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Cheese from Italy, Calabria

Pecorino della Locride

Raw ewe milk, with up to 20% goat milk, is set at 36–38 °C with kid paste rennet the shepherds make themselves, taking 40–50 minutes in all. The curd is broken to rice size and cooked at 42–44 °C for 5–6 minutes while stirred, then pressed by hand into rush baskets and salted dry the next day. It begins to mature after 15 days on shelves at 4–8 °C and is aged from a few weeks to a few months.

Fully documentedCheese45 min – 56 minPAT (traditional agri-food product of Calabria, product code 65)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts are recorded apart from the goat milk limit of 20%. The regional sheet gives wheels of 1–1.5 kg; ONAF gives 1–3.5 kg.
Raw whole ewe milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Raw goat milk, up to 20% of the mix[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Kid paste rennet made by the shepherds (ONAF also allows lamb), diluted in warm water[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt, rubbed on dry[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; the milk's own flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 45 min – 56 min

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Ewe milk with up to 20% goat milk is filtered 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

The milk is filtered through a fine sieve as it goes into the cauldron. Output: warm raw ewe and goat milk.

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, with up to 20% goat milk, is set at 36–38 °C with kid paste rennet the shepherds make themselves, taking 40–50 minutes in all. The curd is broken to rice size and cooked at 42–44 °C for 5–6 minutes while stirred, then pressed by hand into rush baskets and salted dry the next day. It begins to mature after 15 days on shelves at 4–8 °C and is aged from a few weeks to a few months. Made in 7 steps over 45 min – 56 min. The longest step, set with kid paste rennet, takes 40–50 min (Regione Calabria). The milk's own natural microflora; no starter is added does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step40–50 minReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Set with kid paste rennet
Temperature36–38 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Filter and warm the milk

What makes this one different

Ewe milk may be mixed with up to 20% goat milk, and the curd is set with kid paste rennet the shepherds make themselves. Every step is done by hand, and the curd is pressed hard and long in rush baskets.

Rind
Fairly hard, marked by the rush baskets; white or light straw when young, ochre when aged
Size
Cylinder 20–25 cm across (regional sheet)
Season
Made October to July

Related ferments

Safety

A raw-milk cheese. The regional sheet names total bacterial count, somatic cells and Staphylococcus aureus as raw-milk risks, to be handled by checking the milk against D.P.R. 54/97 (or by thermising or pasteurising it), good hygiene and a visual check of the finished cheese. 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.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, named by the regional sheet as a raw-milk risk alongside total bacterial count and somatic cells.

History and sources

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

ONAF's sheet says documents on pecorino in Calabria go back to 1500. The most telling one, from 1759, asks for a sound, whole cheese, not cracked or blown, with the curd broken tender, weighing 5.5 libbre a piece. A farm in Casignana holds papers showing it has made this cheese for more than 25 years.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Calabria, Prodotti agro-alimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino della Locride' (product code 65; scanned, no text layer)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Pecorino della Locride'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Pecorino della Locride' (id 1122)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov