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Cheese from Italy, Molise

Pecorino di Capracotta

Raw ewe milk from grazing flocks is warmed to 36–38 °C in a tinned copper cauldron and set in 30–35 minutes with kid paste rennet. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, semi-cooked at 45 °C, pressed into rush baskets and salted dry or in brine for 12–24 hours. The wheels must ripen 3 months before sale and can be kept up to 2 years.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 2 yearsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Molise)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts are recorded. Wheels weigh 1–3.5 kg.
Raw whole ewe milk from flocks fed mostly on pasture or green or dried forage[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Kid paste rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt[pat-sheet]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 2 years

Start
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36–38 °C

What changes: Raw ewe milk is warmed to 36–38 °C in a tinned copper cauldron

Step 1 of 7
Warm the milk in a tinned copper cauldron
Time
Not documented
Temperature
36–38 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: warm raw ewe 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 from grazing flocks is warmed to 36–38 °C in a tinned copper cauldron and set in 30–35 minutes with kid paste rennet. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, semi-cooked at 45 °C, pressed into rush baskets and salted dry or in brine for 12–24 hours. The wheels must ripen 3 months before sale and can be kept up to 2 years. Made in 7 steps over 2 months – 2 years. The longest step, ripen in a cool, airy room, takes 2 months – 2 years (ARSARP (Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Agr…) and runs at 12–15 °C (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)).

Key numbers
Main step2 months – 2 yearsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen in a cool, airy room
Temperature12–15 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen in a cool, airy room

What makes this one different

Made only in the grazing season, from March to September. Its rice-size curd, semi-cooked at 45 °C, gives a firm cheese that must ripen 3 months before sale.

Rind
Hard, ridged by the basket, straw-yellow to hazel; may show mould spots
Size
Cylinder 15–22 cm across and 7–11 cm high
Season
Made March to September, while the flocks are at pasture

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk of ewes free of brucellosis and tuberculosis. The regional sheet says that ripening for more than 2 months makes the cheese safe, and requires 3 months before sale. That goes further than the evidence. 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.

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

Three great sheep tracks (tratturi) crossed the Alto Molise. Flocks wintered in Puglia and came back to the mountains in spring, when the shepherds made pecorino. The regional sheet traces the cheese to the Samnites.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [pat-sheet] ARSARP (Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Agricolo, Rurale e della Pesca, Molise), L'atlante dei prodotti tradizionali del Molise, sheet for Pecorino di Capracotta (its header wrongly reads 'Scamorza molisana')gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Pecorino di Capracotta'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Pecorino di Capracotta' (id 410)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