Pecorino Romano () is a hard, salty Italian

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

, often used for grating, made with

sheep's milk Sheep's milk (or ewes' milk) is the milk of domestic sheep. It is commonly used to make cultured dairy products such as cheese. Some of the most popular sheep cheeses include feta (Greece), ricotta (Italy), and Roquefort (France). Sheep breeds S ...

. The name "pecorino" simply means "ovine" or "of sheep" in Italian; the name of the cheese, although protected, is a simple description rather than a brand: " ormaggiopecorino romano" is simply "sheep's heeseof Rome". Even though this variety of cheese originated in

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, as the name also indicates, most of its actual production has moved to the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

. "Pecorino romano" is an Italian product with name recognized and protected by the laws of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...

. Pecorino Romano was a staple in the diet for the legionaries of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. Today, it is still made according to the original recipe and is one of Italy's oldest cheeses. On the first of May, Roman families traditionally eat pecorino with fresh fava beans during a daily excursion in the

Roman Campagna The Roman Campagna () is a low-lying area surrounding Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, with an area of approximately . It is bordered by the Tolfa and Sabatini mountains to the north, the Alban Hills to the southeast, and the Tyrrh ...

. It is mostly used in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

Overview

A cheese variety of what might be considered the earliest form of today's ''Pecorino Romano'' was first created in the countryside around Rome, whose production methods are described by Latin authors such as

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

and

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

about 2,000 years ago. Its long-term storage capacity led to it being used for feeding Roman legions. A daily ration of about 27 grams (1

Roman ounce The (plural: ) was a Roman unit of length, weight, and volume. It survived as the Byzantine liquid ounce ( grc-gre, οὐγγία, ''oungía'') and the origin of the English inch, ounce, and fluid ounce. The Roman inch was equal to of a ...

) was allotted to the legionaries in addition to bread and farro soup. The cheese gave back strength and vigour since it was a high-energy food that was easy to digest.Pecorino Romano: The Story Behind One of Italy’s Oldest and Most Famous Formaggi
Italy Magazine It was produced only in the region surrounding Rome (

) until the end of the 19th century. In 1884 the Roman city council prohibited salting the cheese in the grocers' shops in Rome, but this could not prevent the establishment of salting premises and cheesemaking premises on the outskirts of Rome or elsewhere in Lazio. Pressure to move production out of Lazio was in fact caused by a great increase in demand for the cheese, which the Lazio flocks could not satisfy. This led several producers to expand their production in Sardinia. Sardinia, which had been experiencing a severe reduction of its forest cover as a direct result of human activity, provided the Roman entrepreneurs with a kind of soil that was ideal for the promotion of

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...

farming. It is produced exclusively from the milk of sheep raised on the plains of Lazio and in Sardinia. Nowadays, most of the cheese is produced on the island, especially in Macomer. Pecorino Romano must be made with lamb

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin an ...

from animals raised in the same production area, and is consequently not suitable for vegetarians. Pecorino Romano is often used on pasta dishes, like the better-known Parmigiano Reggiano. Its distinctive aromatic and pleasantly sharp, very

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

y flavour led to it being preferred for some Italian pasta dishes with highly flavoured sauces, especially those of Roman and Lazio origin, such as '' bucatini all'amatriciana'', '' spaghetti alla carbonara'', '' pasta alla gricia'', and ''spaghetti cacio e pepe'' (of which it is a main ingredient). The sharpness depends on the period of maturation, which varies from five months for a table cheese to eight months or longer for a grating cheese. Most pecorino cheeses are classified as grana and are granular, hard and sharply flavored.

Other types of pecorino

There are other regional types of

pecorino Pecorino cheeses are hard Italian cheeses made from sheep's milk. The name "" derives from ''pecora'' which means sheep in Italian. Overview Of the six main varieties of pecorino, all of which have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) stat ...

cheese. Pecorino Toscano (from

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

) and Pecorino Sardo (from Sardinia) are not particularly salty, and are generally eaten as they are, rather than grated and used as a cooking ingredient. In the United States " Romano cheese" is sometimes sold; it is not based on real pecorino Romano, but is a milder cheese made with cow's milk.

References

External links

*
Production requirements
*
Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Pecorino Romano (Consortium for the Protection of Pecorino Romano Cheese)
{{Italian cheeses Italian cheeses Sheep's-milk cheeses Italian products with protected designation of origin Cuisine of Sardinia Cuisine of Lazio Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union Sardinian cheeses Roman cuisine de:Pecorino (Käse)#Pecorino romano, DOP

Overview

Other types of pecorino

See also

References

External links