Consorzio Pecorino Romano

The production of “Pecorino Romano”, restricted to the regions of Latium and Sardinia and the province of Grosseto, in the Tuscany region is the result of centuries of experience. The essential stages are still entrusted to two special workers: the “cheesemaker” (“casaro”) and the “salter”(“salatore”).

Fresh sheep milk, coming exclusively from freely-running flocks and fed on natural fodder, is taken to the production centres with modern refrigerated tanks. Upon its arrival in the dairy, the milk is measured, filtered, and processed raw or thermally treated at a maximum temperature of 68°C for no longer than 15 minutes.

The milk is used to fill the coagulation tanks where a starter ferment called “whey inoculation” is added, prepared daily by the “casaro” or cheesemaker following century-old tradition. The starter is one of the characteristic elements of Pecorino Romano and consists in an association of thermofile autochthonous milk bacteria.

Following the inoculation, with the milk at a temperature between 30 and 40°C, creamy lamb rennet is added to facilitate coagulation. When the desired consistency is reached, the “casaro” or cheesemaker breaks up the mass so that the particles are the size of a grain of wheat.

Once the forms have been cooled, they are branded. The PDO brand (the stylised head of a sheep) is impressed on the rind by means of a stamp, together with the dairy code and the date of manufacture.

The branded wheels of Pecorino Romano are now salted, a procedure still performed by hand. This stage is complex and delicate; a seal on the technical success of the product, so to speak. The forms are salted 4 or 5 times, in an environment with a temperature between 10 and 12°C, over a period of about 70 days. At the end of this stage, the cheese continues to age for at least 5 months from the beginning of the work, lying on shelves of pine, regularly brushed and turned.

When the cheese has sufficiently aged or cured, the wheels of Pecorino Romano undergo a selection. Table cheese may be commercialised after 5 months, while grating cheese requires 8. That is how Pecorino Romano reaches the tables of Italians and its fans from all over the world: it has always been synonymous of typically Italian authenticity and taste.