Giuncata

The name of this product comes from “giunco” which means reed; in fact, when preparing this cheese, the reeds are woven together to create a container into which the squeeze drained curd is placed, giving it a particular spindle-like shape which characterizes this cheese.
The freshly milked cow milk is delivered to the cheese factory where it is analysed and pasteurised (the milk is heated at 71.3°C for 15 sec. and then quickly cooled down).
It is then poured in cauldrons where the temperature reaches 32-38 °C, the liquid calf rennet is then added to it and the coagulation takes place in about 25-30 min.

The cheese maker decides when to cut the curds, which are delicately cut into hazel nut-walnut sized bits, with a tool called a “spino”. The curd is manually placed in the draining mould to determine the weight and finally wrapped in reeds and squeezed on the sides to eliminate the excess whey.
The next step is placing the pieces in brine (a water and salt solution) to confer the perfect delicate and savoury flavour.