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Cheese from Italy, Sardegna

Ricotta di pecora nera di Arbus

A boundary entry set by heat, not by microbes. Whey from the raw-milk cheeses of the black Arbus sheep is heated to 90 degrees until the ricotta rises; the flakes are gathered into baskets that also serve as the pack. It is white, creamy and sweet and is eaten right after it is made.

Fully documentedCheesePAT (traditional agri-food product, Sardegna)Family: Whey cheese (heat-precipitated whey protein) family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regional sheet gives the method, not a batch recipe. Ricottas are packed in 300 g and 1,500 g baskets.
Whey from cheese made with Nera di Arbus sheep milk[pat-sheet][onaf]
Raw milk of Nera di Arbus sheep, made into cheese firstThe sheet says some farms keep flocks of black sheep only and make raw-milk cheese and ricotta from their milk; the whey left from the cheese is what is heated[pat-sheet][pat-cheese]
StarterHeat sets the whey proteins; ONAF classes the coagulation as acid-thermal.
Start
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What changes: Starting material: whey left from black Arbus sheep cheese

Step 1 of 4
Collect the whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The whey comes from the farms' raw-milk sheep cheeses.

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

A boundary entry set by heat, not by microbes. Whey from the raw-milk cheeses of the black Arbus sheep is heated to 90 degrees until the ricotta rises; the flakes are gathered into baskets that also serve as the pack. It is white, creamy and sweet and is eaten right after it is made.

Key numbers
Temperature90 °CReported[pat-sheet]Heat the whey

What makes this one different

Made only from the whey of the black Arbus sheep, a hardy Sardinian breed suited to the scrubby hill pastures near the sea.

Sizes
Baskets of 300 g and 1,500 g
Breed
About 5,000 Nera di Arbus sheep on some 70 farms; a ewe gives about 50 litres in 100 days at first lambing and 98 litres in 180 days later
Rind
None; truncated cone from the basket

Related ferments

Safety

The regional sheet says it is made in dairies that follow the hygiene rules, with no exemptions requested, and eaten right after it is made.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet says ricotta was once made in small one-room stone buildings, "sa domu de su casu", and that from the 1960s the first dairies and mini-dairies appeared. Accounts collected for the sheet trace the breed's ricotta back more than 100 years.

Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Sardegna, Scheda identificativa dei prodotti tradizionali, «Ricotta di pecora nera di Arbus» (L. 238/2016; DGR 56/41 of 20.12.2017; copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), cheese page «Ricotta di pecora Nera di Arbus» (id 1065)web
  3. [pat-cheese] Regione Sardegna, Scheda identificativa dei prodotti tradizionali, «Formaggi di pecora nera di Arbus» (L. 238/2016; DGR 56/41 of 20.12.2017; copy hosted by ONAF)gov