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Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino della Costa ApuanaPecorino massese

Raw milk of Massese sheep only, from the evening and morning milkings, is warmed to 30–35 °C in a copper pot and set with dried lamb stomach rennet. The curd is broken with a wooden stick, semi-cooked to 40–45 °C, set in wooden moulds, stoved, dry-salted and ripened about 60 days on wooden boards.

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 1–2.5 kg; the area makes about 327 quintals a year.
Raw whole milk of Massese sheep onlyEvening and morning milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Natural lamb rennet (dried lamb stomach), rarely commercial rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltDry salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone listed

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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30–35 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw Massese ewe milk, warmed in copper to 30–35 °C

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk in copper
Time
Not documented
Temperature
30–35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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 milk of Massese sheep only, from the evening and morning milkings, is warmed to 30–35 °C in a copper pot and set with dried lamb stomach rennet. The curd is broken with a wooden stick, semi-cooked to 40–45 °C, set in wooden moulds, stoved, dry-salted and ripened about 60 days on wooden boards. Made in 7 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes 2 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…).

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen on wooden boards
Temperature30–35 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk in copper

What makes this one different

It is made only from the milk of the native Massese sheep, with dried lamb stomach rennet, and its curd is semi-cooked to 40–45 °C. Most of it is eaten locally.

Rind
Slightly wrinkled; ivory to light brown with age
Size
1.0–2.5 kg; round
Season
Made all year; spring and autumn cheeses are best

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoShort ripening; soft, elastic rind.
  • StagionatoAbout 60 days; firmer rind.

Safety

Made from raw milk. 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; its page does not name pecorino. 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 in raw ewe milk; in a challenge study of pecorino, not this cheese, it was still detectable after 90 days of ripening.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The ONAF sheet calls it a cheese of old traditions that began along the Tyrrhenian coast, below the Apuan Alps and Versilia. The regional sheet says its character comes from Massese sheep milk and a traditional method, and records four main producers with almost 1,000 sheep. Most of the cheese stays in the area for home use, and only about a quarter is sold elsewhere in Tuscany.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana / ARSIA, Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino della Costa Apuana' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino della costa apuana'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