Sicilian goat cheese "Formaggiu ri capra"
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
PAT Type : Cheeses
Production Area : The entire Sicilian territory.
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Historical equipment: Wooden vat, wooden rotula, wooden cisca, wooden board, reed baskets (fascedde), tinned copper boiler. Direct wood-gas fire.
Aging rooms: These are dry, cool rooms where the cheeses are arranged on wooden shelves, individually or stacked in pairs. Cellars and caves are also common.
Recurring names derived from different stages of salting/aging: Fresh Tuma, unsalted. Primosale refers to a fresh cheese aged approximately 8-10 days and dry-salted on the outside. Secondosale refers to a semi-aged cheese aged approximately 2-3 months and dry-salted.
Seasoned indicates a cheese, salted in the same way, whose maturation exceeds 3-4 months.
Brief historical notes: The origins of this cheese date back to the 11th century BC. Homer mentions a drink made from grated goat's cheese. Aristotle, in the 4th century BC, also dwelt on Sicilian cheesemaking traditions, extolling the flavor of goat's milk mixed with cow's or sheep's milk.
In the Roman period, XNUMXnd century BC, Varro places the accent on the nourishing qualities of goat's milk and goat's cheeses. A hint of the goodness of goat cheese appears in the "Complete course of theoretical, practical and economic agriculture" by Abbot Rozier around the eighteenth century.
The transformation technology is illustrated in the aforementioned book by Campisi.
Type: Hard, raw cheese.
Production area: The entire Sicilian territory.
Main production technology lines:
- species / breed: Goat;
- raw material: Whole milk, raw;
- microflora: Natural;
- rennet: Goat pasta sometimes of lamb;
Prevalent feeding system: Pasture rich in spontaneous essences rarely integrated with stable feeding.
Production techniques: Formaggiou ri capra (Sicilian goat cheese) is still produced using traditional techniques. The milk curdles in a wooden vat at around 34-35°C with kid and/or lamb rennet paste for about 45 minutes. The curd is drained by hand after being placed in reed baskets called "fascedde" that leave a distinctive pattern on the surface.
When canned, black peppercorns or chilli flakes can be added, it is then blanched for about 4 hours with a hot scald, placed on a wooden board to dry;
Salting: The day after production, the entire surface of the wheel is dry-salted by hand. After 10 days, the wheel is treated again and may be salted again approximately 10 days later.
Maturing: From 2-3 days to over 4 months;
Product characteristics: The shape is cylindrical with flat or slightly concave sides; the rind is white-yellowish, with a rough surface due to the shaping left by the basket, and is coated with oil; the interior is compact, white or straw-yellow with few eyes. The flavor is spicy. It weighs approximately 3 kg.
Historical references:
Pliny the Elder: “ Naturalis Historia” (book 11).
Pietro dè Crescenzi: “Liber ruralum commodorum”, 1294.
Homer: “The Odyssey” (Book 9), 10th-9th century BC, Onorato Castellino–Vincenzo Peloso, Officine Grafiche 1950.
Virgil: “Bucolics and Georgics” (Eclogue V and Book 3), 37-30 BC/42-39 BC, Lorenzo Giudice, 1954.
National Institute of Rural Sociology: “Atlas of Typical Products: Cheeses”, Franco Angeli, Milan, 1990.
Campisi Carmelo "Sheep and pecorino of Sicily", Francesco Battiato publisher, Catania, 1933.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Informational contributions : Web, Sicily Region
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