CRETE SENESI E VAL D'ORCIA: THE PECORINO CHEESE

The Crete Senesi pecorino cheese is called also Pienza pecorino cheese , but the real name is crete pecorino cheese because characterize a geographic area. For its realisation is basic the vegetal rennet, such as “callio”or “cardo”which gives it a sweet and bitter flavour together. The pecorino cheese maturation goes from 30 days (fresh) till 4 months (seasoned). “we say Pecorino cheese that good product chich is produced in the area of Orcia Valley and its neighbourhood, followed a work system by the oldest local tradition” is what is written in the inquiry Jacini drawn up in1882. But the Crete Seensi Pecorino cheese history has remote roots. This kind of cheese comes from the Neolithic period, as some bowls show for the milk workmanship found in a prehistoric village near Pienza.
Plinio the old, tells that the Etruscan made big cheese-vat of good Pecorino cheese and seems that many century Lorenzo Il Magnifico appreciated the scent and the flavour. There are also some documents that remember as Pope Pio the second marked the cheese-vat which came from the best farms to recognize them. The Pecorino cheese is quoted in many documents of ‘600 and ‘700 too. At the end of XVIII century the Royal Economic Sosiety of Florence leaded a study on the production of Pecorino Cheese, discovering this new:” girls who learn the art to make Pecorino cheese obtain a lot of reputation in the town and their ability make easy their marriage and it is considered to have a dowry.
The round forms weigh between one and two kilos. The inside is pale yellow. Flavour is delicate and sweetish and the consistency soft in the early stages of ageing, these becoming respectively strong and peppery and hard and brittle with the passage of months. The flavour of this product derives by the sheep milk that since time nibble particular aromatic herbs which are in this area: yellow clover, wild oats, fennel, santoreggia.
Observations on Tradition, the Constancy of Distribution and the Persistence of Regulations over Long Periods of Time
The ancient and well-preserved traditions behind Sienese pecorino prescribe, among other things, wooden ageing shelves, thought to contribute to the product’s characteristic flavour.

Description of productive processes
Between March and August, every day’s morning and evening milks are mixed at 68° C for about twenty minutes, then brought up to 35-38° C, at which point freeze-dried rennet and fermentation agents are added. After coagulation, the curd is moulded and salted and the forms are aged in a cool venue on pine boards.