Chianti Food Specialities: The Pecorino Cheese
The Chianti diet is traditionally rich in cheese: a nourishing and genuine food that in the past was prepared with excess milk and supplied the necessary energy to cope with hard work in the fields and vineyards.
Pecorino is a typical Tuscan cheese that owes its name to the fact of being made only with sheep milk ("pecora" is the Italian word for sheep). Traditionally, it is produced from late spring to summer, when sheep give birth to their sheeplets and produce much milk.
The process for preparing pecorino cheese has been known since a very long time, and even Pliny the Elder described it in his works. Milk is first curdled and then poured in small round 8-10 cm high, 1-1.5 kg moulds. The operation seems easy, but actually great skills are required in order to prevent milk from lumping and to obtain a homogeneous compound! Some local diaries organize interesting guided tours.
At this point everything depends on the maturation period. "Marzolino" is a soft textured, white cheese delicate and sweet in flavour.
The classical Pecorino Toscano, instead, is ready to be eaten after a maturation period of 3-5 months. Compared to "Marzolino", this PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) Pecorino Toscano cheese has a darker rind, a yellow harder texture and a stronger flavour. Some diaries mature their pecorino cheese with aromatic herbs and even with Chianti wine, thus obtaining the so-called "Pecorino Briaco" ("briaco" is Tuscan word for "ubriaco", which means drunken).
During your holidays in Chianti you could have pleasant picnics with bread and pecorino cheese in the open air. Or you could follow the latest fashionable trends and enjoy a tasty snack with pecorino cheese and honey or sour-sweet jams in some trattorias! Well matured pecorino cheese is widely used as an alternative to Parmigiano for grating over pasta with meat ragu. Excellent!
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