Caciocavallo (“Cascavallu”) from Palermo
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
PAT type: Cheeses
Production area: Territory of Palermo
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Historical equipment: Wooden vat, wooden "patella" stick, wooden container for pressing "cisca", "cannara" cane trellis, "appizzatuma" wooden stick, "vaciliatuma" wooden stick, "piddiaturi" spinning container, wooden boards and container "boards", tinned copper boiler.
Direct wood-gas fire.
Maturing rooms: Maturing takes place in traditional rooms, with thick walls that make them very fresh, humid and ventilated at times "underground", there are also cellars and natural caves with geologically natural walls where the cheeses are placed on wooden shelves.
Brief historical notes: Trasselli in "Some Calmieri Palermitani del '400" reports that as early as March 1412 there is a clear reference to this cheese, even differentiating it from others such as cacio vacchino and cacio pecorino. You can find historical hints that show the use of Palermo both on the tables of the nuns and in those of the nobles as a particularly valuable food.
It was in fact considered a product of high nutritional value suitable for refreshments offered by princes and barons and was used as a bargaining chip in rental contracts.
Type: Stretched curd cheese.
Production: The province of Palermo and some municipalities in the province of Trapani with peaks of greater production in the area of Godrano and Cinisi.
Main production technology lines:
- species / breed: Cow;
- raw material: Whole milk, raw;
- microflora: Natural;
- rennet: Lamb or kid pasta;
prevailing power supply system: Natural and cultivated pasture integration of fodder and concentrates in the stable in variable quantities with respect to the forage season;
processing techniques: Palermo is produced with traditional techniques using ancient tools. The milk coagulates in a wooden vat at 35 ° C with lamb rennet paste. The curd is drained with the help of a particular wooden container, "cisca", is then cooked under the scald for about 4 hours, after which it is placed on a "cannara" reed trellis to be able to press it; the paste obtained is hung on a wooden stick "appizzatuma" to facilitate the purging of the whey. The next day it is cut, placed in the "piddiaturi", container for spinning, and spun with the sheet and the help of a wooden "vaciliatuma" stick. The sphere of pasta, tightly closed by the expert hands of the cheesemaker, is placed on the wooden "board" where it will acquire the historical parallelepiped shape. The next day it is immersed in brine;
salting: In saturated brine for a variable period according to the weight, for a maximum of 10-12 days;
seasoning: From 1 to 4 months for the semi-seasoned, over 4 months for the seasoned. Technical data: Parallelepiped shape. The rind is thin, smooth and amber in color. The paste is straw yellow in color, compact, tenacious and with advanced maturation layers.
The smell is characteristic fragrant and the spicy taste. It weighs about 8-12 kg.
Historical references:
Pliny the Elder: "Naturalis Historia ”(11th book).
Pietro de Crescenzi: "Liber ruralium commodorum", 1294.
Homer: "Odyssey" (9th book), 1950th-XNUMXth century. BC, Onorato Castellino – Vincenzo Peloso, Graphic Workshops XNUMX.
Virgil: "Bucolics and Georgics" (Eclogue V and book 3), 37-30 BC / 42-39 BC, Lorenzo Giudice, 1954.
Cock: “The twenty days of agriculture and the pleasures of the villa”, XNUMXth century. A.D
Municipal Archive of Palermo, vol. 23 n. 2; calmiere imposed by the jurors and arbitrators for retail sale in the markets - March 21, 1412.
Carmelo Trasselli: "Calmiere of retail supplies in Palermo", 1412-1440 from the municipal archive of Palermo.
Carmelo Trasselli: "Some Calmieri Palermo of the '400, extracted from: Economia e storia, Italian magazine of economic and social history, 1968, fasc. 3.
Ignazio Gattuso: “Economy and rural society of Sicily, XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries.
Notary Guglielmo Mazzapiedi, 5th November 1421th century, ind. 839; state archive of Palermo, vol. XNUMX, f.
103
Notary Luca Cuccia, 25 August XIV century, ind. 1601; State Archives of Palermo, V. st. vol. 1022, f. 485 V.
Relief from the University of Mezzojuso (appendix no.5) quoted in Ignazio Gattuso: “Economy and society in a rural town in Sicily; XVI-XIX centuries ". Tumminelli Publisher Palermo.
Archive of the Collegiate Churches of Monreale, vol. SCA 1 bis.
Antonino Bird “Bovari, Pecorari, Curatoli”. Dairy culture in Sicily, Stass, Palermo, 1980.
ARAS “The typical cheeses of Sicily” Palermo, 1986.
Vizzardi-Maffeis "Italian cheeses", Agricultural editions, Bologna, 1990.
National Institute of Rural Sociology: "Atlas of typical products: cheeses", Franco Angeli, Milan, 1990.
CNR: “The dairy products of the South”, 1992.
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry: "Italian DOC cheeses" published by UNALAT in collaboration with INSOR, Franco Angeli, Milan, 1992.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily
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