How Real Pecorino Romano Cheese Is Made In Lazio Italy Regional Eats

Pecorino Romano has been used in the kitchens of ancient Rome for over a million years Today this ancient cheese has become a modern global enterprise worth more than 600 million euros Not even a third of this brought into the United States And yet despite its name most Pecorino Romano is no longer produced near Rome To connect with international demand production has moved 280 kilometers from the island of Sardinia Today we're in Neppi 30 kilometers from Rome to visit one of the few producers still made in Lazio the original region of this cheese I'm here to see how Ibuana Tavola makes their cheese and I'm lucky enough to have Giuseppe Capuani with me e director of this ancient cheese in my opinion The process for making Pecorino Romano begins with the distribution of milk After arriving at the cheese facility It is cleaned using a process called pasteurization then transferred into these large vats to be turned into cheese Like most sheep's milk cheeses Pecorino Romano is seasonal produced from October to June with higher volumes between January and month The curds are added and after some drying the milk begins to cook The curds are then cut until the pieces are the size of rice grains The grains and cheese are then transferred into another large vat There's so much milk that it takes about 20 minutes The curds are then processed for another 30 minutes o release the excess cheese before being cut into larger pieces The cheeses are cut into small blocks They are positioned in various ways Fresh cheeses They don't taste much yet because they haven 't been tasted yet But it's nice to try them Want to give it a go No no See this is the proof They say you should always share with the cameraman but I can taste them myself No problem Even though I wasn’t particularly impressed by this piece of cheese I ’d still recommend staying here until the end when we taste the cheese because I can assure you that he has changed my mind and indeed I'm not the only one Since the beginning of the twentieth century When Italian cuisine began moving abroad this cheese became a hit in the United States In the most recent production cycle approximately 8 000 tons of Pecorino Romano were shipped to the United States Romano cheese became so popular that producers in Lazio and surrounding regions could no longer keep up with demand With the surge in exports to the United States a product shortage began to emerge precisely because a portion of the output was being diverted overseas was intended for the United States so it was absent in these regions The part of Italy with the highest number of sheep more pastures and more grazing lands than ever before Sardinia which traditionally never used Pecorino Romano as evidenced by the fact that even today It is the region of Italy that consumes the least pecorino What then happened was that some entrepreneurs from Rome They began producing in Sardinia While the production process remains the same Giuseppe says the real differences start with the milk There are differences in terms of the production process itself but from the standpoint of flavor So how do you tell a Pecorino Romano apart One thing to note is that the two cheeses are literally different because as is indeed true milk and the animal themselves are affected by their environment by the pasture itself They feel the effects of their diet consequently Today Pecorino Romano is protected by a PDO or Protected Designation of Origin meaning it can only be produced under strict regulations and in specific zones The PDO has helped Roman sheep cheese grow internationally making it easier for consumers o distinguish it from imitations But this growth has not helped all producers equally Thus with the argument of lower cost it easily captured the market and there it put many regional companies under serious pressure It's true that were more than 20 producing companies and we ended up staying with Orica which continues to produce historically A large portion of the Pecorino Romano made there today is produced on a much larger scale In Lazio production has remained A touch of craftsmanship that Giuseppe deeply values On the shapes an additional mark can be applied that identifies the region It's true that on our cheese we write Pecorino Romano from Lazio Sardinians could write Pecorino Romano from Sardinia but they certainly won't write it that way This is the labeling of Pecorino Romano that runs all the way around the band This is the year and month of production The one above is the toll booth The toll booth includes the provincial code and a number In Lazio we have between 2 and 99 So what is a number there the Sardinians have from 101 onwards from 2 to 99 Otherwise there would be the first and it wouldn't be worth it So we as a toll booth have VT8 which remains stamped onto the mold At this point the wheels weigh about 35 kg and as they continue to clatter They are reduced to about 30 kg Because the components of the process are still handmade We usually apply the branding band when the cheese is cold because when it's warm it gets twisted and turned just to make faces He needs to make a blank face From here we go down to the cellar This is the only producer of cheese and especially Pecorino Romano which still uses the cellars to age the cheese The next day the cheese is salted This place s dedicated to cheese in brine Here the cheese rests from day one up to three months Brining typically lasts about three months In other words we apply a first layer of salt and set it aside The first layer of salt lasts 10 12 or 15 days Then it is washed reassembled and this process continues for a period of three months This passage used to be done entirely by hand but today it is often done with a machine to make the work easier Some wheels however are still too large for the machine Clearly the salting is being done with a certain kind of salt which has a medium cut we'd say—meaning it's neither a fine grind nor a coarse one Not a coarse salt It's a medium grind Why Because if we used fine salt it would dissolve immediately So the cheese within three or four days would lose its salt and thus be prone to mold absorbing even more The wheels we're seeing today are undergoing their second salting It depends on how the cheese behaves because we know that at times certain textures and shapes can lose all their flavor and that 's precisely where mold begins So at that point you have to clean up and step in You can tell why with the cheese they’ve got this To my eye I can say it’s not the first time In three months of salting we must keep the bandage on Why the bandage Because otherwise the weight of the mold would as long as one is properly aged the weight itself would tend to say flatten and distort the shape If the environment breathes the cheese oxygenates and stays clean After three months the Pecorino Romano has completed the most critical part of its aging and the priority becomes protecting it from drying out and avoid cheese Traditionally this was done using olive oil sediments Mixed with water or vinegar Today it's made with a pair of plastic tongs and we do it before putting the cheese on the market depending on the client's needs and the market we are selling into In the past when the tramontana wind blew which is a northerly wind that tends to dry things out meaning the cheese had to be protected on the surface with some fatty substance o prevent it from losing moisture on the surface which could cause the rind to shrink and the cheese to crack Thus in the Roman Lazio tradition cheese was prepared by drizzling it with olive oil mixed with vinegar which acted as a natural antidote Then when olive oil alone was not enough Since using only oil tends to make it seep into the cheese the oil was added with ash Thus adding ash caused the outer part to turn a dark gray This practical need gave rise to the tradition of black of the past We can still see this older method in some other cheeses produced by the company which still use olive oil sedime and vinegar When the Roman pecorino is covered with black the top and bottom of the wheel are often left ot covered by appearance In the past when olive oil sediment and vinegar were used instead Covering these surfaces could trap moisture and air causing the cheese to develop mold Why is this material It's very dense but once it dries all the cheese's characteristics become apparent again In practical terms it's now quite thick But then when it loses moisture it becomes a veil In practical terms in past times this thing here the cheese so white You'd never have gotten it otherwise Why specifically with the speech about passing the oilcloth and the vinegar and the cheese It would turn a light brownish shade like that or even become completely black So we can say that in the collective image there's still In this figure of Pecorino Romano it' s black dark That's exactly what makes it so dark Precisely So much so that on the market especially in Lazio The pecorino won't sell if it doesn't have the black rind because consumers associate that black color with the cheese's quality even though that black is actually It was just a dress It's truly satisfying I think that after all these years of filming with cheese I' ve truly achieved this I was trying to be respectful and obvious I don't want to get dirty Not all cheeses are covered in black and white this step is now often replaced by a cow's cover that protects the cheese and prepares him for a longer act See It would be October 28th Then there's 1 Because we base it on the multifaceted assessments we conduct there We'll also identify the first multifunctional one the second the third so that we have perfect traceability For regulation purposes it would be sufficient e monthly one Because we have the daily one and the versatile one and versatile precisely because the type of milk changes the conditions change And so if there were a flaw tomorrow we could understand why In this cold dry environment the Pecorino Romano It is between 12 and 15 months Giuseppe's is still aged for more than 36 months producing a cheese that is thinner and sharper This is cheese that dates back to January of last year so this is cheese that is 12 months old So what cheeses are there that more or less taste each other Inside the cheese factory right now There will be 20 000 quintals of cheese which among all cheeses amounts to 60 000 Perhaps a bit more Approximately 80% of their cheese is exported to the United States a relationship deeply rooted in the history of Ibuanatavola When we talk about Pecorino Romano the U S market is the most important Efforts are made to find new markets but undoubtedly the cheese itself remains central It's a dietary habit So it seems in the United States precisely because of the fact that perhaps the Italians arrived perhaps the arrival of Italian cuisine has come it is the market that absorbs the world's largest amount of Pecorino Romano On the other side for our company It's important because were among the first exporters to the United States So much so that the company which should be fish tuna salted cod yet instead it's cheese precisely because of the fact tha which was shipped by ships to the United States Therefore this brand does not come from cheese but from ships So they were little sheep traveling They were heading toward the United States This also enabled this company surviving in the sense that our product was valued thus paid for by the consumer at a slightly higher rate How much it was paid in Italy and this allowed us to fund Italian losses using the U S market This is not true only for this company For the entire Roman cheese industry the United States is a major market with exports of approximately 170 million dollars a month Because so much of the cheese is sold abroad consumers around the world taste the difference Between Sardinian pecorino and Lazio pecorino if we look closely the Lazio pecorino is red rather than black It refers to the color of olive oil sediment rather than dryness and it's also a way for the company visually distinguish the cheese Giuseppe's company primarily sells to boutique cheese producers where Romano cheese It can be sold for about 29 dollars a month It's a more carefully selected product supported by consumers looking for something specific and harder to imitate One could say a third of these cheeses is destined for the U S market yes That positioning It has also helped the company meet certain export requirements including U S tariffs They have considered imposing tariffs on European food products before 2025 I was concerned about interest rates and I am not now because I think in a certain way and say if it's true that Italy exports quality and exports special products They go to a group of people who can afford the luxury of spending What they spend doesn't hinge on a few cents one way or the other So you're not worried We're moving to a more promising market and therefore a higher level of course It's not a mass-market product because a mass-produced item can be replaced but this one can't— those who buy smoke buy smoke But let me tell you something else Thirty grams of cheese go on a plate of pasta That amount makes no difference Despite traditional tensions Roman sheep cheese exports to the United States remain unaffected so far Roman cuisine is moreover substantial pleasing and affordable If she talks to me about a cacio e pe in a cacio e pe there are 20 grams of pecorino for two hundred grams of pasta How much is a plate of cacio e pe One euro But we're a family of five there with five euros eating and living on it Roman cuisine is a humble yet delightful one and I began eating Parmesan cheese When I was 20 years old That is at home we ate pecorino So he told me that since he was 20 years old It's still got that pecorino isn't it—has it really been twenty years Since I was twenty Now I'm twenty-two It's been a couple of years now You have to ease into it gradually Because if you push too hard all at once you might end up developing a belly here And the flight on the other side and vice versa How much I've aged Or something is wrong Damn you come on It's possible this one doesn't want to break The author feels it's not salty It's very sweet It's a very sweet delicate Creamy Honestly I've never tasted a pecorino quite like this It's different The cheese is fantastic This is January January 12th so exactly today is January 13th Date of use Wow so this has been a year of aging here Twenty indeed Look if you pay attention they used to say cheese weeps See how it shines A pecorino by tradition must have the tear The tear is what forms when it reaches a certain degree during the aging process at a very low temperature the cheese is just right when it develops these droplets meaning it has aged properly the right way Is that the right fat It's the fat that separates from the casein and other products That is also my tears The tears I won't be able to carry this photo This is the cheese that once you put it on the table I end up eating it too honestly Yes well I can see the sparkle quite clearly from here now that I've had close contact with this pecorino Closer than anything I 've ever had I believe Thank you so much for watching If you have a pecorino in your fridge or pot I recommend you go and take a look Please let me know where it 's made Do you know if it's produced in Sardinia or in Rome Can you tell the difference