🧀 Pecorino

Pecorino is the general name for Italian cheeses made from sheep’s milk (from pecora, “sheep”). The best known of them have EU-protected designations of origin: Pecorino Romano, Pecorino Sardo, Pecorino Toscano and Pecorino Siciliano. They differ in region, ageing and flavour — from a mild young cheese to a hard, salty grating cheese.

For Pecorino Romano, whole sheep’s milk is curdled with lamb rennet; the curd is cut, heated, shaped into wheels and salted for a long time — with dry salt or in brine — so the cheese is noticeably saltier than many others; it is then aged for several months or longer. According to the consortium, it is made exclusively from sheep’s milk from the protected areas — Lazio, Sardinia and the province of Grosseto in Tuscany; sheep in Lazio and Sardinia have been giving milk for this cheese for more than two thousand years.

Pecorino Romano differs from Parmesan in its raw material (sheep’s rather than cow’s milk) and its sharper, saltier taste. It is grated over Roman pasta dishes — carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana; young pecorinos are eaten with honey, pears and broad beans.