (Prescinsêua)Italy, Liguria

Also called prescinseua, quagliata.

Unsalted acid-rennet curd between yogurt and ricotta, tart and very perishable, typical of the Genoa area; name from Genoese 'presû', rennet.

Rind
None
Size
Variable; sold in glass or plastic tubs
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd2 days · 40–50 °C
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
Queso andino / quesillo andinoPeru/Bolivia
Milk
cow/sheep milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso costeñoColombian Caribbean

very salty, crumbly

Milk
cow milk

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso crema de ChiapasChiapas

acid-rennet, slightly aged

Milk
cow milk, raw
Ripening
fresh–months

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso de cabra (Chilean goat)Chile
Milk
goat milk

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso duro blandito / queso secoHonduras/El Salvador

salty pressed

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
days–weeks

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso llanero / Guayanés / de añoVenezuela

queso de año heavily salted, aged

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh–1 yr

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Queso panelaMexico

basket-moulded

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Requeijão cremosoBrazil
  1. Prepare the milk
RequeixoSpain, Galicia

Also called leite trallado, leite tomado, leite callado.

Unsalted Galician acid curd of whole milk (not whey, unlike requesón); a pilgrims' snack.

  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
Rygeost (BOUNDARY-ish)Funen

fresh lactic cheese hot-smoked over straw and nettles; caraway

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

SnøfriskNorway

Also called Snøfrisk, Snofrisk, Snow fresh.

A fresh, white, spreadable cheese made by TINE from 80% goat milk and 20% cow cream, first sold for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. It tastes fresh and tangy with a mild goat character; the sources do not say how it is set or how long it takes to make.

Milk
80% goat milk and 20% cow cream
Launched
1994, for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics
  1. Combine goat milk and cow cream
  2. Make the fresh cheese
  3. Pack

Safety: No safety source specific to Snøfrisk was found.

Squacquerone di Romagna PDORomagna

very soft rennet-acid

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Suzma / chakkaUzbekistan/Tajikistan

strained katyk

Milk
cow/sheep milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Tome fraîche (aligot curd)Aubrac

unsalted pressed fresh curd for aligot

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
1 d

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Tomino canavesano asciuttoItaly, Piemonte

Dried lactic tomino, firm enough to be preserved in oil, vinegar and herbs.

Rind
None or very thin, edible, wrinkled
Size
Classico 0.250–0.300 kg, ø 10 cm, side 3–4 cm; small forms 0.040–0.060 kg
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd6–12 h · 25–30 °C
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
  5. Ripen
Tomino canavesano frescoItaly, Piemonte

Spreadable lactic tomino, often sold as a paper-wrapped roll of six; not to be confused with rennet-set tomini.

Rind
None
Size
Single 40–70 g, ø 6–8 cm, side 3–4 cm; 'a rotolo' of 6 tomini about 300–400 g
  1. Prepare the milk
  2. Set the curd6–12 h · 25–30 °C
  3. Cut and drain the curd
  4. Mould and salt
  5. Ripen
TwarógPoland

pressed in triangular bags

Milk
cow milk
Ripening
fresh

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Zhazhik (Armenia)Armenia

Curd mixed with herbs

Milk
cow/sheep milk

Made like Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family.

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made