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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino a crosta fioritaPecorino buccia di rospo

Ewe milk is warmed to 30 °C, given lactic cultures and Penicillium candidum spores, and set with calf rennet. The curd drains in plastic moulds, is brined and ripens 2–3 months at 12 °C, when a wrinkled white-to-grey mould felt covers the rind. It is also called 'toad skin' pecorino.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 3 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Toscana)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. It is made in small quantities by one farm; a cheese weighs about 1.2 kg.
Whole ewe milkONAF lists it as raw; the regional sheet lists a pasteuriser among the equipment[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Lactic cultures[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Penicillium candidum sporesAdded to the milk in the vat[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Liquid calf rennet[onaf-sheet]
Salt (brine)[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Starterlactic cultures plus Penicillium candidum spores added to the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 3 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countPenicillium candidumMoulds30 °C

What changes: Lactic cultures and white-mould spores go into ewe milk warmed to 30 °C

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add cultures and mould spores
Time
Not documented
Temperature
30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium candidum
Moulds
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

Ewe milk is warmed to 30 °C, given lactic cultures and Penicillium candidum spores, and set with calf rennet. The curd drains in plastic moulds, is brined and ripens 2–3 months at 12 °C, when a wrinkled white-to-grey mould felt covers the rind. It is also called 'toad skin' pecorino. Made in 5 steps over 2 months – 3 months. The longest step, ripen as the mould felt grows, takes 2–3 months (Regione Toscana / ARSIA) and runs at 12 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Penicillium candidum, the white mould that forms the bloomy rind does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen as the mould felt grows
Temperature12 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen as the mould felt grows

What makes this one different

It is a Tuscan pecorino with a bloomy white-mould rind, from Penicillium candidum spores added to the milk. It arose by chance.

Rind
Bloomy, wrinkled 'felt' of white or grey mould
Size
About 1.2 kg; Ø 15–20 cm, side 6 cm
Season
Made February to October

Related ferments

Safety

ONAF lists the milk as raw. The regional sheet lists a pasteuriser among the equipment but does not say the milk is pasteurised. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening, so ripening alone is no guarantee. ANSES, the French food safety agency, says Listeria and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli in raw-milk cheeses can kill. It advises pregnant women, people with weak immunity, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses, except cooked pressed kinds such as Gruyère or Comté, which this cheese is not. It adds that raw-milk cheese that is well cooked, as in an oven recipe, no longer poses a risk.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157, added to raw ewe milk in a challenge study of Italian pecorino made by several methods, not this cheese; still countable at 60 days and detectable after 90 days of ripening.

History and sources

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

The Regione Toscana sheet says the cheese came about "by chance" several years ago, thanks to particular moulds on the surface. ONAF adds that the moulds came from the ripening environment, and that today the spores are inoculated into the milk in the vat to be sure of the result. The farm Corzano e Paterno sells a cheese of the same name and says it was born, like many good things, from a mistake. Its own data differ from the regional sheet (milk at 29 °C, about 40 days at 12 °C, wheels of about 750 g), and no source says it is the dairy of the regional sheet.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana / ARSIA, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino a crosta fiorita' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino a crosta fiorita'web
  3. [corzano] Fattoria Corzano e Paterno, product page 'Buccia di Rospo' (producer's own page, Italian)web
  4. [centorotola2021] Centorotola G., Sperandii A.F., Tucci P. et al. 2021, Survival rate of Escherichia coli O157 in artificially contaminated raw and thermized ewe milk in different Pecorino cheese production processes, International Journal of Food Microbiology 347:109175, doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2021.109175 (abstract)paper
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov