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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino a latte crudo abbucciato

Raw ewe milk is warmed to about 35 °C and set with rennet in about 40 minutes. The curd is broken with a wooden spino, pressed by hand into moulds, salted the same day and ripened at 12 °C, turned twice a day. It is sold fresh after 20 days or 'abbucciato', with a formed rind, after 60.

Fully documentedCheese22 days – 2 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. A cheese weighs 0.8–1.5 kg.
Raw whole ewe milk from the farm's own flockMay be chilled but must be worked within 24 hours[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Whey starter (siero-innesto)optional[onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet or farm-made rennet[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
SaltDry salt, sometimes brine[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
Starteroptional whey starter (siero-innesto)

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 days – 2 months

Start
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35–36 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw ewe milk, filtered and warmed to 35–36 °C

Step 1 of 6
Warm the raw milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
35–36 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

A whey starter may be added before the rennet.

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 ewe milk is warmed to about 35 °C and set with rennet in about 40 minutes. The curd is broken with a wooden spino, pressed by hand into moulds, salted the same day and ripened at 12 °C, turned twice a day. It is sold fresh after 20 days or 'abbucciato', with a formed rind, after 60. Made in 6 steps over 22 days – 2 months. The longest step, ripen and form the rind, takes 20 days – 2 months (Regione Toscana / ARSIA) and runs at 12 °C (Regione Toscana / ARSIA).

Key numbers
Main step20 days – 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet]Ripen and form the rind
Temperature12 °CReported[pat-sheet]Ripen and form the rind

What makes this one different

It is a farm pecorino from raw milk of the farm's own flock, named for the rind ('buccia') that forms after about 20 days. The flavour varies with the farm and season.

Rind
Clean, edible; becomes slightly thick and elastic with a marked rim
Size
0.8–1.5 kg; Ø 10–15 cm, side 5–15 cm
Season
Made February to November

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoSold after 20 days (ONAF at least 30 days); soft, pale rind.
  • AbbucciatoAt least 60 days; thicker straw-yellow rind.

Safety

Made from raw milk, worked within 24 hours. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening, so the 20-day fresh cheese relies on clean milk. 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

ONAF's sheet says the cheese is attested from the 11th century in writings kept by the Camaldolese monks of the Hermitage of Camaldoli in the Casentino, and that the make has been handed down through several generations. A 'Consorzio Abbucciato Aretino' was formed in 2006 and set a strict disciplinare for use of its collective mark. The regional PAT sheet says it is sold wholly in the area, mostly to local shops, and ONAF calls it at risk of survival because few farms make it.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana / ARSIA, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino a latte crudo abbucciato' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino a latte crudo abbucciato'web
  3. [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
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov