Ericino
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
PAT type: Cheeses
Production area: Erice, Valderice, Custonaci, S.Vito, Castellammare, Calatafimi.
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Area of production: Erice, Valderice, Custonaci, S.Vito, Castellammare, Calatafimi.
Brief description of the product:Compact cheese made with 80% Valle del Belice sheep's milk and 20% Cinisara cow's milk, its size varies from 2 to 7 Kg.
Processing technology: The sheep's milk from Valle del Belice and Cinisara cow's milk coming from one or more milkings at a temperature of about 36 ° C is coagulated in wooden vats with the help of 80 gr lamb rennet paste. per 100 liters of milk, after about 30-40 minutes the curd is broken with the help of a wooden tool "patella" into small fragments like lentils and at the same time hot water is introduced at temperatures of about 50 ° C to increase the temperature of the cheese mass. Then the cheese mass is placed in rush or plastic basins and then placed in the hot sheet for about 4 hours.
The next day it is immersed in saturated brine for a variable period depending on the size, of 12 hours per kg. When it comes out of the brine it is placed in the maturing rooms where it remains for a minimum period of 20 days up to 4 months.
Specific materials and equipment used for preparation and conditioning: Wooden vat, "patella" wooden stick, "cannara" cane trellis, rush or plastic baskets, wooden boards, tinned copper or steel boiler.
Description of the processing, storage and maturing rooms: Processing and storage rooms must be healthy and hygienically acceptable. The cheese is matured in cool and ventilated cellars.
Elements proving that the methodologies have been practiced in a homogeneous way and according to traditional rules for a period of not less than 25 years: L'Ericino has deep roots in the production area. Its origin is dated to the medieval period where the cricini herds were made up of sheep with the presence of some cattle and for this reason the aforementioned type of processing of a mixed cheese was born that is found only in the municipalities mentioned and that comes out of the culture dairy of the other municipalities of Trapani.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily
Note: The population of the cards of the Heritage database proceeds in incremental phases: cataloging, georeferencing, insertion of information and images. The cultural property in question has been cataloged, and the first information has been entered. In order to enrich the information content, further contributions are welcome, if you wish you can contribute through our area "Your Contributions"
