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Cheese from Italy, Abruzzo

Pecorino d'Abruzzo

Raw ewe milk is warmed to 36–38 °C, sometimes with a whey or milk starter, and set with lamb or kid rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is packed into rush baskets, scalded in boiling whey, drained two days and salted in brine or dry. It ripens at 10–14 °C for 3 months to a year, its rind oiled with olive oil.

Fully documentedCheese3.7 months – 13 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Abruzzo)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives no batch amounts; rennet is dosed by its strength and the milk's acidity. A cheese weighs 1–3 kg.
Raw whole ewe milkFiltered into the vat[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey or milk starteroptionalBrings thermophilic lactic flora to help souring[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lamb or kid rennetDosed by its strength and the milk's acidity[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltBrine, or dry salt on each face[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Extra-virgin olive oilRubbed on the rind after a month[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starteroptional whey or milk starter with thermophilic lactic flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.7 months – 13 months

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Raw ewe milk is filtered into the kettle and warmed to 36–38 °C

Step 1 of 7
Filter and warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

A whey or milk starter may be added to help souring.

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 36–38 °C, sometimes with a whey or milk starter, and set with lamb or kid rennet in 20–30 minutes. The curd is packed into rush baskets, scalded in boiling whey, drained two days and salted in brine or dry. It ripens at 10–14 °C for 3 months to a year, its rind oiled with olive oil. Made in 7 steps over 3.7 months – 13 months. The longest step, oil and ripen, takes 3–12 months (Regione Abruzzo) and runs at 10–14 °C (Regione Abruzzo). Salt is 18 % (Regione Abruzzo).

Key numbers
Main step3–12 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Oil and ripen
Temperature10–14 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Oil and ripen
Salt18 %Reported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Salt

What makes this one different

The basketed cheese is scalded in boiling whey before draining, and it is oiled with olive oil after a month. The technique varies a little from place to place across the transhumance areas.

Rind
Hard, straw-yellow, marked by the rush baskets; softer when young
Size
1–3 kg; Ø 14–22 cm, height 7–10 cm
Season
Made April to September

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk. The regional sheet says the health authority may relax room rules for traditional premises, including walls and floors that are hard to wash, so the native microflora is kept. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days, so clean milk matters and ripening alone is no guarantee. The sheet says it may also be eaten fresh or once the waxy rind forms. 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, and does not say whether a cheese scalded in hot whey like this one counts. 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

With fresh giuncata, ricotta and dried salted mutton, it was the staple food of shepherds who moved flocks between Puglia and Abruzzo until about 50 years before the sheet was written.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Abruzzo, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino d'Abruzzo' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino d'Abruzzo'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