Sicilian Provola
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
PAT type: Cheeses
Production area:
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Historical equipment: Wooden vat, wooden "patella" stick, wooden "mastredda" container, small wooden or tinned copper vat for spinning "sieve", wooden "crank" stick. Direct wood-gas fire.
Brief historical notes: Sicilian provola together with caciocavallo is one of the oldest cheeses on the island. It differs from caciocavallo for size, shape, and from a technological point of view, for a reduced duration of salting and seasoning.
Type: Stretched curd cheese.
Production: The entire Sicilian territory.
Main production technology lines:
- species / breed: Cow mainly of Modica breed;
- raw material: Whole milk, raw;
- microflora: Natural;
- rennet: Lamb and / or kid pasta;
prevailing power supply system: Natural pasture rich in spontaneous substances.
processing techniques: The Sicilian provola is produced with traditional techniques. The milk coagulates in a wooden vat at 34-37 ° C with lamb and / or kid rennet paste. After cooking, the curd is left to mature and drain for about 3-4 hours on wooden boards. The spinning is manual and the provola are shaped by hand in the typical tapered pear shape with head;
salting: In saturated brine for a time varying from 4 to 6 hours approximately in relation to the size. Technical data: Pear shape. The rind is thin, smooth and amber in color. The paste is straw yellow in color, compact. The smell is pleasant and the flavor is sweet and delicate. It weighs about 1 Kg.
Historical references:
Antoninus Bird: "Cattle, pecorari, curatuli". Dairy culture in Sicily, Stass, Palermo, 1980.
National Institute of Rural Sociology: "Atlas of typical products": Cheeses ", Franco Angeli, Milan, 1990.
CNR: "The dairy products of the South ", 1992.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily
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