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Cheese from Italy, Puglia

Pecorino di Maglie

Raw milk of Leccese ewes from the evening and morning milkings is warmed over a direct fire to about 40 °C and set off the heat with liquid lamb rennet made on the farm. The curd is broken to the size of a small broad bean, pressed by hand into rush baskets and salted dry with coarse salt, one face a day. It ripens 2 months as a fresh cheese or 8–10 months as an aged one.

Fully documentedCheese4.1 months – 13 monthsPAT (traditional agri-food product of Puglia)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo batch size is given; the sheet sets the rennet at 1 spoonful per 10 litres of milk. Fresh wheels weigh about 2 kg, aged ones about 1 kg.
Raw whole milk of Leccese ewes from the evening and morning milkings[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid lamb rennet made on the farm1 spoonful per 10 litres of milkA lamb stomach is filled with ewe milk and about 25 g of coarse sea salt, tied, dried 60–90 days, cut into pieces of about 20 g and dissolved in warm water[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Coarse salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; only the milk's own flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.1 months – 13 months

Start
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What changes: A milk-filled lamb stomach hangs and dries for 60–90 days

Step 1 of 8
Make the lamb rennet
Time
2–3 months
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The stomach of a slaughtered lamb is filled with ewe milk and salt, tied at both ends and hung to dry. It is then washed, cut into pieces of about 20 g and dissolved in warm water in glass jars. Output: liquid lamb rennet.

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 milk of Leccese ewes from the evening and morning milkings is warmed over a direct fire to about 40 °C and set off the heat with liquid lamb rennet made on the farm. The curd is broken to the size of a small broad bean, pressed by hand into rush baskets and salted dry with coarse salt, one face a day. It ripens 2 months as a fresh cheese or 8–10 months as an aged one. Made in 8 steps over 4.1 months – 13 months. The longest step, ripen in the coolest room, takes 2–10 months (Regione Puglia).

Key numbers
Main step2–10 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen in the coolest room
Temperature40 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Warm the milk over a direct fire

What makes this one different

Made with lamb rennet the shepherds prepare themselves by drying a milk-filled lamb stomach for 60–90 days. Salted with coarse salt one face a day, and pressed by stacking the baskets for 4–5 days.

Rind
Thin and straw-yellow when fresh; thick, hard and hazel-brown when aged
Size
Round, 12–14 cm across; 10–12 cm high when fresh, 5–6 cm when aged
Season
Made October to May, while the ewes are in milk

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoAbout 2 months; about 2 kg, soft and sweet
  • Stagionato8–10 months; about 1 kg, hard and sharp

Safety

The regional sheet requires milk from disease-free flocks and says milk with a very high bacterial count can be heated to about 72 °C. Wooden and rush tools need careful cleaning; the sheet recommends an HACCP plan.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet cites an 1880 survey of farming in the Terra d'Otranto as evidence of the method.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Puglia, PAT sheets A (description) and B (hygiene derogation) 'Pecorino di Maglie'gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Pecorino di Maglie'web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page 'Pecorino di Maglie' (id 889)web