Stracchino Crescenza
Joel Olson
Crescenza, also known as Carsenza, Stracchino Crescenza, and Crescenza
Lombardi, is an uncooked, soft, creamy, mildly sweet, fast-ripening,
yellowish
cheese of the Bel-Paese type. It is made from September to April in Lom-
bardy, in northern Italy, from cow's whole milk. A similar cheese called
Raviggiolo is made in Tuscany, Italy, from ewe's milk.
The milk is coagulated with rennet extract at 87 F. The curd is cut
and dipped into rectangular wooden forms which are laid on straw mats to
drain for a day. The cheese is held at 68 F. for another day; then it is
salted with dry salt and ripened in a cold, moist room for 10 to 15 days.
The cheeses weigh from 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds.
Anaylsis: Fat in the solids, exceeds 50 percent.
USDA Agr. Handbook No. 54, Cheese Varieties and Descriptions,
Geo. P. Sanders, 1953