Pecorino Toscano PDO

Product Characteristics

Pecorino Toscano PDO is a soft or semi-hard cheese, produced only with whole sheep’s milk. There are two types of Pecorino Toscano PDO, the fresh and the aged. The first has a yellow crust, with different shades from yellow to pale yellow, and white paste, slightly straw-colored. Its consistency is tender to the touch. Its taste is fragrant and characteristic, in a word: “sweet.”

The aged product, however, has a crust that, from a chromatic point of view, ranges from yellow to deep yellow. The color of the crust, however, varies depending on the treatment with tomato, ash or oil, and may be even black or reddish. Its paste is pale yellow, fragrant, intense, but never spicy.

The Pecorino Toscano PDO cheese wheel is cylindrical in shape with flat sides and slightly convex. The cheese faces’ diameter varies from 15 to 22 centimeters, the cheese rind’s height is from 7 to 11 centimeters, and the weight from 0.75 to 3.50 kg. The brand is affixed around the wheel, ink on soft cheese and hot on the semi-hard cheese. On pre-packaged portions the brand is placed on the packaging, provided that takes place in the area of origin. When wrapping takes place outside the area of origin, the brand is used only on the cheese wheel.