Cooperativa Campo Imperatore (caseificio)
Cooperative dairy at Calascio making Canestrato di Castel del Monte and aged sheep ricotta; visitors can stop at the dairy to buy cheese.
About Ricotta di pecora stagionata
Aged sheep's-milk ricotta made from the whey left after whole-milk sheep cheesemaking, heated to roughly 78 to 85 C so the whey proteins flocculate and rise with the residual fat. It is lifted into baskets, drained, and aged. The Gran Sasso park links it to the transhumant shepherds, who dried it naturally to carry and keep it; it was, with pecorino, their staple, and the fresh type is hard to sell because it must be eaten within about a day.
Made in: Throughout the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga park area; aged sheep's ricotta is traditional in Abruzzo and Lazio
On the plate
Keeps fragrance and softness after ageing, with the taste of the sheep's milk and the herbs and forage the animals ate, according to the Gran Sasso park.
Wine and cheese
What to pour with Ricotta di pecora stagionata
Abruzzo Pecorino Abruzzo
Our pickAged sheep's ricotta keeps a soft, fragrant paste tasting of milk and mountain forage. A dry, high-acid Pecorino cuts the milky richness and leaves room for the herbal notes, which a heavier red would flatten.
The grapes behind these winesPecorino
From the source
Where to buy and taste it
Casera Consortile del Pecorino di Farindola
The producers' consortium shop, opened 2001 in a basement of the renovated town hall. It sells Pecorino di Farindola from the member farms and also selects and ages the cheeses it sells.
Cheese experiences nearby
Park itinerary no. 2: Su e giù per la Baronia
A 69 km driving loop from Barisciano, published by the Gran Sasso park, through Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Castel del Monte and Calascio. The park suggests buying Canestrato at a farm shop in Castel del Monte and stopping at the Campo Imperatore cooperative's dairy on the way back.
Ricotta di pecora stagionata: questions
How is ricotta made?
The park says it comes from the whey left by whole sheep's milk cheesemaking, heated to roughly 78 to 85 C depending on how firm it should be.
Why was it aged?
The park says natural drying made it easier for transhumant shepherds to carry and keep.
Same cheeseboard
More cheeses from Abruzzo
Plan the trip
Visit Ricotta di pecora stagionata country
Tastings and tours where it is made, and somewhere to stay.
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Sources: www.gransassolagapark.it, www.abruzzoturismo.it. The drawing is made from the cheese's recorded shape, rind and paste, not a photograph.