Pecorino Sardo

Appearance & taste

The wheel is cylindrical, with a flat top and bottom and a straight or slightly outward-curving side. The young “dolce” weighs 1 to 2.3 kg, is 8 to 10 cm high and 15 to 18 cm in diameter. Its rind is smooth, soft and thin, white or pale straw-yellow; the paste is white, soft and elastic, compact or with a few small holes. It tastes mild and aromatic or slightly sour and contains at least 40 % fat in dry matter.

The “maturo” weighs 1.7 to 4 kg, is 10 to 13 cm high and 15 to 22 cm in diameter. Its smooth, firm rind is pale straw-yellow in the young cheese and brown in the older one. The paste is white, tender and elastic when young, later hard or sometimes slightly grainy and increasingly straw-yellow as ripening progresses. The specification describes the flavour as pleasantly savoury; the fat content is at least 35 % in dry matter.

Only “maturo” that has ripened in the area for at least 4 months may be sold as grated cheese. The wheels bear a marking applied with a stamp and permanent food colouring and a label with the words “Dolce” or “Maturo” and a code that uniquely identifies each wheel.

Production

Only whole sheep’s milk from Sardinia is used, which may be thermised or pasteurised. The sheep feed mainly on natural pastures, meadows and grassland and are also given green fodder and concentrates.

The curd is scalded at a medium temperature (“semicotta”). The whole process takes place in Sardinia: keeping the animals, producing and processing the milk, heat treatment, coagulation, heating below boiling point, moulding, steaming and/or pressing, salting and ripening. After the ripening period in the area, the cheese may be packed as a whole wheel, in pieces, slices, cubes, flakes or grated.

Origin & history

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean. According to the specification, many natural conditions that have disappeared in other parts of Italy have been preserved there: lonely coasts, mountains and forests. The climate is mild in winter and hot in summer, with 200 to 230 days of sunshine a year, and shaped by the sea and strong winds. Around 18 % of the island is wooded, mainly with holm and downy oaks; juniper, olive trees, mastic shrubs, rock roses and strawberry trees also grow there. The natural meadows with their many shrubs are an important source of food for the sheep.

Since the time of the Nuragic civilisation, sheep farming has been the most important source of income for a large part of the island’s population. Agriculture and livestock farming and the processing of sheep’s milk are still among the island’s leading economic sectors in terms of employment and turnover. The specification highlights the skill of the master cheesemakers, who combine traditional knowledge with modern techniques.