Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino stagionato in foglie di noce

Pasteurised milk of Sarda sheep is set with lactic starter and liquid calf rennet at 36–38 °C, broken to corn size and left to sour and drain 24 hours in wooden hoops. The dry-salted cheeses ripen 60–120 days in cold rooms, then at least 90 days wrapped in walnut leaves in terracotta jars (ziri). In the jars they soften, often lose shape and take on a tannic walnut-leaf smell.

Fully documentedCheese5 months – 6.9 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Toscana)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts per batch. A cheese weighs 1–1.5 kg; the area works about 10,000 quintals of milk a year into this cheese.
Whole milk of Sarda sheep, pasteurisedEvening milk, cooled, and morning milk[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lactic starter[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Calf rennet (liquid)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Coarse salt[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Walnut leaves, sometimes fig leavesFrom trees never treated with chemicals; some makers dry and crumble them first[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterlactic starter

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 months – 6.9 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
72–74 °C

What changes: The sheep milk is heated to 72–74 °C and cooled again

Step 1 of 7
Pasteurise the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
72–74 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
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 milk of Sarda sheep is set with lactic starter and liquid calf rennet at 36–38 °C, broken to corn size and left to sour and drain 24 hours in wooden hoops. The dry-salted cheeses ripen 60–120 days in cold rooms, then at least 90 days wrapped in walnut leaves in terracotta jars (ziri). In the jars they soften, often lose shape and take on a tannic walnut-leaf smell. Made in 7 steps over 5 months – 6.9 months. The longest step, first ripening, cold, takes 2–3.9 months (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…) and runs at 4–8 °C (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Lactic acid bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3.9 monthsReported[onaf-sheet]First ripening, cold
Temperature4–8 °CReported[onaf-sheet]First ripening, cold

What makes this one different

It ripens twice, first in a cold room and then at least 90 days wrapped in walnut leaves in terracotta jars. The jars keep the cheese soft and give it the leaves' tannic smell.

Rind
Slightly wrinkled, greasy, beige to brown, covered with walnut or fig leaves
Size
12–16 cm across, 5–12 cm high, 1–1.5 kg; often misshapen
Season
Made from February to October

Related ferments

Safety

The milk is pasteurised and a starter is used. ONAF says the leaves must come from trees that were never treated with chemicals.

History and sources

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

ONAF says Sardinian shepherds who moved to Tuscany with their flocks brought their cheesemaking. Legend has it that sharecroppers hid cheese from the landowner in old jars under leaves; ONAF thinks the jars were simply a way to keep cheese where there was no cave or cellar.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana (ARSIA), Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet 'Pecorino stagionato in foglie di noce' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino stagionato in foglie di noce', PAT Regione Toscanaweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Pecorino stagionato in foglie di noce' (id 937)web