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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Sardegna

Formaggi di pecora nera di ArbusFormaggio di pecora nera di Arbus

These are raw-milk pecorini made only from the milk of the black, horned Nera di Arbus sheep of south-west Sardinia. The milk is set with kid or lamb rennet at no more than 35 °C, and the wheels are brined and ripened from under 60 days to over a year. In the old one-room cheese hut the smoke of the hearth flavoured the wheels. Made in 6 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ripen, sometimes in smoke, takes up to 2 months (Regione Sardegna 2016). Native lactic flora of the raw sheep milk does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 2 monthsSet[sardegna-pat][onaf-sheet]Ripen, sometimes in smoke
Temperature4–5 °CSet[sardegna-pat][onaf-sheet]Milk and chill

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sources give no amounts. Wheels weigh 0.5–1.0 kg or 1.5–3.0 kg.
Raw whole milk of Nera di Arbus sheep · From one or two milkings; in dairies kept in a chilled tank at 4–5 °C[sardegna-pat][onaf-sheet]
Kid or lamb rennet paste[sardegna-pat][onaf-sheet]
Salt · Brine, or dry salt in the cheese hut[sardegna-pat]
No starter · The sheet lists no additions to the raw milk[onaf-sheet]
Starter: none; raw-milk flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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4–5 °C

What changes: Milk of the black Arbus sheep is kept cold until cheesemaking

Step 1 of 6
Milk and chill
Time
Not documented
Temperature
4–5 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: raw whole sheep milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The milk must come from Nera di Arbus sheep only, a rustic black breed with horns whose milk gives a higher cheese yield than the common Sarda breed. In the traditional cheese hut the wheels were scalded with hot whey and ripened in hearth smoke.

Rind
Clean, straw darkening with age, thin to fairly thick
Size
0.5–1.0 kg or 1.5–3.0 kg; domed cylinder
Ripening
Short ripening, eaten within 60 days; medium and long ripening from 120 days to over a year

Related ferments

Variants

  • Breve stagionaturaEaten within 60 days; white, moist and soft.
  • Media e lunga stagionaturaFrom 120 days to over a year; pale yellow, compact and sharp.

Safety

The cheese is made from raw milk, with no heat treatment.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Old people in Arbus describe Nera di Arbus flocks and their cheese over 100 years ago. The breed was kept for its black wool, woven into orbace cloth. Dairies took over most making from the 1960s.

  1. [sardegna-pat] Regione Sardegna, Scheda identificativa dei prodotti tradizionali, Formaggi di pecora nera di Arbus (L. 238/2016; DGR 56/41 of 20.12.2017)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Formaggi di pecora nera di Arbusweb
  3. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Formaggi di pecora nera di Arbus' (id 1064)web