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Sicilian cheeses
The first historical documents that give us news
about the cheese go up to the period of the
Egyptians and the Sumeris, while the first
documents about the Sicilian cheeses go up to
the classical Greek world. Cheese is a food rich
in important nourishing substances for the human
organism as the calcium, the noble proteins and
the phosphorus. It is also true, however, that
it also contains a large percentage of calories
and cholesterol. .
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It is interesting the approach of this food to
the wine, even if the choice, is often difficult
for the presence of fats in the cheese. The
general rule is to serve light wines together
fresh cheeses and wines with a more definite
taste together the seasoned and spicy ones. The
milk's workmanship to make cheeses requires the
use of several tools and the respect of some
working phases as the shattering, the
discharging, the seasoning and the use of
seculars tools of job, as the copper boiler, the
wood bowl and the particular copper ladle. The
different tools used to prepare cheeses are
nearly identical in the varied island provinces,
only the dialect names used can be different.
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The MAIORCHINO
Perhaps the Maiorchino has had origin around the
17th century. During the Carnival time in Novara
of Sicily, the shepherds compete in the
traditional Ruzzola letting roll the seasoned
whole cheeses in the principal street of the
country. It is produced working raw milk of sheep
(with around 30 of milk of goat) with rennet
of kidskin or lamb. The equipments are the
traditional ones boiler of tinning copper
(quarara), wood baton (brocca), basket wood
(garbua),table wood (mastrello), wood or iron
pole (minacino).
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With an iron needle (the minacino) they are let
go out the beads of air formed in the pasta,
pressing gently then with the hands. The
Maiorchino has a cylindrical shape with plain or
faces concave face, the cheese rind is light
yellow and finally when seasoned it becomes
brown. The Maiorchino is an extraordinary kind of
Sicilian cheese called Pecorino that is
risking seriously to come to an end. It links
well together sweet wines as the Marsala or the
Malvasia of Lipari, but with the Etna Rosso,
the Nerello Mascalese or Cappuccio, following the
Sicilian country tradition.
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THE SICILIAN CANESTRATO
The Sicilian Canestrato is a very appreciated
cheese, made only in small farms with and for
this reason it has a very particular and refined
taste. It is mentioned since the 15th century
together different products in the leasing
contracts between the bailiff and the farmers
for the use of large landed properties. It is
called sometimes Tumazza or Tumazzu.
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Giogab, handicraft laboratory of milk, produces
the Sicilian Canestrato founded in an ancient
recipe mentioned in one of these ancient
documents. It is a hard paste cheese whose
cylindrical shape shows a white-yellowish rind
where are visible the signs of the basket . It
is consumed fresh or seasoned for almost 6
months.  
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Cosacavaddu Rausanu
 Among all the Sicilian cheeses the Cosacavaddu
Rausanu is one of the best and one of the most
important for its historical value. It is made
with spun paste and whole milk of cow, and it is
worked in handicraft way absolutely with
traditional equipments. The zone of production is
the province of Ragusa. In 1955 it has had the
recognition of the typical denomination in 1996
has received the Denomination of Protected Origin
(DOP).
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Its exceptional goodness is due above all to the
good quality of the milk, deriving almost
exclusively from bovine race Modicana that is
nourished in the countries of Ragusa, rich of
aromatic fodder kind like the wild thyme that
gives to the cheese a particular aroma and a very
delicate taste. It is consumed fresh and very
seasoned (up to 12 months) or good grated
cheese. It has got the characteristic form of a
parallelepiped, in the seasoned one the furrows
of the ropes of support are noticed during the
seasoning.
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The Sicilian Pecorino
The Sicilian Pecorino is one of the most famous
Sicilian cheeses and certainly the most ancient,
thanks to the testimonies of Humerus and Plinio
that anciently had interested about this island
production. It has a cylindrical shape, the crust
is yellow-whitish , oily, with a white or
yellowish compact pasta. It is made by whole milk
of sheep, heated in wood tubs with rennet of
lamb. After the coagulation after around 45
minutes it is deposed in fascedde (forms) of
rush that give to the cheese the typical draw
of the crust. After one day it is salted rubbing
the surface abundantly. The operation is
repeated in 10 days.
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The Pecorino has gotten the recognition of the
denomination of origin in 1955 and it has
received the denomination of origin protected
from EEC in 1996. Cheese is also dealt without
salting and it takes the name of Tuma, after
8/10 days from the production, is called Primo
sale and after 2/4 months Secondo sale.
Seasoned with a temperature between 12 and the 16
degrees for almost four months, it shows a
yellowish colour and a hard and compact paste, it
has a salty taste and it has specific characterist
ics. The Pecorino is also sold with addition of
pepper, chilly or olives, introduced in the paste
during the production.
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The Piacentinu Ennese
  The Piacentinu is also remembered in the 5th
century A.C., in a publication of the historical
Gallo in which he mentions the addition of the
saffron to the cheese. But the name Piacentinu
ennese " lets think that its origins still goes
up to a period around 859, when the Arabs
conquered a part of the city changing the name of
" Henna " in Castrum Hennae (Castrogiovanni) and
that, the shepherd that gave the yellow colour
to the cheese with the saffron, could be a
sicano, a siculo, a Greek or perhaps a Roman that
lived in Henna, the most ancient of the so-called
"mountains of the wool."
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We also find other news in a book writing between
1681 and 1682 from Francesco Maja from the title
" Sicilia passeggiata" remained manuscript until
to 1985. In substance the Piacentinu is Pecorino,
but its technique of production and the saffron
makes it an appreciated cheese, made on
ordination. It has hard paste, cooked, with a
yellow gold crust, it has cylindrical shape and
is produced in more places of the province.
Combined to some first typical Sicilian dishes
such as the noodle chicken soup , it confers to
the course harmony and completeness of unique
taste. It is used alternatively to the Pecorino
in all the dishes of the culinary tradition of
Enna such as the recipe of the Capretto
abbuttunato "). The particular taste of this
cheese, appreciated mostly above all in the two
different phases of maturation - half-seasoned
table cheese with a slightly spicy taste and the
typical aroma of the saffron - Seasoned table
cheese and grated cheese with a definite and
particular aromatic characteristic.
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Provola dei Nebrodi
It is the traditional Sicilian Caciocavallo made
on the the Nebrodi Mountains. The form is
egg-shaped, with the classical head of the
Caciocavallo (used to tie the forms and to hang
them). It is produced with bovine milk
coagulated with the rennet of lamb or of kidskin
and then spun (throwing warm water on the mass).
The paste of the Provola of the Nebrodi is
manipulated for a long time as when bread is
mixed, for this reason cheese has the tendency to
flake off in mouth. Today the Presidency of the
Nebrodi has the tendency to emphasize this
ancient cheese and its wild and woody territory,.

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The forms have a smooth, shiny, and yellow crust.
The taste varies from the sweet to the hot,
according the seasoning. It is a good table
cheese, also used as ingredient in some typical
dishes. For a fresh Provola a correct coupling
can be a white wine of Etna if cheese is
seasoned the Nero DAvola or a Nerello
Mascalese. A seasoned Provola requires, sweet
wines or the Marsala.
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Provola delle Madonie
More squeezing and paunchy of the Provola of the
Nebrodi, it is produced in one of the richest
areas of Italy the Madonies a mountainous chain
from which it can be perceived, the Nebrodis
chain and the Eolie Islands. It is a typical
cheese made with spun paste with a paunchy
straw-covered bottle shape and a smooth, thin and
light yellow crust. There are still many
shepherds that produce it in handicraft way. The
whole milk is heated at 37-38C in the
traditional wood tub and then it is added the
rennet. When the right density is reached, the
curd is broken and it is left to settle in hot
water. The paste is then dried on a wood large
table and cut in thin slices that are set in the
tub and wet with water at 85C.
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Provola Ragusana
 The Provola ragusana is famous all over the
world for its particular form, it has got in fact
a curled narrowing, at the top of a soft and
delicate paste. The origin of the name is not
known, but it thinks that derives from the word
prova (try) thats a piece of pasta that
produced during the workmanship to check the
spinning of the paste.  
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It is a soft paste cheese made with whole milk
of cow coagulated with rennet of kidskin. The
break up of the curd is made with an utensil
characteristic said " Rotula ", until to the
attainment of clots of the bigness of grains of
rice to which hot water is added. After to have
left the paste to mature in special wood tubs, it
is spun and modelled in its characteristic shape.
Its a very delicate and sweet cheese that can be
been eaten fresh.  
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Ricotte
Fresh Ricotta soft and smearing product,
contained in cylindrical or trunk-conic wood or
plastic tub, with a pale yellow or white colour,
it has got a light but persistent smell of diary
produces, with a delicate and soft taste. Salty
Ricotta a compact product of cylindrical or
trunk-conic shape it has a white or white-pale
yellow colour with the presence of brown or
blackish spots because of the installation of
spontaneous mould.
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The technique of production changes according to
the kind of worked serum (of cow, of sheep, of
goat) - Ricotta of cow it is produced above
all with the salting and therefore as grated
ricotta. - Ricotta of sheep or goat it is made
as fresh product and can be used in pancakes or
in the several kind of the island confectionery
besides, if salted and dried or baked, becomes
an excellent product as grated ricotta. .
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Vastedda del Belice  
The Vastedda is the only spun paste cheese of
sheep . The name derives in fact from the
dialect vasta that is spoiled, going to badly.
The Idea derives from the workmanship of the
Pecorini cheeses bad made and to produce this
cheese with high temperature in an egg-shaped
form to consume fresh, within two or three days.

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The milk derives from an autochthonous race
the sheep of the Belìce, an animal with an
elegant head, lengthened and light, strong arts
and white fleece. The raw milk is coagulated at
around 35-36C with rennet of lamb or kidskin
produced in factory. The breaking off of the mass
is made with a wood baton, after a short
standstill the paste is picked up in a flax
cloth and is deposed on a wood table . After
about hour, it is put in a wood tub, and it is
covered with warm serum at 55-60C to help the
fermentation The period of maturation changes
according to the period of workmanship, of the
external temperature and of the damp. When the
correct acidity is reached, the mass is cut in
slices in a wood tub, in which very warm water
is added (90C), and worked with the aid of a
wood shovel the Vaciliatuma. When the paste
reaches the correct consistence, it is cut in
portions worked manually and assumes the shape
of spheres.
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These are put carefully in a deep dish of
ceramic, where for a shortly time assume the
typical egg-shaped flattened form called
Vastedda (similar to a flat loaf). Its an
extraordinary cheese for its fragrance, the
Vastedda must be consumed very fresh. It has a
delicate taste and smell of butter with flavour
of grasses of the valley of the Belìce as the
graminacees and the valerian. The best way to
taste it is to cut it in big slices with
Sicilian extravergine oil, tomato and oregano. It
can be also used as ingredient of some local
dishes, for instance the typical Pane cunzato
(bread, oil, oregano and salt). The shepherds
drink with it local red wines but it is better
with wines of grape Inzolia.