Pecorino Cheese

Cheese and ricotta are indelibly joined to ancient agrarian, woodland and pastoral traditions. Today, in many villages shepherds make cheese just as their grandparents made it.

In summer the flocks are led to the mountain pastures. One of the principal cheeses is "Pecorino della Garfagnana", sheep's milk cheese, obtained from the Massese sheep raised in the meadows, and "Accasciato", a sheep's milk cheese, but often a mix of sheep's milk and cow's milk, which is eaten fresh or after a brief ageing (40-60 days). Traditional ricotta is used in cooking, and it is also very good eaten fresh with honey.