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Cheese from Italy, Umbria

Pecorino stagionato in botte (Umbria)

Pasteurised ewe milk is set at 38 °C with a starter and lamb or kid rennet flavoured with thyme, dandelion, mint and hyssop. The dry-salted cheeses are rubbed with herb oil and ripen 3–4 months at 10–12 °C, then finish 45–60 days in wooden barrels. They are dried 10 days, wrapped in jute paper and sold a month later.

Fully documentedCheese4.9 months – 6.4 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Umbria)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts. A cheese weighs 1–3 kg.
Whole ewe milk, pasteurised[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Thermophilic lactic starter[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lamb or kid rennet flavoured with thyme, dandelion, mint and hyssop[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Salt[pat-sheet]
Olive oil infused with the same herbsRubbed on the rind to hold back mould[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Walnut leaves (traditional)The best cheeses were wrapped in them before going into the barrels[onaf-sheet]
Starterthermophilic lactic starter

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.9 months – 6.4 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
70 °C

What changes: The ewe milk is heated to 70 °C

Step 1 of 8
Pasteurise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Pasteurised ewe milk is set at 38 °C with a starter and lamb or kid rennet flavoured with thyme, dandelion, mint and hyssop. The dry-salted cheeses are rubbed with herb oil and ripen 3–4 months at 10–12 °C, then finish 45–60 days in wooden barrels. They are dried 10 days, wrapped in jute paper and sold a month later. Made in 8 steps over 4.9 months – 6.4 months. The longest step, oil and ripen cold, takes 3–4 months (Regione dell'Umbria) and runs at 10–12 °C (Regione dell'Umbria).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet][tipicamente]Oil and ripen cold
Temperature10–12 °CReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Oil and ripen cold

What makes this one different

Herbs go into both the rennet and the rubbing oil, and the cheese finishes 45–60 days in wooden barrels that once held wine. Its sister, pecorino in fossa, gets the same start but finishes in a sealed pit.

Rind
Oiled, fairly wrinkled or smooth, straw-yellow to brown; may carry walnut leaves
Size
Cylinder, often irregular, 1–3 kg
Season
Made from February to November
Total ageing
4–6 months in all (ONAF)

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised at 70 °C and a starter is used. The rind is re-oiled when moulds appear, and ONAF advises keeping the wheel in the fridge wrapped in a linen cloth and kept oiled.

History and sources

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

In the days before refrigerators the barrel kept insects off the cheese and hid it from raiders. The regional sheet attaches a document from 'Il Tesoro della Sanità' by Castor Durante as proof that pecorino existed in the area from 1586.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione dell'Umbria, Giunta Regionale, Scheda identificativa dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali dell'Umbria, 'Pecorino stagionato in botte' (in the Umbria pecorino sheets file hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino stagionato in botte, o in fossa/grotta', PAT Umbriaweb
  3. [tipicamente] Promocamera (Camera di Commercio dell'Umbria), Tipicamente Umbria, 'Pecorino stagionato in botte', taken from the Perugia Chamber of Commerce publication 'L'Umbria dei Formaggi'web