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Cheese from Italy, Campania

Pecorino di Laticauda

Fresh raw milk of Laticauda ewes is filtered, warmed to 35–40 °C and set with Laticauda lamb rennet. The small curd lumps are pressed with the fingers into moulds and brined. It is sold fresh after 2 days, semi-aged after 2 months, or aged 4–12 months, when the rind is washed with boiling whey and oiled once the cheese starts to sweat.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 12 monthsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Campania)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts are recorded. Wheels weigh 1.5–2.5 kg, sometimes about 5 kg.
Raw whole ewe milk, freshly milked or from the previous milking, filteredFrom Laticauda ewes; ONAF also names Bagnolese[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Laticauda lamb paste rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt (brine)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Extra-virgin olive oil, or oil with hot chilli, or a pepper sauce, for the rind[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
StarterIn a 2009 study of one raw-milk make, mesophilic lactococci already in the raw milk grew to about 10^8 CFU/g by the salted cheese (Proroga et al. 2009).

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
35–40 °CMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Laticauda lamb rennet sets the raw milk warmed to 35–40 °C

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add lamb rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
35–40 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: curd.

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

Fresh raw milk of Laticauda ewes is filtered, warmed to 35–40 °C and set with Laticauda lamb rennet. The small curd lumps are pressed with the fingers into moulds and brined. It is sold fresh after 2 days, semi-aged after 2 months, or aged 4–12 months, when the rind is washed with boiling whey and oiled once the cheese starts to sweat. Made in 5 steps over 2 months – 12 months. The longest step, ripen, washing with whey and oiling, takes 2–12 months (Regione Campania 2015) and runs at 4–15 °C (ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters)). Mesophilic lactococci, present in the raw milk and the most abundant technological group in one raw-milk make does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–12 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen, washing with whey and oiling
Temperature4–15 °CReported[onaf-sheet]Ripen, washing with whey and oiling

What makes this one different

Made from the milk of the Laticauda, a Campanian breed with a broad fat tail, from chance crosses of a local Apennine sheep with the North African Barbary sheep brought into Campania under the Bourbons. The rind is washed with boiling whey and oiled, sometimes with chilli or a red pepper sauce.

Rind
Thin and soft when fresh, thicker, harder and oily when aged; straw to light brown, or red from a pepper sauce
Size
Cylinder 20 cm across and 4–8 cm high
Season
Made all year, mostly November to July

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoSold after 2 days
  • Semistagionato2–4 months; table cheese
  • Stagionato4–12 months; sharp, grated

Safety

A raw-milk cheese. The fresh version is sold after only 2 days; the aged cheese ripens 4–12 months. In a 2009 study of one raw-milk make, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter were searched for and always absent. The authors report hygiene indicators absent from the finished cheese, but their table shows more. Two days into drying, E. coli averaged about 10^3.8 CFU/g, and coagulase-positive staphylococci were at 10^4 CFU/g in one batch. Both read zero at 101 days, while faecal enterococci stayed near 10^6 CFU/g. That was one farm and two batches, so it does not vouch for other cheeses. 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.

Hazards the sources name: Coagulase-positive staphylococci, up to about 10^4.7 CFU/g in the first days of drying in a 2009 study of two raw-milk batches of this cheese; one batch still held 10^2.3 CFU/g at 71 days, and neither showed any at 101 days; 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 Laticauda came from crosses between a local Apennine sheep and the Barbary sheep brought into Campania under the Bourbons; its name means broad tail. By the late 14th century Laticauda pecorini were known in the Fortore towns near Benevento.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura, Prodotti tradizionali page 'Pecorino di Laticauda' (updated 13 March 2015)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Pecorino di Laticauda'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Pecorino di Laticauda' (id 1187)web
  4. [proroga2009] Proroga Y.T.R., Cerrone A., Valvini O., Castellano S., Carullo M.R., Bove D., Guarino A., Iovane G. 2009, Microbiological characterization of a typical Italian cheese Pecorino di Laticauda (Part I), A.I.V.I. September 2009 no. 5, pp. 55-59, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiornopaper
  5. [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
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov