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Cheese from Italy

Pecorino del Monte Poro DOPPecorino del Monte Poro

Raw whole ewe milk from two milkings, never heat-treated, is set at 32–38 °C with lamb or kid rennet paste. The curd is broken to rice size, pressed by hand into small baskets, drained on wooden boards and salted dry or in brine. It is sold fresh from 20 days, half-aged up to 6 months or aged up to 24 months, sometimes with an olive-oil and chilli rind.

Fully documentedCheese23 days – 2 yearsPDO (EU, Reg. (EU) 2020/974)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives no batch amounts. Cheeses weigh 0.6–2.5 kg (fresco and semistagionato) and up to 10 kg (stagionato).
Raw whole ewe milkFrom semi-wild flocks fed mainly on Monte Poro pasture[eu-application][onaf-sheet]
Lamb and/or kid rennet pasteFrom the fourth stomach of milk-fed lambs or kids[eu-application][onaf-sheet]
SaltDry or as brine[onaf-sheet]
Olive oil, or olive oil with crushed chilli, for the rindoptional[eu-application][onaf-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 23 days – 2 years

Start
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32–38 °C

What changes: Lamb or kid rennet paste goes into raw ewe milk at 32–38 °C and it sets

Step 1 of 5
Coagulate raw milk with lamb or kid rennet paste
Time
30 min – 1.5 h
Reported
Temperature
32–38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: coagulum.

Flavour
milky
Texture
gel
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 whole ewe milk from two milkings, never heat-treated, is set at 32–38 °C with lamb or kid rennet paste. The curd is broken to rice size, pressed by hand into small baskets, drained on wooden boards and salted dry or in brine. It is sold fresh from 20 days, half-aged up to 6 months or aged up to 24 months, sometimes with an olive-oil and chilli rind. Made in 5 steps over 23 days – 2 years. The longest step, ripen in cool, well-aired, dim rooms, takes 20 days – 2 years (European Commission 2019).

Key numbers
Main step20 days – 2 yearsSet[eu-application][onaf-sheet]Ripen in cool, well-aired, dim rooms
Temperature32–38 °CSet[eu-application][onaf-sheet]Coagulate raw milk with lamb or kid rennet paste

What makes this one different

The milk is always raw and is worked at only 32–38 °C, which the specification credits for the scent of the Poro's herbs and scrub. The aged cheese may get a red olive-oil and chilli rind.

Size
Diameter 6–40 cm, side 6–20 cm; 0.6–2.5 kg (fresco, semistagionato), up to 10 kg (stagionato)
Composition
Fat at least 45 % of dry matter; protein at least 20 %
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fresco / Semistagionato / Stagionatoripening time and size (see stages)
  • Chilli-oiled rindrind rubbed with olive oil and crushed chilli after 6 months

Safety

Raw-milk cheese; the fresco is eaten after only 20 days. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days, so clean milk matters. 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 cheeses such as gruyère or comté, which this cheese is not. It adds that raw-milk cheese well cooked, as in an oven dish, 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

PDO registered by Reg. (EU) 2020/974 after the application published in OJ C 333 of 4 October 2019. The application cites Gabriele Barrio's De antiquitate et situ Calabriae (1571) among the early mentions.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [eu-application] European Commission, Single document 'Pecorino del Monte Poro', PDO-IT-02420, Official Journal C 333, 4.10.2019, p. 19 (CELEX 52019XC1004(03); copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  2. [eu-reg] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/974 of 6 July 2020 registering 'Pecorino del Monte Poro' (PDO), Official Journal L 215, 7.7.2020 (copy hosted by ONAF)spec
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino del Monte Poro'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