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Sicilian cheeses The first historical documents that give us news about the cheese go up to the period of the Egyptians and the Sumeris, while the first documents about the Sicilian cheeses go up to the classical Greek world. Cheese is a food rich in important nourishing substances for the human organism as the calcium, the noble proteins and the phosphorus. It is also true, however, that it also contains a large percentage of calories and cholesterol. .
It is interesting the approach of this food to the wine, even if the choice, is often difficult for the presence of fats in the cheese. The general rule is to serve light wines together fresh cheeses and wines with a more definite taste together the seasoned and spicy ones. The milk's workmanship to make cheeses requires the use of several tools and the respect of some working phases as the shattering, the discharging, the seasoning and the use of seculars tools of job, as the copper boiler, the wood bowl and the particular copper ladle. The different tools used to prepare cheeses are nearly identical in the varied island provinces, only the dialect names used can be different.
The MAIORCHINO Perhaps the Maiorchino has had origin around the 17th century. During the Carnival time in Novara of Sicily, the shepherds compete in the traditional “Ruzzola” letting roll the seasoned whole cheeses in the principal street of the country. It is produced working raw milk of sheep (with around 30 % of milk of goat) with rennet of kidskin or lamb. The equipments are the traditional ones: boiler of tinning copper (quarara), wood baton (brocca), basket wood (garbua),table wood (mastrello), wood or iron pole (minacino).
With an iron needle (the minacino) they are let go out the beads of air formed in the pasta, pressing gently then with the hands. The Maiorchino has a cylindrical shape with plain or faces concave face, the cheese rind is light yellow and finally when seasoned it becomes brown. The Maiorchino is an extraordinary kind of Sicilian cheese called “ Pecorino” that is risking seriously to come to an end. It links well together sweet wines as the Marsala or the Malvasia of Lipari, but with the Etna Rosso, the Nerello Mascalese or Cappuccio, following the Sicilian country tradition.
THE SICILIAN CANESTRATO The Sicilian Canestrato is a very appreciated cheese, made only in small farms with and for this reason it has a very particular and refined taste. It is mentioned since the 15th century together different products in the leasing contracts between the bailiff and the farmers for the use of large landed properties. It is called sometimes “Tumazza or Tumazzu”.
Giogab, handicraft laboratory of milk, produces the Sicilian Canestrato founded in an ancient recipe mentioned in one of these ancient documents. It is a hard paste cheese whose cylindrical shape shows a white-yellowish rind where are visible the signs of the basket . It is consumed fresh or seasoned for almost 6 months.
Cosacavaddu Rausanu Among all the Sicilian cheeses the Cosacavaddu Rausanu is one of the best and one of the most important for its historical value. It is made with spun paste and whole milk of cow, and it is worked in handicraft way absolutely with traditional equipments. The zone of production is the province of Ragusa. In 1955 it has had the recognition of the typical denomination; in 1996 has received the Denomination of Protected Origin (DOP).
Its exceptional goodness is due above all to the good quality of the milk, deriving almost exclusively from bovine race “Modicana” that is nourished in the countries of Ragusa, rich of aromatic fodder kind like the wild thyme that gives to the cheese a particular aroma and a very delicate taste. It is consumed fresh and very seasoned (up to 12 months) or good grated cheese. It has got the characteristic form of a parallelepiped, in the seasoned one the furrows of the ropes of support are noticed during the seasoning.
The Sicilian Pecorino The Sicilian Pecorino is one of the most famous Sicilian cheeses and certainly the most ancient, thanks to the testimonies of Humerus and Plinio that anciently had interested about this island production. It has a cylindrical shape, the crust is yellow-whitish , oily, with a white or yellowish compact pasta. It is made by whole milk of sheep, heated in wood tubs with rennet of lamb. After the coagulation after around 45 minutes it is deposed in “fascedde” (forms) of rush that give to the cheese the typical draw of the crust. After one day it is salted rubbing the surface abundantly. The operation is repeated in 10 days.
The Pecorino has gotten the recognition of the denomination of origin in 1955 and it has received the denomination of origin protected from EEC in 1996. Cheese is also dealt without salting and it takes the name of “Tuma”, after 8/10 days from the production, is called “Primo sale” and after 2/4 months “Secondo sale”. Seasoned with a temperature between 12 and the 16 degrees for almost four months, it shows a yellowish colour and a hard and compact paste, it has a salty taste and it has specific characteristics. The Pecorino is also sold with addition of pepper, chilly or olives, introduced in the paste during the production.
The Piacentinu Ennese The Piacentinu is also remembered in the 5th century A.C., in a publication of the historical Gallo in which he mentions the addition of the saffron to the cheese. But the name “Piacentinu ennese " lets think that its origins still goes up to a period around 859, when the Arabs conquered a part of the city changing the name of " Henna " in Castrum Hennae (Castrogiovanni) and that, the shepherd that gave the yellow colour to the cheese with the saffron, could be a sicano, a siculo, a Greek or perhaps a Roman that lived in Henna, the most ancient of the so-called "mountains of the wool."
We also find other news in a book writing between 1681 and 1682 from Francesco Maja from the title " Sicilia passeggiata" remained manuscript until to 1985. In substance the Piacentinu is Pecorino, but its technique of production and the saffron makes it an appreciated cheese, made on ordination. It has hard paste, cooked, with a yellow gold crust, it has cylindrical shape and is produced in more places of the province. Combined to some first typical Sicilian dishes such as the noodle chicken soup , it confers to the course harmony and completeness of unique taste. It is used alternatively to the Pecorino in all the dishes of the culinary tradition of Enna such as the recipe of the “Capretto abbuttunato "). The particular taste of this cheese, appreciated mostly above all in the two different phases of maturation: - half-seasoned: table cheese with a slightly spicy taste and the typical aroma of the saffron; - Seasoned: table cheese and grated cheese with a definite and particular aromatic characteristic.
Provola dei Nebrodi It is the traditional Sicilian Caciocavallo made on the the Nebrodi Mountains. The form is egg-shaped, with the classical head of the Caciocavallo (used to tie the forms and to hang them). It is produced with bovine milk coagulated with the rennet of lamb or of kidskin and then spun (throwing warm water on the mass). The paste of the Provola of the Nebrodi is manipulated for a long time as when bread is mixed, for this reason cheese has the tendency to flake off in mouth. Today the Presidency of the Nebrodi has the tendency to emphasize this ancient cheese and its wild and woody territory,.
The forms have a smooth, shiny, and yellow crust. The taste varies from the sweet to the hot, according the seasoning. It is a good table cheese, also used as ingredient in some typical dishes. For a fresh Provola a correct coupling can be a white wine of Etna; if cheese is seasoned the “Nero D’Avola” or a Nerello Mascalese. A seasoned Provola requires, sweet wines or the Marsala.
Provola delle Madonie More squeezing and paunchy of the Provola of the Nebrodi, it is produced in one of the richest areas of Italy: the Madonies; a mountainous chain from which it can be perceived, the Nebrodis chain and the Eolie Islands. It is a typical cheese made with spun paste with a paunchy straw-covered bottle shape and a smooth, thin and light yellow crust. There are still many shepherds that produce it in handicraft way. The whole milk is heated at 37-38°C in the traditional wood tub and then it is added the rennet. When the right density is reached, the curd is broken and it is left to settle in hot water. The paste is then dried on a wood large table and cut in thin slices that are set in the tub and wet with water at 85°C.
Provola Ragusana The Provola ragusana is famous all over the world for its particular form, it has got in fact a curled narrowing, at the top of a soft and delicate paste. The origin of the name is not known, but it thinks that derives from the word “prova” (try) that’s a piece of pasta that produced during the workmanship to check the spinning of the paste.
It is a soft paste cheese made with whole milk of cow coagulated with rennet of kidskin. The break up of the curd is made with an utensil characteristic said " Rotula ", until to the attainment of clots of the bigness of grains of rice to which hot water is added. After to have left the paste to mature in special wood tubs, it is spun and modelled in its characteristic shape. It’s a very delicate and sweet cheese that can be been eaten fresh.
Ricotte Fresh Ricotta: soft and smearing product, contained in cylindrical or trunk-conic wood or plastic tub, with a pale yellow or white colour, it has got a light but persistent smell of diary produces, with a delicate and soft taste. Salty Ricotta: a compact product of cylindrical or trunk-conic shape; it has a white or white-pale yellow colour with the presence of brown or blackish spots because of the installation of spontaneous mould.
The technique of production changes according to the kind of worked serum (of cow, of sheep, of goat); - Ricotta of cow: it is produced above all with the salting and therefore as grated ricotta. - Ricotta of sheep or goat: it is made as fresh product and can be used in pancakes or in the several kind of the island confectionery; besides, if salted and dried or baked, becomes an excellent product as grated ricotta. .
Vastedda del Belice The Vastedda is the only spun paste cheese of sheep . The name derives in fact from the dialect “vasta” that is spoiled, going to badly. The Idea derives from the workmanship of the Pecorini cheeses bad made and to produce this cheese with high temperature in an egg-shaped form to consume fresh, within two or three days.
The milk derives from an autochthonous race: the sheep of the Belìce, an animal with an elegant head, lengthened and light, strong arts and white fleece. The raw milk is coagulated at around 35-36°C with rennet of lamb or kidskin produced in factory. The breaking off of the mass is made with a wood baton, after a short standstill the paste is picked up in a flax cloth and is deposed on a wood table . After about hour, it is put in a wood tub, and it is covered with warm serum at 55-60°C to help the fermentationThe period of maturation changes according to the period of workmanship, of the external temperature and of the damp. When the correct acidity is reached, the mass is cut in slices in a wood tub, in which very warm water is added (90°C), and worked with the aid of a wood shovel the “Vaciliatuma”. When the paste reaches the correct consistence, it is cut in portions worked manually and assumes the shape of spheres.
These are put carefully in a deep dish of ceramic, where for a shortly time assume the typical egg-shaped flattened form called” Vastedda” (similar to a flat loaf). It’s an extraordinary cheese for its fragrance, the Vastedda must be consumed very fresh. It has a delicate taste and smell of butter with flavour of grasses of the valley of the Belìce as the graminacees and the valerian. The best way to taste it is to cut it in big slices with Sicilian extravergine oil, tomato and oregano. It can be also used as ingredient of some local dishes, for instance the typical “Pane cunzato” (bread, oil, oregano and salt). The shepherds drink with it local red wines but it is better with wines of grape ”Inzolia”.
