Cheese

Pecorino Siciliano DOP is one of Italy’s most ancient cheeses, with origins dating back more than two thousand years. Greek settlers in Sicily already practiced sheep farming and cheese production, and later the Romans praised hard sheep’s milk cheeses from the island. The historian Diodorus Siculus wrote in the 1st century BC about Sicilian cheese “of exceptional quality”. Today, Pecorino Siciliano holds DOP status (since 1996) and represents one of the oldest documented cheeses in Europe.

Production Area and Sicilian Terroir

The cheese is produced across Sicily, mainly in pastoral inland provinces such as Palermo, Agrigento, Trapani, and Enna. The landscape here, with its limestone hills, aromatic wild herbs and Mediterranean climate, creates exceptional grazing for local sheep breeds. The milk used must come from native Sicilian breeds such as Valle del Belice, Comisana, and Pinzirita, all well adapted to the island’s dry and rugged environment. This unique milk is the foundation of Pecorino Siciliano’s distinctive character.

Traditional Production

Pecorino Siciliano is made from raw sheep’s milk and produced according to long-standing artisanal methods. Coagulation is done with lamb rennet (caglio di agnello), which contributes to the cheese’s rustic, slightly wild aroma profile. After curd cutting and manual pressing, the cheese is shaped in baskets made of cane or in modern molds that mimic the traditional basket design. These give Pecorino Siciliano its iconic striated rind.

Salting is done dry and by hand, and maturation ranges from 4 months up to over 12 months depending on the desired style. The younger cheeses are mild, while the older ones are intense and complex.

Flavour and Texture

In its youth (fresco), Pecorino Siciliano is compact and slightly elastic in texture with subtle sweetness and notes of fresh milk, wild herbs and grass. As it matures (stagionato), the paste becomes harder and more crumbly, developing savoury umami, salty depth and a pleasantly piquant finish typical of aged pecorino. The aroma often carries hints of lanolin, hay, toasted nuts and warm Mediterranean vegetation.

Compared to other pecorino cheeses, Pecorino Siciliano is more rustic than Pecorino Toscano and less sharp and salty than the widely known Pecorino Romano. It delivers pure character and a strong sense of place.

Production Volume

Unlike mass-produced pecorino styles, Pecorino Siciliano remains a relatively rare cheese, much of which is consumed locally in Sicily. Only a small volume is exported, and DOP-certified versions are even harder to find—making it a true gem for cheese enthusiasts.

Culinary Uses

Pecorino Siciliano is an essential ingredient in Sicilian cuisine. It can be enjoyed both as a table cheese and grated over pasta. Traditional uses include:

• Pasta alla Norma – over tomato, aubergine and basil
• Pasta con le sarde – a Sicilian classic with sardines, fennel and raisins
• Pane cunzatu – rustic bread with tomato, oregano and olive oil
• Arancini – as a flavorful filling
• Salads and antipasti – with olives, capers and sun-dried tomatoes

For pairing, aged Pecorino Siciliano matches beautifully with Nero d’Avola, Cerasuolo di Vittoria or Etna Rosso. Younger versions pair well with Sicilian whites like Grillo or Carricante.

A Cheese with Soul

Pecorino Siciliano is more than a cheese – it is a cultural expression of Sicily’s shepherding traditions, climate and rugged beauty. Bold, authentic and full of character, it is a must-try for anyone passionate about real cheese with personality and heritage.

Soumaintrain is one of the Burgundian cheeses, perhaps the less well-known, sort of an underdog. For no reason really, because it is a cheese that stands out in its own right. Very tasteful. Milder than some of the other Burgundian washed rind cheeses which I find positive. So which are the others,? Well Epoisses obviously, Citeaux and also Ami du Chambertin which is the youngest of them all. Washed rind cheeses are absolutely connected to manasteries in one way or the other. Well, not Ami du Chambertin, though. But Citeaux and Epoisses were originally created by monks, and while Citeaux still is, Epoisses is not. Soumaintrain on the other hand was created by the locals because they had to pay tithe to the Pontigny monastery.

The Abbey

The abbey was founded in 1114 as a daughter of Abbaye de Citeaux, the monastery just south of Dijon. The monastery was suppressed in 1471 during the French revolution, but the church has remained up until this day. Even though the cheese has nothing to do with the monastery as such, there would probably have been no cheese if it was not for the monastery, because, as mentioned above, the locals started to make the cheese to pay tithe to the monastery. Very common in those days, and not totally uncommon today either, but more as monetary gifts today.

Soumaintrain area – where is it made?

Over the years the area where the cheese is made has broadened, even though there is a concentration of farmstead producers in Yonne. But the cheese may be produces in quite a few of the communes of Aube and Côte-d’Or as well. Not a huge volume with about 200 tonns made every year, a quarter of which is farmstead.

So why am I so concerned with this cheese? It is so delicate. Milk. At least those cheeses I have tasted, and I must admit I have not tasted them all, from the different manufacturers I mean. My favourite is the farmstead cheese made by Gaec Leclère (Gaec = Good agricultural and environmental conditions.) Soft and silky texture, the rind is light yellow. Not too opulent and a smooth taste. Of course the fresher it is, the milder and with age it turns more opulent, but still on the moderate side.

Recipes and pairings

Soumaintrain melts well, have you thought of using it in a Burgundian omelette with chives and tarragon? Try it. You can also use it in a Tartiflette. Soumaintrain works well with Chablis, the neighbouring district to the south. Wanna go north? There’s always Champagne. On the red side a Beaujolais or a light Burgundy. If you prefer beer, try a citrusy Saison or a Belgian fruity Trippel. On the non-alcoholic side Chamomile tea should pair well. And if I have it for breakfast I drink coffee with milk.

So go look for at at your nearest cheesemonger or a well equipped supermarket. Depending on your whereabouts, it could be a pasteurised version that’s available, still a Soumaintrain though.

Enjoy.

Fresh mozzarella?

Mozzarella is a fresh cheese, a very fresh cheese. As with bread, today’s bread is fresh, yesterday’s, old. This is also the case with mozzarella. It’s just that for the most part at least we Norwegians are not used to it. We mostly eat old grocery-bought mozzarella. If you have been to the south of Italy where they really have a culture for mozzarella, there is no question of eating day-old cheese. After a day it is used, for example, on pizza, but never eaten as is.

In October I was on a trip in Campania and we visited a small winery outside Naples which is actually located in an archaeological excavation area. We had to be approved in advance to be allowed in: number, name and position. There we got fresh Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP. It has a protected designation of origin. We also got pizza, it was yesterday’s cheese. If you’ve ever tasted fresh mozzarella, you know what I’m talking about. Then it has something to do with lifestyle and tradition. Have just spent a week in Italy, in Rome and the surrounding areas. Had the pleasure of queuing up in Ostia, outside a cheese shop where most people bought fresh mozzarella. Bought a piece of Caciocavallo with me as well after a lot of haggling in English and Italian where we found out it was made from raw milk. Enough about that. There was a queue every morning before the shop opened at half past nine. If you happen to have mozzarella that is not quite fresh, you can click HERE and get some inspiration. A small point I got on my way out from the mozzarella shop in Ostia, they understood I was a foreigner. “No fridge”. I got my cheeses in a thick bag with lots of brine in it. And there they were supposed to be, at room temperature. Done talking.

What is Mozzarella?

The title is a quote from the consortium that governs the regulations for Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP and may be descriptive. They are of course concerned that real mozzarella is made from buffalo milk, raw or pasteurized for the record. The word mozzarella itself is generic and can be made from any milk, anywhere in the world. And so it is. In short, it can be any kind of fresh cheese as long as it is made according to the pasta filata method. Pasta filata is a production method for cheese that is characterized by the fact that the curd, after it has been cut open and the whey drained off, is allowed to grow together into “cakes” and then left. These cakes are then split and placed in boiling water, kneaded and stretched into long strands. After this process, the curd is shaped in the tradition of the cheese being made, in our case traditional mozzarella balls.

Mozzarella di bufala must be from buffalo milk, naturally enough, and if you throw in Campana, it must come from defined areas. As always, this area is larger today than it was initially. So in addition to Campania where it is said that it all started, today the cheese can be made in parts of Lazio; i.e. the provinces of Latina, Frosinone and Rome, as well as parts of Puglia and Molise, more specifically parts of the province of Foggia and the municipality of Venafro. That’s how it is. One would think that the cheese I bought came from one of the areas in Lazio, but no, a good two hours away from Campania. Handmade in a cheese factory not so old, La Baronia, in Castel di Sasso. Established in 1990.

The cheese often comes in slightly different shapes. A bit like chèvre. Treccia is braided, it appears slightly firmer in texture; Bocconcini are the size of fish balls, Ciliegine is a little smaller and nice to use in, for example, salads. Sometimes it is also called Ciliegine ovolina. Even smaller than Ciliegine is Perlina. Nodini is simply nodular. In addition, of course, Burrata and the perhaps somewhat more unknown stracciatella. Stracciatella is great on its own, but also makes up the filling in a Burrata. It should also be mentioned that mozzarella can be smoked as well, affumicata.

What about Fior di latte?

This is a much less known cheese, at least in this country. However, it is a mozzarella, but unlike the generic variety, it calls for a Fior di latte. It must be made from cow’s milk, and it must be whole milk to use that expression, i.e. full fat milk. No adjustment of the fat content. With maturation of just a few hours, it is fresher than, for example, Mozzarella di bufala, Fior di latte probably appears creamier than the buffalo milk variety.

Last week I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of cheese makers from Ukraine on a study tour to Norway to learn about our cheese traditions in general, but more specifically learn about brown cheese. This previously very Norwegian “cheese” regarded as a curiosity by the rest of the world is about to gain world wide reputation. There are two aspects to that, how great a Norwegian product has caught the interest of the cheese world meaning a lot of cheese makers both see the value of the product but not least see the economy of utilising the whey. On the other hand, the Norwegians need to hold on to the tradition that this is originally a Norwegian product. Some see this interest from abroad as a danger. I don’t. We just have to focus on our wide array of traditional brown cheeses. The thing is brown cheese is not one thing, there are many of them using various combinations of cow’s and goat’s whey added milk and cream in any combination you may think of. Brown cheese is a generic designation of a cheese that is as different as the areas they come from and the cheese makers making them. So can we deny the rest of the world to boil whey until it thickens and turns brown? Think not. But we can of course deny the world to call it Brunost.

The thing is, I have checked and there is hardly any of the brown cheeses in Norway that have any mention of brunost on their packaging. Heidalsost does, though, but rather discreet. They are branded with their individual names, such as for instance Gudbrandsdalsost. So brunost is something we use colloquially but not something producers use to identify their product.

Cheesemaking in Ukraine

What kind of cheese do they make in Ukraine? All sorts actually, just like anywhere else. From cow’s, goat’s and ewe’s milk with the two former being dominant. And as might be obvious from the above, brown cheese. And, look at the top image, they make beautiful cheese art. Made from pasta filata style cheese.

The reason though, why this delegation came all the way from Ukraine to Norway was of course to learn more about brown cheese, but also to learn how to organise the cheese makers, how we sell our cheese and so on. Just as important. After our day at Avdem they sat up till 3 am to discuss organisational matters. So when they have been to Aurland, Undredal, Hol and also as far as I know met with the leader of the board of Norsk Gardsost, I think they have a pretty good view of how we are doing things, and hopefully can utilise this knowledge to develop their trade. I am sure someone is willing to go there to do some consulting as well. Could bring back home some valuable know-how as well as a bonus.

Big and small

Of those attending there were small cheesemakers with a few goats or buying milk from neighbours, and there were big players with 1700 milking goats and 500 cows, describing themselves as small, making 600 tonnes of cheese a year. Ukraine is a huge farming country as we have learned through the news regarding export of grain. But obviously not just grain. They are undoubtedly a major global food supplier. It’s a big country and more than half of the area is arable land. Farming gives employment to about 14 per cent of the country’s population and farm products are by far the biggest export commodity. The current situation is particularly strainfull for the small farmers, the type of farmer that just visited Norway to learn more. It’s impressive in this situation how they travel to learn how to develop their trade to secure incomes and employment. These farmers and cheese makees are true stayers. They deserve our support.