Pecorino from the Pistoia Mountains Slow Food® 400g

Slow Food Pistoia Mountain Pecorino

Whole form weighing about 750g/800g

Abbucciato: aged for at least 35 days

Produced with own forage

Extremely sought-after cheese, almost unobtainable

only a few pieces available

“La massese” Autochthonous Tuscan sheep breed.

A black sheep with horns.
With the milk of the masses, often milked by hand, the dairy farmers produce three types of pecorino: 

1. Il Fresco (which ages very little, from 7 to 20 days), 
2. l'Abbucciato (aged for at least 35 days) e 
3. pecorino da Asserbo (which matures from three months up to a year). 

All three have a round shape (the first two weigh about 1, 1,5 kg; the third even reaches 3 kilograms). The rind is smooth, with a color ranging from straw yellow to gray brown, depending on the ageing.

Pecorino from the Pistoia Mountains Characteristics

It is a sheep's milk cheese produced in the homonymous mountainous area of ​​Tuscany. Here are three main points about his description:

1. Organoleptic characteristics:

Pecorino della Montagna Pistoiese has a compact texture, white or straw yellow in colour, with fine and uniform holes. The taste is strong, savory and slightly spicy.

2. Production Method:

This cheese is produced with raw sheep's milk from the mountainous areas of Tuscany. The curd is obtained by adding natural rennet and the cheese is then matured for a period of at least 4 months.

3. Use in the kitchen:

Pecorino della Montagna Pistoiese is suitable for consumption alone or in combination with other typical products of the area, such as Tuscan bread and honey. It is also a common ingredient in Tuscan dishes, such as tagliatelle with Pecorino and risotto with prawns and Pecorino.

Ancient centenary tradition of pecorino

In the Pistoia mountains there are families of shepherds and cheese makers who make pecorino cheese as they did a hundred years ago: they take the sheep to the mountain pastures, they use natural rennet and, above all, they have never dreamed of pasteurizing the milk. 

Their cheese has remained faithful to the traditional recipe and, above all, to raw milk, a real rarity in the Tuscan dairy scene.

There are currently around fifteen producers in the Presidium, scattered over the mountains but united in the Pistoia Mountains and Valleys Consortium. 

Their main production is pecorino which together with the other two dairy products that they obtain from the processing of sheep's milk (raveggiolo and ricotta)

Pecorino della Montagna Pistoiese Slow Food Presidium

By enhancing the cheese, the Presidium intends to safeguard the pastures and guarantee a fair remuneration for families who have decided to stay or return to the mountains.

Who produces the pecorino cheese from the Pistoia mountains

Rachele Petrucci, 22 years old, perhaps the youngest entrepreneur-shepherd in Tuscany.

The name of the company is to remember her grandmother, who passed on the passion for this job to her.

He took over his grandmother's company, in San Marcello Piteglio, and boasts a heritage made up of 140 sheep from Massa (the typical breed of the Apennines)

THE SLOW FOOD PRESIDIUM

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Catia verdicts, San Marcello Piteglio (PT) TUSCANY