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Cheese from Italy, Veneto

Formaggio pecorino dei BericiPecorino dei Berici

Whole ewe milk is warmed to 30–35 °C in a calièra and set with calf rennet in about 12 minutes. The curd is broken to rice size, warmed to 33 °C for 5–6 minutes and left to knit into one spongy block, then moulded and dry-salted for about 12 hours. It is ready as a fresh cheese at 60 days; once past 3 months it counts as aged, and the Veneto atlas says it can keep up to a year.

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

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. A cheese weighs 250 g to 2 kg.
Whole ewe milkRaw, per ONAF[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet, liquid or powderLady's bedstraw (Galium verum) was used in the past[onaf-sheet][pat-sheet]
SaltDry salt spread on both faces[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]

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

Start
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30–35 °C

What changes: Calf rennet goes into ewe milk at 30–35 °C and it sets in about 12 minutes

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
12 min
Reported
Temperature
30–35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: curd.

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

Whole ewe milk is warmed to 30–35 °C in a calièra and set with calf rennet in about 12 minutes. The curd is broken to rice size, warmed to 33 °C for 5–6 minutes and left to knit into one spongy block, then moulded and dry-salted for about 12 hours. It is ready as a fresh cheese at 60 days; once past 3 months it counts as aged, and the Veneto atlas says it can keep up to a year. Made in 5 steps over 2 months – 3 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 2–3 months (Regione Veneto).

Key numbers
Main step2–3 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature30–35 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk and add rennet

What makes this one different

The curd is cooked only to 33 °C, and it sets fast, in about 12 minutes. Sheep in the lower Vicentino are fed hay and feed, so ONAF says the cheese stays sweeter than mountain pecorino.

Rind
Fairly thin, slightly hard, straw yellow
Size
0.250–2.0 kg; Ø 14–18 cm, height 6–7 cm
Season
Made February to October

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoReady at about 60 days.
  • StagionatoOver 3 months; the Veneto atlas says it can keep up to 12 months.

Safety

ONAF lists the milk as raw. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days, so the 60-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

The regional atlas quotes a 1999 study of Veneto sheep farming. Until the early 1800s Veneto kept native triple-purpose sheep (wool, meat and milk), milked for about four months after lambing, and the cheese was sold to local traders. ONAF adds that the milk sheep of the area was once native and roamed the hills for pasture, and is now kept only in resident flocks.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Veneto, Atlante dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto, 'Formaggio pecorino dei Berici', p. 161 (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Formaggio pecorino dei Berici'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