History and composition
The Caprino is a fresh dairy product and is one of the dairy products made from goat milk more widespread. For Caprino, in Italy, is intended a particular goat cheese, made soft, in small wheel, and not any goat cheese.
The goat milk, is not suitable for the production of semi-hard or hard cheese, of medium or mature, while for fresh cheeses or those in short curing is particularly suitable. To produce this cheese, you do coagulate the protein and fat of milk, that is, these pass from a liquid colloidal suspension, and a semi-solid gel said curd.
There is talk of rennet based curdling (coagulation), when this process occurs thanks to the enzymes of rennet, if instead takes place by means of the increase of acidity of milk, up to cause precipitation of the casein and the formation of the curd, we talk instead of acid coagulation. In the first case, you get a curd rather tough and very elastic, which lends itself very well to be purged through the serum, and then produce cheese and semi-hard cheese, which may also be aged for long periods. In the second case, the curd is not very compact and impalpable, with a consistency rather liquid almost similar to yogurt.
Production of Caprino
The rennet coagulation process takes place very quickly, within 40 minutes, while the lactic coagulation takes much longer, 24 to 36 hours. To limit the time and cost, today the master cheese makers, employ a small part of rennet so as to begin the acid coagulation process, which occurs due to the microorganisms present in milk. With this method, many hours are saved, because the process takes place in 12, maximum 18 hours.
After completing these steps, the curds are placed in special perforated cylindrical containers for 24 hours, which takes place inside the draining of the whey. The Caprino so produced can already be placed on the market, or it can undergo a brief period of a few weeks of aging, so as to acquire a very strong goat milk perfumes and aromas, especially in the under rind where with the ripening, the paste becomes creamier.
Organoleptic characteristics and uses in the kitchen
The fresh Caprino, does not have odors or aromas particularly evident. Its typical taste, has a sour note and its smell, reminiscent of sour milk or yogurt. Some Caprino can have a pleasant sweet aftertaste. A good Caprino, should be well balanced and must not have unpleasant odors, such as milk gone bad. It can often happen that there is a slight smell of goat animal, and this indicates that the cheese is undergoing processes of lipolysis.
A Caprino subject to aging, it becomes more creamy under the rind, gaining in this way the typical very strong flavor of goat, which not everyone likes. This odor can often remember the over ripe fruit, but you can recognize it by smelling. The fresh Caprino that you find on the market, in supermarkets, may be added with preservatives and in this case it is best to avoid them and not make it a consumer. Only products with PDO, offer more guarantees not only on the freshness of the cheese, but also on quality. This cheese can be eaten alone or seasoned with aromatic herbs and spices, extra virgin olive oil and salt. You can also create a salad with cherry tomatoes, or consume it with dried tomatoes or organic honey.
Caprino, is also used as a sauce for pasta, or as a filling and topping of vegetables. If heated at a low temperature, the Caprino melts quickly, so as to become an excellent cream for the topping of croutons. We can say that this product is a very versatile cheese.
Nutritional values
The fresh Caprino, is one of the very few low-fat dairy. This cheese in fact, contains a high amount of water and its calories, are about 250 in 100 grams of product. The Caprino is indicated in people with special diets for the control of body weight or during a low-calorie diet, to be consumed in place of fat cheeses.
Its neutral taste so, it also makes a satiating food, unlike the mozzarella or soft cheese, the most dangerous for the figure, because more satisfying that you feel the need to consume them in higher doses. Thanks to the satisfactory yield of the Caprino, where from a liter of milk are obtained 200 g of cheese, we can define the Caprino a dietary product, precisely because it is full of liquids.
Like all milk, this one contains a lot of cholesterol, in fact we do not recommend excessive consumption especially in people with problems of this type. The Caprino, as many other important foods, is rich proteins beneficial to the organism and a considerable supply of vitamins. It contains, in addition, minerals such as phosphorus and potassium, which are also nutritional values indispensable for man.
