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Cheese from Italy, the whole of Sicily

Pecorino Siciliano PDOPecorino Siciliano

Whole raw ewe milk is set at 36–40 °C in a wooden vat with paste rennet from local lambs. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, hand-pressed into rush baskets and then cooked for 3–4 hours under the hot whey left from ricotta making. The wheels are salted and ripened on wooden shelves at 14–18 °C, from 20 days (Fresco) to at least four months (Stagionato).

Fully documentedCheese21 days – 22 daysPDO (DOP, Italy)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe rules give one amount, 10–30 g of lamb paste rennet per 100 litres of milk. A Fresco or Semistagionato wheel weighs 3–5 kg; a Stagionato wheel 6–14 kg.
Raw whole ewe milkFrom one or two milkings, worked within 24 hours of the first[ps-oj-2020]
Lamb paste rennet10–30 g per 100 L of milkFrom the abomasum of suckling lambs, made in Sicily; dissolved in warm water and filtered[ps-oj-2020]
SaltDry and/or brine[ps-oj-2020]
Whole black peppercornsOptionalFor the Pepato style of Fresco and Semistagionato; scalded above 80 °C for a few seconds[ps-oj-2020]
Starterthe native lactic bacteria come from the raw milk and the wooden vats, as the specification amendment says

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days – 22 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countEnterococcusLacticaseibacillusLactiplantibacillusLevilactobacillus36–40 °C

What changes: Lamb paste rennet goes into warm raw ewe milk in a wooden vat

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add lamb rennet
Time
40–50 min
Set
Temperature
36–40 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Enterococcus
Lacticaseibacillus
Lactiplantibacillus
Levilactobacillus
Lactic acid bacteria

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

Whole raw ewe milk is set at 36–40 °C in a wooden vat with paste rennet from local lambs. The curd is broken to rice-grain size, hand-pressed into rush baskets and then cooked for 3–4 hours under the hot whey left from ricotta making. The wheels are salted and ripened on wooden shelves at 14–18 °C, from 20 days (Fresco) to at least four months (Stagionato). Made in 6 steps over 21 days – 22 days. The longest step, ripen on wooden shelves, takes at least 20 days (European Commission 2020) and runs at 14–18 °C (European Commission 2020). Lactic acid bacteria (Enterococcus, Lacticaseibacillus, Lactiplantibacillus, Levilactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus, Streptococcus) in 5-month cheeses does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 20 daysSet[ps-oj-2020]Ripen on wooden shelves
Temperature14–18 °CSet[ps-oj-2020]Ripen on wooden shelves

What makes this one different

After pressing, the curd sits in its rush baskets for 3–4 hours in the hot whey (scotta) left after ricotta is made. The baskets print their weave on the rind.

Milk
Raw whole ewe milk; at least 80 % of forage from Sicily; no silage
Ripening
Fresco 20–30 days, Semistagionato 60–90 days, Stagionato at least 120 days
Composition
Fat at least 40 % of dry matter
Size
Fresco and Semistagionato 3–5 kg; Stagionato 15–30 cm across, 6–14 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • FrescoRipened 20–30 days; no rind; may hold peppercorns.
  • SemistagionatoRipened 60–90 days; thin straw-yellow rind; may hold peppercorns.
  • StagionatoRipened at least 4 months; larger wheels of 6–14 kg; sharp flavour.
  • PepatoWhole black peppercorns pressed into the curd (Fresco and Semistagionato only).

Safety

Made only from raw milk, worked within 24 hours of milking. Stagionato wheels ripen at least four months, but Fresco is ripened only 20 to 30 days. ANSES advises pregnant women, people with weak immune systems, people over 65 and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses, except pressed cooked cheeses such as gruyère and comté. The specification calls this cheese semi-cooked, and the ANSES page does not mention it.

History and sources

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

The specification describes a cheese every Sicilian shepherd once made at home with wooden tools, the tina for curdling and wooden beams for ripening. A 2020 amendment application, published in the Official Journal, proposed the Fresco, Semistagionato and Stagionato types and their ripening times; its single document gives 60–90 days for Semistagionato, where the descriptive text says 45–90.

  1. [ps-oj-2020] European Commission 2020, Publication of an application for approval of a non-minor amendment, Pecorino Siciliano (PDO-IT-0019-AM01), Official Journal of the EU C 170/27, 18 May 2020 (Italian text, with single document)spec
  2. [todaro2024] Todaro M. et al. 2024, Reduction of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese making duration, microbial dynamics and quality attributes deriving from replacing whey permeate with hot water during cooking, International Journal of Food Microbiology 410:110481 (abstract)paper
  3. [gaglio2022] Gaglio R. et al. 2022, A multivariate approach to study the bacterial diversity associated to the wooden shelves used for aging traditional Sicilian cheeses, Foods 11(5):774 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov