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Cheese from Italy, Abruzzo

Pecorino di Atri

Filtered ewe milk is warmed to about 36 °C, optionally with whey or milk starter, and set with animal rennet for about 60 minutes. The curd is broken to maize size, semi-cooked at 45–50 °C for 10 minutes and drained two days in rush baskets, then salted. It ripens from 40 days to 2 years, rubbed with olive oil, and pieces may be kept in jars under olive oil.

Fully documentedCheese8.1 months – 2.7 yearsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Abruzzo)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts are recorded; rennet is dosed by its strength and the milk's acidity. Wheels weigh 1–3 kg.
Whole ewe milk, filteredRaw, per the ONAF sheet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Whey or milk starter (optional)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Animal rennet, liquid or powdered, best from lamb or kid[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt[pat-sheet]
Extra-virgin olive oilTo rub the rind, and to keep pieces in jars[pat-sheet]
Starterwhey or milk starter, optionally added to bring a thermophilic lactic flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.1 months – 2.7 years

Start
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36 °C

What changes: Filtered ewe milk is warmed to about 36 °C, with whey starter if used

Step 1 of 9
Warm the milk (whey starter if used)
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Whey or milk starter may be added to help the milk sour.

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

Filtered ewe milk is warmed to about 36 °C, optionally with whey or milk starter, and set with animal rennet for about 60 minutes. The curd is broken to maize size, semi-cooked at 45–50 °C for 10 minutes and drained two days in rush baskets, then salted. It ripens from 40 days to 2 years, rubbed with olive oil, and pieces may be kept in jars under olive oil. Made in 9 steps over 8.1 months – 2.7 years. The longest step, ripen and oil the rind, takes 40 days – 2 years (Regione Abruzzo).

Key numbers
Main step40 days – 2 yearsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen and oil the rind
Temperature36 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk (whey starter if used)

What makes this one different

A semi-cooked pecorino, optionally set with whey or milk starter. Besides the oiled aged wheel, pieces go into jars of olive oil and, by local practice, are eaten only after 6–8 months, the Pecorino di Montone version.

Rind
Hard, straw-yellow, with the print of the rush basket; softer when young
Size
Cylinder of varying diameter and height
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • Pecorino di MontoneAged 40–60 days in bran (rarely ash), cut and kept under extra-virgin olive oil; ready after 6–8 months.
  • Fresh or inceratoEaten young, at about 10 days or once the waxy rind has formed at 25–30 days.

Safety

Made from raw milk. The wheels ripen from 40 days to 2 years, but the cheese may also be eaten fresh at 10 days or once the waxy rind forms at 25–30 days. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening. 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. The sheets give no pH, salt or water-activity figure for the jars. Oil shuts out air, and the bacterium behind botulism grows where air is shut out (FDA). CDC lists chopped garlic in oil and canned cheese sauce as botulism sources; it does not name cheese kept in oil. The jars record local practice, not a tested home method. ONAF notes that the very rare old maggot-ripened version (marcetto) would be banned by current health laws.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157 in raw ewe milk; in a challenge study of pecorino made by other recipes 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 Abruzzo PAT sheet dates the first evidence of a pastoral economy along the Apennines to between 1400 and 1300 BC, and says it reached its greatest development in Roman times and from the 11th century on.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Abruzzo, PAT sheet 'Pecorino di Atri'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Pecorino di Atri'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Pecorino di Atri' (id 327)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
  6. [cdc-botulism] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botulism Preventiongov
  7. [fda-bbb] US Food and Drug Administration 2012, Bad Bug Book, 2nd edition, Clostridium botulinumgov