Sant’Anna Organic Farm

Fratelli Sanna

Cheese

FRESH PECORINO

This is a shortly aged sheep cheese with a bright thin rind, slightly amber colored.

The texture is always soft,  the smell and the aroma are fresh and acidified lactic .

As soon as the pecorino is made, the flavour of fresh milk and yogurth prevails, but on aging, an aroma resembling browsed grass emerges and gives cheese a more complex aroma.

Our fresh cheese (caciotta) made in the winter time is very interesting on the olfactory profile and highly wanted:

its paste is very soft and creamy, it looses its shape easily and has an intense lactic smell.

Fresh pecorino is often used in cooking since it melts easily. It is best appreciated in simple dishes: very good if melted on roasted bread slices.

Once heated it gives out an intense fresh smell, well matching with flavor coming from bread: that is why this greediness still holds from old times when it could be prepared in the fireplace directly and served also as a snack. Not only kids of the past appreciated it but also children nowadays like it more than industrial snacks with an artificial taste.

AGED PECORINO

This is a mature and tasty sheep cheese.

It's rind is dark, treated with olive oil or tomato sauce to improve storage for a long period. The rind, after cleaning and brushing, can be eaten since no chemical additives are used as preservatives.

The paste is bright yellow and becomes more intense as aging goes on. Texture is compact with tiny holes in pasteurized-milk cheese and larger holes in the raw-milk type.

Acidic and salty tastes are well balanced and  a piquant sensation is present too.

On aging the smell gains in complexity: lactic aromas are accompanied by hay aromas together with ones of resins and pine kernels. These aromas are especially appreciated in raw-milk cheese. This wide variety of aromas with many others can be recognized by expert cheese tasters.

Aged pecorino is best served with tuscan bread (made with wheat flour without salt) accompanied by red wine.

It's wonderful at the end of a meal, as second course or as a snack.

DIETARY CHARACTERISTICS

A higher fat percentage is present in this cheese with respect to the fresh ones, since on aging it looses water. This can be regarded as a disadvantage for diet but we must remember that an aged cheese is not usually consummed in large quantities as a fresh one: its full taste satisfies consumer's appetite quicker .

Fat component, on the other hand, is the most responsible for cheese aromas that are produced by lipolytic activity of microrganisms digesting milk fat and fat itself  is an important vehicle for aromas.

Aged cheese is highly digestible: on aging, proteins are partly digested by microrganisms. For this reason it is recommended.

MILK FAT QUALITY OF PASTURE FED RUMINANTS

 The best quality of cheese made from milk of grass fed ruminants, has always been sensed by shepherds and cheesemakers.

The fat content of this cheese turns out to be composed of a larger percent of unsaturated fatty acids versus fat of cheese made from milk of animals intensively reared. Researchers and experts of nutrition pointed out the importance of  conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) for human health. These molecules could be of benefit in preventing cardiovascular diseases and tumors.

In brief, good aged cheese can be highly recommended to a healthy Mediterranean diet for the digestibility and for its fat quality.

Sanna Antonio, Paolo e Pietro S.S. - Podere Sant’Anna - Strada Radi-Siena, 6149 - 53014 – Monteroni d’Arbia (SI)

tel e fax 0577.378007 - Email: fllisanna@libero.it   www.fratellisanna.it