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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Pecorino di Ferentino

Ewe milk, raw in spring and pasteurised the rest of the year, is set with lamb or calf rennet at 38 °C. The curd is broken and stirred at 42 °C, moulded, soaked for 2–3 hours in hot whey to drain, dry-salted for two days and ripened for 6–12 months. Some wheels are smoked over straw or finished in grape pomace. Made in 9 steps over 6.1 months – 12 months. The longest step, ripen on wooden boards, takes 6–12 months (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Lactic acid bacteria from the raw milk, the dairy and the ripening rooms, which the sheet says the raw-milk make is meant to keep and Lactococcus lactis, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Latilactobacillus curvatus, found in Pecorino di Picinisco, a raw-milk ewe cheese of the same province do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–12 monthsSet[arsial-ferentino][onaf-ferentino]Ripen on wooden boards
Temperature4–6 °CSet[arsial-ferentino][onaf-ferentino]Chill the milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheets give temperatures and times but no amounts. Moulds hold 0.5, 1, 2–3 or 7–8 kg.
Whole ewe milk · From up to four milkings of Sarda and Comisana ewes, kept at 4–6 °C and worked within 2 days[arsial-ferentino][onaf-ferentino]
Lamb rennet paste or calf rennet granules[arsial-ferentino]
Thermophilic lactic culture · Only for pasteurised milk, added at 38 °C[onaf-ferentino]
Salt · Dry salt, one day on each face[arsial-ferentino][onaf-ferentino]
Wheat straw for smoking, or grape pomace (optional)[arsial-ferentino][onaf-ferentino]
Starter: none for raw milk; thermophilic cultures at 38 °C for pasteurised milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 6.1 months – 12 months

Start
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4–6 °C

What changes: Starting material: ewe milk from up to four milkings, kept cold for two days

Step 1 of 9
Chill the milk
Time
2 days
Set
Temperature
4–6 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus lactis
L. plantarum
L. curvatus

Output: raw or pasteurised ewe milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white

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 stays raw only in the spring pasture months, and the moulded cheeses drain for 2–3 hours in whey at 60 °C. Some wheels are finished with a short straw smoke or a month in grape pomace.

Milk
Whole ewe milk; raw from March to May, pasteurised from June to February
Ripening
6–7 to 12 months; also sold fresh as primo sale
Rind
Wrinkled, yellow to dark yellow, thin to thick
Size
0.5 kg to 7–8 kg; flat-faced cylinder

Related ferments

Variants

  • Primo saleSold fresh, 0.5–1 kg.
  • AffumicatoSmoked 30 minutes over wheat straw.
  • Alla vinacciaFinished about a month in grape pomace in September and October.

Safety

Spring cheese is made from raw milk. In a challenge study, E. coli O157 added to raw ewe milk was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening, so clean milk matters. The regional sheet notes that, as a PAT product, it may use the hygiene derogations allowed for traditional foods.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157 in raw ewe milk; in a challenge study it was still detectable in pecorino after 90 days of ripening.

History and sources

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

Ferentino, on the old Via Casilina, has kept sheep since pre-Roman times on well-watered pastures. The cheese has its own festival on the first Sunday of June.

  1. [arsial-ferentino] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Pecorino di Ferentino', p. 173gov
  2. [onaf-ferentino] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet 'Pecorino di Ferentino', PAT Regione Lazioweb
  3. [roselli2025] Roselli M., Colafranceschi F., Cipriani V. et al. 2025, Isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from an Italian traditional raw milk cheese (Pecorino di Picinisco), Microorganisms 13(6):1368, doi:10.3390/microorganisms13061368 (abstract)paper
  4. [centorotola2021] Centorotola G., Sperandii A.F., Tucci P. et al. 2021, Survival rate of Escherichia coli O157 in artificially contaminated raw and thermized ewe milk in different Pecorino cheese production processes, International Journal of Food Microbiology 347:109175, doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2021.109175 (abstract)paper