Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Italy, Toscana

Pecorino alle erbe aromatichePecorino fresco verde

A young sheep cheese from the Pisan hills that ripens inside a coat of dried herbs. Milk used within 48 hours of milking is heat-treated, mixed with a selected lactic culture and set with calf rennet; after salting and a few days' rest the cheese is dipped in local olive oil and rolled in dried rosemary, sage, mint and basil. It is eaten within 30–45 days.

Fully documentedCheese30 days – 45 daysPAT (traditional agri-food product, Toscana)Family: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give the method, not a batch recipe. One dairy makes about 3,600 kg a year; a cheese weighs about 1.2 kg.
Whole sheep milk from flocks grazing the Pisan hills[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Selected lactic starter culture[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Liquid calf rennetThe regional sheet says "natural rennet"; ONAF gives liquid calf rennet[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
SaltDry-salted[onaf-sheet]
Local extra-virgin olive oil[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Dried, chopped organic herbs (rosemary, sage, mint, basil)[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]
Starterselected lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days – 45 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Whole sheep milk, kept no longer than 48 hours, is heat-treated in the vat

Step 1 of 7
Collect and heat-treat the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The regional sheet says the milk is heat-treated; ONAF says pasteurised.

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

At a glance

A young sheep cheese from the Pisan hills that ripens inside a coat of dried herbs. Milk used within 48 hours of milking is heat-treated, mixed with a selected lactic culture and set with calf rennet; after salting and a few days' rest the cheese is dipped in local olive oil and rolled in dried rosemary, sage, mint and basil. It is eaten within 30–45 days. Made in 7 steps over 30 days – 45 days. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes 30–45 days (Regione Toscana (ARSIA)).

Key numbers
Main step30–45 daysReported[pat-sheet][onaf-sheet]Ripen on wooden boards

What makes this one different

It is pasteurised, eaten within 45 days and ripened inside an oil-and-dried-herb coat that influences the taste. It is a rediscovered old recipe made by a single dairy.

Size
Cylinder 16–18 cm across, side 8–10 cm, about 1.2 kg
Rind
None as such; the herb coat is brown-green over a straw-yellow surface
Season
February to October (ONAF); on request almost all year

Related ferments

Safety

ONAF says the milk is pasteurised, and the regional sheet says it is heat-treated. The cheese is ripened in cool rooms and eaten within 30–45 days.

History and sources

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

The regional sheet calls it a rediscovered local recipe. Fresh pecorino used to be sprinkled with field herbs, made when the milk was of lower quality, so the herb coat lifted the flavour.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [pat-sheet] Regione Toscana (ARSIA), Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sheet «Pecorino alle erbe aromatiche» (copy hosted by ONAF)gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet «Pecorino alle erbe aromatiche»web
  3. [onaf] ONAF, cheese page «Pecorino alle erbe aromatiche» (id 924)web