The product

Pecorino Semistagionato Nero di Sicilia

Semi-aged cheese with a fragrant aroma thanks to the ground pepper on the rind

Code:

31703

Country of origin:

Italy - Sicily

Type of Milk:

Sheep's milk

Weight:

14 kg approx

Minimum order:

1 piece

Product Features

More Information
Description	Aged pecorino cheese coated on the outside with ground pepper
Appearance	It has a rough rind and a slightly amber straw-yellow paste; it has a compact, semi-hard, and fairly firm texture
Taste	It is fragrant to the nose, the presence of grated pepper (by them in the company) on the rind provides a pleasant aromatic contribution that alternates with the cheese's sweet and persistent perfume, with notes of Mediterranean scrub and oregano. As the cheese matures, it can become spicy, but the aging period must be longer than 8 months
Maturing	At least 90 days
Curiosity	The business was founded by the father in 2000 with the aim of enhancing the value of Sicilian sheep's milk (initially, they worked exclusively with organic milk), and it has gradually grown into the modern and well-organized facility it is today. Every day, they collect around 20,000 litres of milk with three vehicles from three provinces (Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento) within a 65 km radius of the dairy. They visit about 80 farmers located in mountainous areas that are not always easy to reach; these are small farmers with flocks of up to 200 sheep each, requiring collection rounds that sometimes take the entire day
Our selection	Sicily is one of the homelands of Pecorino in Italy, and we traveled there to meet a new producer of sheep's milk cheese. The Biopek Dairy is located in Gibellina Nuova, in the hinterland of Trapani, and is managed by the Messina brothers, Pietro and Andrea. This genuine story has its roots in a small artisanal workshop where Pecorino cheeses, purchased from local producers, were aged and packaged. Since 2000, with the arrival of the second generation of the family, a new production facility was established, and in 2019 the latest expansion brought the production area to 3,000 square meters. Biopek selects and supports the best farms, optimizes daily milk collection with its own tank trucks, and processes the milk that arrives at the facility each day
Suggestions	The Nero di Sicilia is a perfect cheese for an aperitif; it pairs divinely with acacia honey, marmalades, and preserves from Macedonia dell'Orto

More Information

More Information
Ingredients	Pasteurized sheep's MILK, rennet, salt, lactic ferments. Covered outside with minced black pepper and sunflower oil
Allergens in ingredients	Milk and products thereof
Weight	14 kg approx
Packaging	Vacuum packed
Storage Conditions (packaged products)	Store at a maximum temperature of +4 °C
Country of origin of the primary ingredient	Italy
Nutrition Declaration	Energy: 1947 kJ / 456 kcal Fat: 34 g of which saturates: 22 g Carbohydrate: 2 g of which sugars: 0,5 g Protein: 29 g Salt: 3 g Typical value per 100 g

The producer

Biopek - Gibellina (TP) - Sicily

Why we chose them

Caseificio Biopek is located in Gibellina Nuova in the hinterland of Trapani, Sicily, one of the homelands of sheep's milk cheese: the company exclusively processes Sicilian sheep's milk. Biopek tells the story of the Messina family, a genuine story that has its roots in a small workshop run by Giuseppe Messina where sheep's milk cheeses purchased from local producers were matured and packaged. In 2000, his sons Pietro and Andrea joined the company, and the new production plant was built, further expanded in 2019. Every day, three proprietary vehicles collect 200 quintals of milk between the provinces of Trapani, Palermo and Agrigento in a radius of about 70 km from the dairy. The deliverers are 80 small farmers located in mountainous and inaccessible areas, who raise flocks of up to 200 sheep. Given the rural nature of so many breeders, the milk collected is pasteurised and cleaned by centrifugation and then processed in two multi-purpose vats to make a wide range of pecorino cheeses: from primo sale to ricotta, from "canestrati" to refined. All cheeses are salted in brine, in a room adjacent to the cheese factory, for different periods of time depending on the cheese size. Then, the maturing process takes place in different cells for the primo sale cheeses, which become ready in about ten days, and in a cell in the historical part of the dairy for the semi-mature and mature cheeses. The latter fully express the Sicilian identity of the sheep's milk cheese, so much so that the brand name designed for these references is I Siciliani'

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