Pure Pascoli Alti sheep's milk cheese of Montipò Marco and Co.

Enogastronomia

Alto Appennino Reggiano

Pascoli Alti di Montipò Marco and Co.
S.N.C. Dairy Products
Ph.: 0522/818159

Historical origins:
Sheep farming in our mountains has been known and practiced since 1600/1700 with the peculiarity that during the winter months the shepherds of Ramiseto, villa Minozzo, Ligonchio and Collagna, would transh umate through the passes of Radici, Pradarena, Cerreto and Lagastrello, to Tuscany and Liguria, thus coming in to contact with practices and customs of those areas. Towards the end of the 1700's the Dukedom of Parma allowed these shepherds to tranhumate also in the lower altitude areas surrounding Reggio and in the Mantova flats lands. It's in this area that the collection of sheep milk is currently done.

Typical products:
Production of cheese, in particular pure sheep's milk cheese.
Only whole cow milk, pasteurized at 72° c for 30 minutes is used. The inoculation of thermophile type lactic enzymes is done at the beginning of the filling process of the polyvalent. Reactivation of the enzymes depends on the season: from a minimum of 20 minutes in the summer to a maximum of 50 minutes in the winter. Coagulation temperature is fixed at 38,5°. Liquid veal rennet is used for coagulation with a minimum of 80% chimosym. Setting of the rennet usually takes place after 15 minutes, while the first cut of the curd is done after about 5 minutes. The curd is left to harden under serum thus allowing quick draining and hardening after which further cuts resume until a thick curd the size of a nut is obtained. Once emptied into the moulds it is stewed (45°) for at least an hour. Usually within 2 hours the ph of the cheese reaches 5,30, thereafter it is put in a cell with 10° to cool down so as to stop lactic acidification. The following day the ph is 5,20 and the cheese is salted for 4 hours and then put in a seasoning cell on wooden slats with controlled temperature and humidity.