Ricotta info
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
Typology PAT : Cheese and Ricotta
Production area:
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Territory interested in production: Messina.
Brief description of the product: The color, flavor and consistency of the ricotta depend on the number of batches that take place during processing. A ricotta passed in the oven a few times will be light, ivory in color, creamy and with a delicate flavor; a ricotta passed in the oven many times will be brown in color, with greater consistency and a markedly aromatic flavor. The weight varies from gr. 500 to about 1 Kg. With a side of 5-8 cm. and a diameter of 12-16 cm.
Description of the processing, conservation and maturing methods: Buttermilk, "lacciata" from cow, sheep, goat or mixed, residue from the extraction of the curd, is heated in traditional "quadare" tinned copper boilers up to a temperature of 50-55 ° C and is added with a 10 % of raw whole milk. We then proceed by shaking the mass from time to time with a wooden stick "zubbo", or "riminaturi", until it reaches 80 ° C, at this temperature the acidifier (sour or water with vinegar) is added. Once surfaced, with the “vacilotta” the ricotta is collected in the traditional “cavagne” containers of reeds or wooden strips, and is placed to drain on a sloping wooden table “tavuliere or mastreddu”. After 1-2 days (depending on the season), the recipes are salted, placed on the ceramic containers and left to dry for about a week. The baking, if done with traditional methods and wood-fired ovens, is repeated from 5 to 10 times, depending on the season and the type of baked ricotta you want to produce (fresh or grated).
Specific materials and equipment used for preparation and conditioning: “Zubbo or riminaturi” wooden stick, “quarara” tin-plated copper boiler, “cavagna or ncannara” cane basket, “mastrello” wooden boards, wooden shelves.
Description of the processing, storage and maturing rooms:
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: It is a product of the most ancient peasant tradition. After baking the bread, the residual heat from the wood oven was used and the ricotta was cooked and dried.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily
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