Pecorino Terre di Siena PDO
History and territory
Historical information regarding Pecorino Terre di Siena dates back to the fifteenth century: in 1458, Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II) recognized that the cheese of Chiusure (in the municipality of Asciano) was the best pecorino he had ever tasted. In the following centuries the pecorino senese continued to be particularly appreciated. So Giorgio Dal Pra wrote in the” Bullettino delle società toscane d’agricoltura ” in 1933:” it is a cheese that, well worked, succeeds of an uncommon goodness and delicacy, both for the characteristic flavour of its paste and the aroma imparted to it by the pasture flora”.
Product
The pecorino Terre di Siena PDO, is produced exclusively with milk obtained from sheep bred in the production area. It is processed for less than 36 hours for raw cheese and 48 hours for pasteurized cheese.
The rind has a white to yellowish colour for the fresh or medium-aged product, while the yellow becomes more intense for the more seasoned cheese. The interior varies from white in the fresh pecorino to straw in the more mature ones. The delicate taste has a characteristic aroma of milk for the fresh product, slightly spicy and more marked for the seasoned one.