PECORINO SARDO PDO

DESCRIPTION, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PDO
Pecorino Sardo is one of the oldest cheeses in Sardinia and boasts a long history, dating back to the times of the Nuragic civilization.
During the time of the Carthaginians, and more latterly the Romans, Sardinia became one of the Mediterranean’s major producers of grain. As a result, vast swathes of forest made way for grain production, but also for grazing land, which quickly became increasingly more prevalent thanks to the island’s unique and very favourable environmental and climatic conditions, where natural meadows rich in a wide variety of shrubs provided, exactly as they do today, a very important food source for the island’s sheep.
The first accurate historical records detailing the ancient origins of Pecorino Sardo PDO date back to the late 1700s. The cheeses mentioned were called Bianco, Rosso Fino, Affumicato, Fresa and Spiatatu. Between them, the Rosso Fino and the Affumicato can be considered the precursors of Pecorino Sardo. Both chesees were made from raw milk or milk heated by dipping hot stones on it.
Over the centuries, the processing techniques were refined and the traditional methods that had been passed down were gradually merged with new and more innovative processing practices. This was largely driven by the fact that new and larger markets were opening up, and these markets were demanding products that were hygienically safe, had clearly defined organoleptic qualities and were easy to identify. From the 60s in particular, the characteristic production technology of Pecorino Sardo has been continuously honed until today, without ever forgetting the origins and teachings passed down from tradition.
Pecorino Sardo was awarded the Denomination of Origin status in 1991 with the Prime Ministerial Decree dated 04/11/91 and in 1996, with Regulation (EC) No. 1263/96 dated 01/07/96, it was granted PDO.
Pecorino Sardo PDO is produced solely from whole sheep’s milk from Sardinia.
The sheep feed primarily on the vegetation provided by the island’s natural pastures, meadows and grasslands, hence why the milk used to produce the PDO cheese is of such high quality, and from which the finished product gets its unique flavour and taste. It has been scientifically proven that Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids (otherwise known as CLA – Conjugated Linoleic Acid), which are prevalent in Pecorino Sardo, aren’t just important from a nutritional perspective, they’re highly therapeutic too.
Pecorino Sardo is an excellent table cheese with two types which differ in terms of the processing techniques, ageing, size and organoleptic characteristics: the Mild and the Mature.
The Mature one is Lactose Free
Every wheel, once it’s reached the minimum ageing period, is carefully checked and, if it satisfies all the requirements laid down by the product specification, is stamped with an indelible food stamp bearing the capital letters of the “PS DOP” Denomination as well as the production company’s identification details.
When the wheels are released for sale, an additional conformity check is carried out. The producer’s label is then applied including three elements,
– The producer’s label on which the Pecorino Sardo PDO trademark is arranged in a radial pattern.
– A numbered sticker, issued by the Consortium, which uniquely identifies each wheel. A green sticker is used for wheels of Mild Pecorino Sardo, and blue sticker is used for Mature Pecorino Sardo.”
– The EU’s PDO logo.
This system, guarantees not only the traceability of production, but also traceability within the DOP supply chain, since from the finished product it’s always possible to follow the audit trail back to the “milk round” from which each individual production batch was made.