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Cheese from Italy, Sicilia

PicurinuTuma

Raw whole ewe milk is set in a wooden vat with lamb or kid rennet paste at 34–35 °C in about 45 minutes. The lentil-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, scalded about 4 hours in hot whey and dry-salted once or twice. Its name follows its age, from unsalted tuma to primosale, secondo sale and aged cheese of over 4 months.

Fully documentedCheese18 days – 8.3 monthsPAT (traditional food product, Sicilia; list of D.M. 16 February 2018)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give no amounts; ONAF says the salt is hard to quantify. Aged cheeses weigh 4–12 kg.
Raw whole ewe milkEvening milk kept at room temperature plus morning milk; tuma uses one warm milking[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Lamb rennet paste, sometimes kid[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Fine sea salt, or saturated brine[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Black peppercorns or chilli flakes (optional)Added when the curd goes into the baskets[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starternone; the raw milk's own microflora

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 days – 8.3 months

Start
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34–35 °C

What changes: Lamb or kid rennet paste sets the warm milk in a wooden vat

Step 1 of 6
Set in the wooden vat
Time
45 min
Reported
Temperature
34–35 °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

Raw whole ewe milk is set in a wooden vat with lamb or kid rennet paste at 34–35 °C in about 45 minutes. The lentil-size curd is pressed by hand into rush baskets, scalded about 4 hours in hot whey and dry-salted once or twice. Its name follows its age, from unsalted tuma to primosale, secondo sale and aged cheese of over 4 months. Made in 6 steps over 18 days – 8.3 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 8 days – 8 months (Regione Siciliana 2018) and runs at 12–16 °C (Regione Siciliana 2018). Natural microflora of the raw ewe milk does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step8 days – 8 monthsReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen
Temperature12–16 °CReported[pat-sheet]Ripen

What makes this one different

It is made across Sicily by a method that is almost always the same. Each stage of salting and ageing has its own name, and the cheeses are scalded about 4 hours in hot whey.

Rind
None on tuma; then basket-marked, white-yellowish to straw, oiled on aged cheese
Size
18–35 cm across, 10–18 cm high, 4–12 kg (tuma 4–20 kg)
Season
Made all year

Related ferments

Variants

  • Tuma frescaJust made and unsalted; the curd is not broken and is eaten at once.
  • PrimosaleSalted once and eaten after 8–10 days.
  • Secondo saleSalted twice and ripened 2–4 months.
  • StagionatoSalted twice and ripened over 4 months; sharp.
  • With pepper or chilliBlack peppercorns or chilli flakes go into the curd.

Safety

The milk is raw and no starter is used. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet calls it perhaps the oldest cheese of Sicily and dates the first citations to the Odyssey, where Ulysses meets Polyphemus. It lists sources from Homer and Pliny to a 1933 study of Sicilian sheep and pecorino. In the Naturalis Historia, Pliny names the pecorini of Agrigento among the best.

  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Siciliana, Prodotti Agroalimentari Tradizionali (2018, D.M. 16 febbraio 2018), sheet 'Picurinu - tuma, primo sale, secondo sale, stagionato' (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Picurinu (tuma, primosale, secondo sale, stagionato)', PAT Regione Siciliaweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Picurinu (tuma, primosale, secondo sale, stagionato)' (id 1236)web
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov