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Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Pecorino della Sabina (semplice e alle erbe)

Ewe milk, raw or pasteurised with a thermophilic starter, is set with lamb or calf rennet, broken to chickpea size and semi-cooked at 43 °C. The moulded cheeses are warmed twice, brined in saturated brine and ripened at 12–13 °C for one month to six months. The herb type has local herbs mixed into the curd.

Fully documentedCheese31 days – 6 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Lazio)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give temperatures and times but no amounts. Cheeses weigh from 1 kg to over 20 kg.
Whole ewe milkFrom two milkings; the evening milk chilled[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]
Thermophilic lactic cultureWhen the milk is pasteurised; added at 36 °C[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]
Lamb rennet paste or calf rennet powderLamb paste in the most traditional make[arsial-sabina]
SaltSaturated brine[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]
Seasonal flavourings, herb typeto tasteChilli, rocket, pepper, coriander, radicchio, green olives, capers or basil (ARSIAL); chives, rocket, wild fennel, basil and coriander (ONAF)[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]
Potato starchDusted on the rind of the herb type[onaf-sabina]
Starterthermophilic cultures added at 36 °C when the milk is pasteurised; the sheets do not say whether raw milk gets any

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 6 months

Start
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70 °C

What changes: Pasteurised ewe milk gets a thermophilic starter at 36 °C

Step 1 of 8
Prepare the milk and add starter
Time
0.3 min
Reported
Temperature
70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: inoculated milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

thermophilic cultures start the souring

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

Ewe milk, raw or pasteurised with a thermophilic starter, is set with lamb or calf rennet, broken to chickpea size and semi-cooked at 43 °C. The moulded cheeses are warmed twice, brined in saturated brine and ripened at 12–13 °C for one month to six months. The herb type has local herbs mixed into the curd. Made in 8 steps over 31 days – 6 months. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes 30 days – 6 months (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…) and runs at 12–13 °C (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Thermophilic lactic cultures, in the pasteurised make does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 6 monthsReported[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]Ripen on wooden boards
Temperature12–13 °CReported[arsial-sabina][onaf-sabina]Ripen on wooden boards

What makes this one different

It is semi-cooked and warmed twice in the mould before brining, and it is made in a very wide range of sizes. The herb type mixes local herbs into the curd and dusts the rind with potato starch.

Milk
Whole ewe milk, raw or pasteurised; aged wheels mostly from spring milk
Ripening
1 month (young) to 3–6 months (aged)
Rind
Hard, oily; dark straw on the plain type, grey from potato starch on the herb type
Size
1 kg to over 20 kg; the largest sizes are rare, made at the end of lactation and aged in caves

Related ferments

Variants

  • SemplicePlain, with a dark straw rind.
  • Alle erbeHerbs in the paste and a grey rind dusted with potato starch.

Safety

The milk may be raw. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening, so clean milk or pasteurising matters. The regional sheet notes that, as a PAT product, it may use the hygiene derogations allowed for traditional foods. 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 regional sheet says oral tradition and documents in local historical archives confirm pecorino in the Sabina hills from remote times. Once made only by shepherds, it has come from local dairies for more than 25 years.

  1. [arsial-sabina] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Pecorino della Sabina (semplice e alle erbe)', p. 171gov
  2. [onaf-sabina] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino della Sabina (semplice e alle erbe)', PAT Regione Lazioweb
  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