Unfortunately, in this age of modern technology, many children are growing up in a virtual world. In days gone by, the park was for many children the place to be. Here, they could have fun with their friends, enjoying fresh air and taking a break from the watchful eye of parents or annoying siblings at home. Indeed, it is common place for most big cities to have parks as not only children, but also adults, have much to gain from such a natural environment.

It might seem like a stretch, but this analogy actually fits quite well to Pecorino del Parco. As the name suggests, this cheese has a park connection, and, as we will see, it has much to benefit from it.

Not just another Pecorino

The Pecorino family of cheeses is a large one, containing many different varieties. This is mainly due to the fact that in Italian Pecorino means ‘of sheep’ so Pecorino cheese is then just any cheese made out of sheep’s milk. As can be imagined, over the years throughout Italy, many different ways of processing sheep’s milk developed, resulting in a wide assortment of cheeses.

The basic procedure for producing Pecorino cheeses is fairly similar all over Italy. However, regional variations in the milk and techniques used result in differing end products.

Firstly, raw milk is heated and liquid rennet (in the case of Pecorino del Parco this is an enzyme taken from lamb’s stomachs that helps the protein in the milk solidify out of solution) and the mixture is left until a gel is formed which means that protein from the milk has solidified. For Pecorino del Parco, the milk is heated to 38 degrees Celsius and left for around 20 minutes to coagulate.

The resulting solid, otherwise known as curd, is separated into largish pieces and left to stand. Next it is heated briefly to 42 degrees Celsius, wrapped in special cheese cloths, and pressed by hand. This is all to help as much liquid as possible to drain out of the solid cheese curd.

Finally, the solid curd is placed in rush baskets. These act as a mould and container as the cheese matures. The cheese is salted by pacing in a brine bath and then left for a minimum of 60 days to ripen.

In this process there are two key aspects that add a little something to Pecorino del Parco, and so differentiate it from other Pecorinos.

The Advantages of Park Life

As is the case with any cheese, the area and conditions in which it is produced have a significant bearing on the quality of the final product. Pecorino del Parco is produced specifically in the National Park area of Abruzzo, using milk from sheep that have been natural raised and fed. This results in adding some characteristic flavours and qualities from the surrounding area into the sheeps’ milk and thus consequently on into any cheese made from this milk.

The second point is that when making Pecorino del Parco, unlike for other Pecorino cheese, before being salted and left to mature, the Pecorino del Parco cheese curd is not cooked. This means that more of the original, natural flavours, aromas and qualities are retained in the final product.

This then can be said to be the key advantage of Pecorino del Parco over other Pecorino cheeses. It has been made organically in a health environment. Parks are often places where people entertain themselves with different ball games. For Pecorino del Parco, it’s origin in the surroundings of a National Park and all the benefits it retains due to the healthy, varied pasture that the sheep there enjoy, is what helps it score a winning goal against the other Pecorino cheeses in its league!

The Final Product

My home economics teacher always used to say that you eat with your eyes. There is certainly some truth to this. Snails or some insects might actually be healthy and tasty morsels, but just the sight (not to mention thought) of eating something that crawls or slithers around is just not appealing!

Fortunately, cheese usually has a much more standard appearance and so is generally palatable, at least as far as the eye test is concerned.

Pecorino del Parco is a brownish cheese on the outside (Admittedly, maybe not the most appetising of hues, but not too bad nonetheless) and a straw-white colour inside, which reflects the colour you would expect for matured milked. The outside is slightly wrinkled due to the imprint that is has taken onboard from the rush baskets in which it is left to mature.

The cheese texture is firm, making it an example of a hard cheese. Usually, the cheeses are 14-20 cm in diameter, 4-8 cm high, cylindrical and 1 to 3 kg in weight.

The Proof of the Pudding

Another old adage says that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. This can of course be applied literally in the case of cheese.

Pecorino cheeses tend to have a strong, tangy taste, but not unpleasant. Pecorino del Parco adds a little something to this standard Pecorino taste due to the National Park area where it is made. Here the sheep graze on some plants and grasses that sheep from other areas don’t have access to.

The maturing process hardens Pecorino cheeses, making them suitable as grating cheeses. Indeed, Pecorino can be, and indeed often is, used as an alternative to the more expensive Parmigiano Reggiano in grating onto various pasta dishes.

Pecorino del Parco is also a pleasant experience to be eaten on its own as a table cheese. A tip is to try dipping it into honey for a particularly special sweet cheese combination, which can be enjoyed as a sweet snack or even as dessert after a meal.

Mother Nature Beats Man-Made Design Every Time

Just as life is best lived out in God’s creation as it was meant to be, rather than cooped up in human made buildings, living in an artificial virtual world, cheese is at its best when it is traditionally made using natural ingredients, rather than processed, factory mass produced versions.

Pecorino del Parco is a great example of a cheese that is specially made by just a few producers and which embodies the natural advantages of a park based lifestyle!