Pecorino Toscano

Appearance & taste

The wheel is cylindrical, with flat top and bottom and a slightly convex side. It measures 15 to 30 cm in diameter, is 7 to 20 cm high and weighs 0.75 to 10 kg; for the semi-hard cheese a side higher than the diameter is preferred. The rind is yellow to deep yellow; its colour may also depend on the treatment.

The soft type has a white to slightly straw-yellow, soft paste. The semi-hard type is a more or less deep straw-yellow, compact and firm enough to slice, sometimes with small, irregularly distributed holes. The specification describes the taste as distinctive and aromatic, but mild and never spicy or sharp – even after long ripening.

Soft cheese may be called semistagionato (semi-ripened) after at least 60 days of ripening, and cheese with a hard paste riserva after at least eight months. Pecorino Toscano is used as a table and grating cheese and is sold as a whole wheel, in pieces or grated. The logo shows the words “Pecorino Toscano DOP” and a stylised sheep’s head.

Production

The sheep are kept almost exclusively free-range and graze almost all year round. Their basic diet is green fodder or hay from the local natural pastures, supplemented by simple concentrates. At most 30 % of the dry matter of the feed may come from outside the area each year.

The milk may be processed raw or heated up to pasteurisation; only native starter cultures from the strain collection are permitted. According to the specification, the milk is traditionally processed at the temperature it has in the udder, coagulated with calf rennet and only lightly salted. The ripening temperatures are also meant to support the natural activity of the starter cultures. Milk production and cheesemaking up to readiness for sale – 20 days for the soft type, four months for the semi-hard type – take place in the area of origin.

Origin & history

According to the specification, the cheese has been documented in numerous historical sources since the time of the Etruscans. Over the centuries it spread in the Maremma, most of which lies in Tuscany. It used to bear the name of its place of origin or simply the name “Toscano”; over time a uniform standard emerged, and the cheese was given the name of the region.

The specification attributes its characteristics to the sheep’s milk and the way it is made. With the wild and cultivated herbs, the animals take in the aromas of the area; climate and pastures are said to soften the rather strong taste of sheep’s milk. Pasture farming also keeps alive areas that are hard to farm and would otherwise be threatened by depopulation.