Canestrato Italian Basket Cheese Recipe
A thick outer rind leads to the superficial striations left from the traditional wicker basket where the curd is set. The flavor is sweet and delicate and tends toward slight tanginess when fresh, its customary form when consumed as a table cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 Gallons of Milk (Not UltraPasteurized)
- 1/2 Packet C101 Mesophilic Culture or 1/8 tsp MA011 Culture
- 2.5 oz of Prepared Y1 Bulgarian Yogurt
- 1 ml Single Strength Liquid Rennet
- Cheese Salt
- Calcium Chloride (for pasteurized milk)
Equipment
- Good Thermometer
- Knife to Cut Curds
- Spoon or ladle to Stir Curds
- 2 lb Canestrato Cheese Mold
- Large Pan (for heating forms in whey)
- Instructions
- Canestrato Italian Basket Info
- Reviews
- Q & A
A Recipe for Making Canestrato
I have chosen to make this cheese with cows milk since ewes milk is so hard to come by in our area but the following recipe can easily be applied to ewe or goats milk. Even a blend would be great.
If using ewes milk, you may need to decrease the culture/rennet for the higher proteins, some trials may be needed.
The recipe for this cheese will make two 1-1.5 lb cheeses and will also produce about .5 lb of the best Ricotta ever.
We do not advise less than 2 gallons of milk when makig this cheese, because aging will not be as consistant if surface to mass ratio becomes too high.
For a larger 6 gallon batch use the following amounts of culture and rennet:
- 1 Packet of C101 Mesophilic Culture or 1/4 tsp MA011 Culture
- 1/16 tsp TA61 Culture
- 7.5-8 oz prepared Y1 Bulgarian Culture
- 3 ml Single Strength Liquid Rennet
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Acidify & Heat Milk
Begin by heating the milk to 90F (32-33C). You do this by placing the milk in a pot or sink of very warm water. If you do this in a pot on the stove make sure you heat the milk slowly and stir it well as it heats
Once the milk is at 90F the culture can be added. To prevent the powder from caking and sinking in clumps sprinkle the powder over the surface of the milk and then allow about 2 minutes for the powder to re-hydrate before stirring it in.
Let the milk sit quietly for 60 minutes to allow the culture to begin working.
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Coagulate with Rennet
Now add the single strength liquid rennet.
The milk now needs to sit quiet for 35-40 minutes while the culture works and the rennet coagulates the curd. The thermal mass of this milk should keep it warm during this period.
The first signs of a coagulating gel is apparent at 15 min. but wait for the final firm curd at 35-40 min.
When the rennet has formed a good curd, you will see that by lifting the curd with the flat blade of the knife, a very smooth clean break occurs. The whey that fills this cut should neither be too clear (late on the cut) nor too milky (cut too early).
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Cut the Curd
Here we can decide whether we want a young table cheese or a late ripening cheese with more character. Rice to wheat size grains for long aging and 3/8 inch for young cheese.
I begin breaking the curd up with a pre-cut of about 1-1.5" horizontal cuts at right angles. I then allow this to rest for 3-5 minutes, just long enough for a bit of whey to rise and the cut surfaces to heal slightly.
I then continue the cut with a large whisk, cutting slowly at first and then more quickly until the entire mass of curds is somewhere between a corn and barley size.
Once the curd has been evenly cut, rest 10 min. for whey to rise. Stir just enough to keep the curds from consolidating.
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Cook Curd & Remove Whey
Now it is time to begin drying out the curds. This will be done by increasing the heat slowly Begin the Scald. For a young cheese 114-116F (45-47C) is good but for longer aged (drier cheese) raise the temperature to 120-122F (49-50C). This should be done slowly over 30 minutes to reach the target temperature and may be extended to 45-50 min. if the curds are still soft.
The curds will firm up from the heat and stirring over 30 minutes. Developing from what you see in the left photo to the appearance of what you see in the right photo.
The final curds should be cooked well through and should be examined to make sure that enough moisture has been removed. A broken curd should be firm throughout and the curds should have a moderate resistance when pressed between the fingers.
When this point is reached the curds can be allowed to settle under the whey.
You can now remove 1/3 of the whey and begin heating that whey to make Ricotta.Once the whey is removed, hold the final temperature and continue stirring for another 30 minutes. Then allow the curds to settle and hold the curds for another 20-30 minutes for the final acid to develop.
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Form the Cheese
The curd is now ready to transfer to the molds which should have been sanitized and ready. I usually heat the molds with hot water or whey just before transferring curds. The forming can be don simply by transferring hand fulls of the partially drained curds into the forms.
Note that I have not used any cheesecloth in these forms because the weave is fine enough to wick the whey away (pun intended).
A firm hand pressure can be used to consolidate the curds. Once in the forms, a 3-6 lb. weight placed ontop will help consolidate the curds. The residual heat from the curd should keep the consolidating curds warm while you now focus on the ricotta production. After about 10-15 minutes the curd should be consolidated enough to flip in the forms. They should already be well on their way to forming a cheese of character.
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Ricotta (optional)
By now your initial whey has been heating. Add the remaining whey left behind from the curd transfer to the already warm whey and quickly heat to 185 while stirring (At about 170-175 you should note tiny flecks beginning to form in the whey). Once it reaches 185, then allow the hot whey to sit for 15-20 minutes while the ricotta begins to form and float to the surface.
Note: Because of the sweet character of the whey and the amount of butterfat that goes with it , I find that this is some of the best Ricotta my friends have ever tasted and I now find that it is almost too good for traditional Ricotta recipes such as lasagna and pies. I normally serve this by itself for dessert or with honey drizzled over it and darkly toasted pine nuts on top.
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Re-Heat Formed Cheese
One of the unique aspects of the making of this cheese is the final re-cooking while in the forms. In several visits I have seen the cheese makers place the new formed cheeses back into the vats of hot whey where the ricotta had been made. I find that this tends to heat the curds and cause the cheese to consolidate very well forming a tight paste and eliminating any small, internal mechanical openings. I find that when doing this the hot whey begins at 150-160F and then cools down over the 60-90 minute period of heating the cheeses in their forms before removing them.
If you do not make the Ricotta from this whey, you can simply use hot water at 150F to reheat the forms in their baskets.
Once the cheeses have been re-cooked, they are ready to continue their acidification process as they cool down over the next 24-48 hours. It should be noted that the Thermophilic bacteria has been working very slowly if at all while the temperatures of scalding are over 115F. As the cheese cools down slowly into the ideal temperature range for Thermophilic bacteria (98-115F) the primary acid development occurs. Keeping the cheese at a moderate to warm room temp over the next 24-48 hours will help this along. No salting wild take place during this period.
At this point you can see that the cheese has formed quite well and displays the character of these traditional basket molds.
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Salting & Aging
You will need a saturated brine prepared for salting this cheese, find all of the details you need on brining here.
A simple brine formula is:
- 1 gallon of water
- 2.25 lbs of salt
- 1 Tbs calcium chloride
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- Bring the brine and cheese to 50-55¡F before using
The final cheese is ready to be brined and aged. 2 nice wheels of Canestrato and a fine batch of ricotta to show for the days work.
At the end of the resting phase the cheese is ready for a 24 hour brine bath. If making one large cheese this can be extended to 48 hours.
This cheese is quite dense and needs the extended time to acquire its final salt level.
Once the cheese has been salted it can then be moved to the aging space. Holding the temperature at 54-58F and moisture at 80% will produce the final cheese in 4-12 months depending on final moisture and the complexity of flavor desired.
Canestrato, the Original Italian Basket Cheese
This is a cheese I have been thinking about doing some research on for quite some time now. It is called Canestrato in Italy because of the beautiful reed baskets it was traditionally formed in.
I find variations made from ewes milk, goat, cow, as well as a mix of these milks.
Sicilian Canestrato is a True Delicacy
On a recent trip to visit cheese makers in Sicily I realized quite soon that what I found in the local markets was not the international array of cheeses but primarily cheese being made in the mountains and valleys surrounding these markets. A perfect example of what many "Locavores" aspire to achieve but in Sicily has been the way of life for centuries now. The dominant cheese was the "Basket Cheese" made in the countryside from ewes milk but also from goat and cows milk in some areas. The farm I visited in the mountains east of Palermo had 600 ewes milked twice a day by the cheese maker and his 3 helpers. Believe me this is no small undertaking with 7 days a week, 365 days, year after year.
The name for these wonderful looking 'Canestrati' derives from the fact that they are made by being pressed into a 'Canestri' (Italian word for wicker basket) and the pattern, will show on the cheese itself.
The Sicilian Canestrato is a true delicacy, it is considered among the most valuable cheeses in the Italian casearia, or dairy, tradition. Canestrato cheese is traditionally produced by small farms that breed specific types of sheep and cows in order to confer to the cheese a particular and refined flavor.
A thick outer rind leads to the superficial striations left from the traditional wicker basket where the curd is set. The flavor is sweet and delicate and tends toward slight tanginess when fresh, its customary form when consumed as a table cheese.
The 'Pepato' variation with added peppers is quite spicy.
The History of Canestrato
From ancient writings, there is evidence that this cheese goes back to the 10th century and perhaps further.
Historical documents bear witness to the fact that Sicilian Canestrato was also used as a precious form of payment for tenancy contracts.
Initially, it was made from the milk of goats and sheep, left in baskets, coagulated spontaneously, or the coagulation was induced by adding the sap from figs. They separated the denser parts that coagulated and acquired a certain consistency, from the whey. These remaining curds were the origins of the first cheese, also called giuncate (because the cheese was placed in a basket made of giunco or reeds).
Different Styles of Canestrato
This cheese is not to be confused with the American-Italian version for making the Easter Pie. That is really a fresh cheese with little to no aging and a very mild flavor.
The Italian cheese is the basis for many other similar cheeses throughout Italy such as Pecorino Romano and Ragusano as well as many local variations throughout southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia.
Canestrato can be made from whole cow's milk, sometimes diluted with that of goats or sheep. It is quite similar to Pecorino, made with the same process, and there is a theory that Canestrato was developed to obtain a similar product while using cow's milk. Today there are similar versions made with cows milk as in the Ragusa area of southern Sicily. The term Canestrato seems to be used more with the cheese made from cows milk (Mucha) and the ewes milk cheese is Pecorino Siciliano (Pecora for sheep) but I have seen the ewes milk offered as simply Canestrato in Sicilian markets.
This cheese can be found or made as a young table cheese or a late ripening cheese with more character.
Different Styles of Canestrato
For years I have been in search of these beautiful baskets. I have pleaded with everyone having "La Nonna" connections for help but to no avail. During this visit to Sicily we traveled to visit a cheese maker in a small mountain village and after the mid morning cafe, I decided to visit the heart of the village, "the hardware store" which was really nothing but a small room jumbled with everything to "fix-it" plus everything to make the essential Italian food groups: wine, cheese, sausage, etc. There I found what I was looking for, two beautiful baskets made from local material by an elder in the village. Right besides them was the modern version made of plastic.
In the past an important trade was that practiced by the fiscellari, the craftsmen who wove reed baskets.
Notice the beautiful patterns of the basket and how there has been an effort to replicate this in the modern version. These baskets are sized to make a very convenient 3 gallon batch of milk into cheese. I really must say that I love the history and beauty of the craft as much as the cheese making.
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First time cheese making
Could you please revise the instructions on the website to include adding the yogurt culture? It isn't in step one the instructions state to add the culture, and it might be more helpful for beginners, like me, for it to read "add the culture and yogurt." I am still going to continue on with the recipe and hopefully enjoy the results.

Love it
I am making this cheese regularly since 2016. Estimate every 2.5 months i make wheel from 4 gallons and by the time one is 60 days old, the previous one is gone. Initially i had issues when using store bought milk, but since i switched to raw milk i had none. The last one i made on Monday is already turning yellow on Thursday - this milk was amazing - 1/3 was cream. Kept it in the oven at 95-105 deg F for 2 days. The picture is during second day in saturated brine. I attached also an old picture - during the initial flip was not very careful and you can see my finger marks :) Try making this cheese - it's worthy!

Canestrato - A Double Win
Thus far this has been an interseting cheese. It was interesting to make, cooking the cheese in its own whey to eliminate air holes and utilizing the whey to make ricotta. As others have commented, the ricotta is delicious - very sweet so make sure to give it a try. My cheese is still aging so I have not sampled it yet but it seems to be aging nicely. I am keeping the surface rind moist but not wet and as shown in the picture and it has deloped a rather rustic look after about 3 and 1/2 months of aging in my cave due in part to the basket old and the cave aging. Looking forward to sampling this one at a later date.

Cheese is very tasty
This cheese tastes exactly as expected. Despite the fact that I used cow’s milk to make mine, my grandmother, who made this cheese with ewes’ milk when she grew up in Italy, says it tastes very similar to what they used to make. She also noticed the basket pattern, from the mold that is sold here, instantly. Overall a big success.
Make the ricotta
This is not difficult to make and is also a a very fun cheese to make. It presents very well and I look forward to trying it after it has aged. Only difficulty was keeping the weight even when pressing the cheese. Also it says making the ricotta is optional, but it is so good that it would be wrong not to make it.