Pecorino di Filiano

Appearance & taste

Pecorino di Filiano is a cylinder with flat faces and sometimes slightly convex sides, 15 to 30 cm wide, 8 to 18 cm high and weighing 2.5 to 5 kg. The rind is golden yellow, dark brown on the most mature cheeses, bears the typical pattern of the basket and is treated on the outside with virgin olive oil and wine vinegar. The paste is compact, white to straw-yellow, the more mature the more yellow, with tiny holes distributed irregularly.

The taste is mild and delicate at first and becomes slightly sharp by the minimum ripening age, the more so the longer the cheese ripens. The fat content in dry matter is at least 30 %. The fire brand is an oval with the letter F and a star, surrounded by the words “PECORINO di FILIANO”. The cheese is also sold as half or quarter wheels.

Production

The milk comes from sheep of the Gentile di Puglia, Gentile di Lucania, Leccese, Comisana and Sarda breeds and their crosses, from one or two milkings, and is processed no later than 24 hours after the first milking. The sheep graze on natural pastures with ryegrass, clover, meadow grass, fescue, wild oats, sweet clover, thyme and fennel.

The filtered raw milk is traditionally heated in vats to up to 40 °C and curdled at 36 to 40 °C with rennet, which the dairies make themselves from kid and lamb stomachs using a set method. The curd is stirred with a large wooden spoon thickened at the tip until it is the size of rice grains. After a short rest in the whey, it is put into baskets made of rush or similarly shaped containers and pressed by hand. The wheels are then dipped for 15 minutes in whey at no more than 90 °C and salted dry or in brine.

Ripening takes place in natural tuff caves or underground rooms at 12 to 14 °C and 70 to 85 % humidity for at least 180 days; from the 20th day the rind may be treated with olive oil and wine vinegar. Milk production, processing and ripening take place in the area. The cheese is made all year round, most of all in spring and early summer, when the mountain pastures offer the best feed.

Origin & history

The cheese is named after the municipality of Filiano in the province of Potenza. The area lies in the Apennines between Monte Vulture and the Montagna grande di Muro Lucano, with soils of volcanic origin, natural pastures full of wild herbs and cool water rich in mineral salts from the volcanic rock of Monte Vulture.

According to the specification, sheep were already kept here at the time of the Roman conquest, especially near the Via Appia, along which lay a dense network of drove roads (“tratturi”). Later, sheep’s cheese played an important role in the economy of the Kingdom of Naples. From 1530 the Doria family ruled the area around Monte Vulture through a grant from Charles V and set up farms for livestock and for milk and wool processing. According to their registers, Filiano, a part of Avigliano until 1952, counted up to 10,000 sheep, which were driven in summer from the Ofanto plain to the Valle di Vitalba. For around 30 years (as of registration), a Pecorino di Filiano festival has been held every year.