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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino a latte crudo della Provincia di Siena

Raw ewe milk, worked within 36 hours, is set at 30–37 °C with lamb, calf or thistle rennet and, if the maker wishes, a starter made from the same milk. The curd is broken to rice size, drained warm in moulds, dry-salted within 48 hours and ripened at least 60 days on wooden boards, its rind rubbed with olive oil.

Fully documentedCheese2 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 about 1.5 kg; the province makes about 3,650 quintals a year.
Raw whole ewe milkWorked as soon as possible, within 36 hours[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Farm milk starter (latto-innesto) from the same milk, or selected lactic culturesoptional[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lamb or calf rennet, or a coagulant from wild thistle flowers[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
SaltDry salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Olive oilRubbed on the rind during ripening[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterfarm latto-innesto from the same milk; selected cultures allowed

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw ewe milk, filtered into the kettle within 36 hours

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

The milk is worked as soon as possible and never later than 36 hours after milking.

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, worked within 36 hours, is set at 30–37 °C with lamb, calf or thistle rennet and, if the maker wishes, a starter made from the same milk. The curd is broken to rice size, drained warm in moulds, dry-salted within 48 hours and ripened at least 60 days on wooden boards, its rind rubbed with olive oil. Made in 6 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen and oil the rind, takes at least 2 months (Regione Toscana / ARSIA).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen and oil the rind
Temperature30–37 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Add rennet, and starter if used

What makes this one different

The milk is always used raw; a starter made from the same milk, or selected lactic cultures, may be added, and the rind is treated with olive oil during ripening.

Rind
Treated with olive oil, smooth, straw-yellow, moderately thin
Size
About 1.5 kg; Ø 16–18 cm, side 8–10 cm
Composition
Fat at least 26 %
Season
Made February to October

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk, worked within 36 hours and ripened at least 60 days. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days. 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

In past centuries it was the staple food of sharecropping and farming families of the province of Siena, who made it on their own farms. ONAF's sheet adds that after the depopulation of the countryside in the 1960s, Sardinian shepherds settled in the area and brought new quality and output to the existing sheep-farming tradition.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana / ARSIA, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino a latte crudo della Provincia di Siena' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino a latte crudo della Provincia di Siena'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