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Cheese from Italy, Sicilia

Ericino

Raw milk from Valle del Belice ewes (80%) and Cinisara cows (20%) is set in a wooden vat at about 36 °C with lamb paste rennet, with no starter added. The curd is broken to lentil size while hot water at about 50 °C is poured in, then packed into baskets and held about 4 hours in hot whey. Next day it is brined 12 hours per kg and ripened from 20 days to 4 months or more.

Fully documentedCheese21 days – 4 monthsTraditional food product (PAT, Sicilia)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe sheet gives the rennet dose per 100 litres of milk but no batch size. A cheese weighs 2–7 kg (ONAF gives 1–7 kg).
Raw whole Valle del Belice ewe milk80%From one or more milkings; free-range flocks[pat-sheet]
Raw whole Cinisara cow milk20%[pat-sheet]
Lamb paste rennet80 g per 100 L of milk[pat-sheet]
Hot water and hot whey (scotta)[pat-sheet]
Salt (saturated brine)[pat-sheet]
Olive oil and ground chilliRubbed on the rind of longer-aged cheeses[onaf-sheet]
Starternone added; the milk's natural microflora

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days – 4 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: raw ewe and cow milk, poured into a wooden vat

Step 1 of 6
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: raw ewe and cow milk, about four parts ewe to one part cow.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Raw milk from Valle del Belice ewes (80%) and Cinisara cows (20%) is set in a wooden vat at about 36 °C with lamb paste rennet, with no starter added. The curd is broken to lentil size while hot water at about 50 °C is poured in, then packed into baskets and held about 4 hours in hot whey. Next day it is brined 12 hours per kg and ripened from 20 days to 4 months or more. Made in 6 steps over 21 days – 4 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 20 days – 4 months (Regione Siciliana 2018).

Key numbers
Main step20 days – 4 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature36 °CReported[pat-sheet]Set with lamb rennet

What makes this one different

A mixed ewe and cow cheese found only around Erice, where medieval herds were sheep with a few cattle. Unlike Pecorino siciliano, it carries a fifth of cow milk, and the curd is warmed with hot water while it is broken.

Rind
Smooth, fairly thin, straw to light brown; oily from the olive-oil and chilli rub
Size
Cylinder 15–30 cm across with a 10–18 cm side; 2–7 kg
Season
Made February to October

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk with no added starter. The fresh type is ripened for at least 20 days. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria can grow in some cheeses during ageing. ANSES advises pregnant women, people with weak immune systems, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheese, except pressed cooked cheeses such as gruyère and comté.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The sheet dates it to the Middle Ages, when the herds of Erice were mostly sheep with a few cattle. That is why a mixed-milk cheese grew up in these towns and not elsewhere in Trapani.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Siciliana, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali della Regione Siciliana (2018), D.M. 16 February 2018, sheet 'Ericino'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Ericino'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Ericino' (id 1228)web
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov