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Pecorino romano
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Description
Name: Pecorino romano.
Product type: Smooth cylindrical shaped cheese; smooth rind, grainy texture; salting takes place when the cheese is dry and not in a brine bath.
Raw material: Made exclusively of sheep's milk.
Maturing: Available as a table cheese (5 months ripening) or as a grating cheese (at least 8 months' ripening).
Production area: Lazio, Sardinia and the province of Grosseto.
Denomination: It is one of Italy's most widely-exported DOP (Denominazione d'Origine Protetta - Protected Designation of Origin) cheeses. |
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A CENTRAL ITALIAN SPECIALITY |
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Although referred to as "Roman", this cheese of ancient tradition is actually made in the regions of Lazio, Sardinia and Tuscany (in the province of Grosseto) from sheep's milk from pasture-fed flocks. Straight after milking the milk is stored in chilled tanks and transferred to the cheese factory for processing, which involves the use of milk bacteria known as a starter culture, prepared daily by the same cheese-maker. After this operation lamb rennet is added to the cauldron in solid form, after which the real curdling process takes place, with subsequent cooking of the curd at a temperature of about 45-48°C.
The curd is then cut and placed in the special moulds which give the cheeses their characteristic cylindrical shape. Unlike many other cheeses the salting does not take place in a brine bath, but is carried out when the cheese is dry. Salt is sprinkled over the rounds which are then stored in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms for around seventy days.
Then ripening takes place, a process taking at least 5 months for table cheese and at least 8 months for a grating product.
In order to protect the consumer each cheese is branded with the official logo featuring a stylised sheep's head and the mark with the designation of origin. The rind also features the manufacturing dairy's code and the date of production.
Before they can go on sale the cheeses must be declared conformant by the experts of the Consortium for the Protection of Pecorino Romano, otherwise they cannot be branded with the DOP mark.
Grated Pecorino Romano is one of the key ingredients in a simple dish which has become a classic of Roman cuisine: Spaghetti with cheese and pepper, and is just as important as the pig cheek when making a bona fide plate of Bucatini all'amatriciana.
It is also worth trying with bitter honey or mustard fruit sauces at the end of a meal instead of a classic dessert.
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