PECORINO Carmasciano, PAT CAMPANIA TIED TO Mefite
We'd been to discover the Pecorino di Carmasciano nel 2017 (our story which).
We returned Sunday in Alta Irpinia 9 June at the Feast of Carmasciano, a two-day event dedicated to the most representative local cheese.
Our foray began by 'Azienda Agricola D'Apolito led by Giuseppe Moscillo, which in recent years has taken over the reins of the family business and is also the president of 'Manufacturers Association of Pecorino Carmasciano (comprising the eight members).
FARM D'APOLITO
The company is located in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, one of the municipalities in which it produces the Carmasciano Pecorino (which takes its name from the location of the Roman era); others are Rocca San Felice, Guardia dei Lombardi, Frigento and Villamaina. It is essential reminded here, because the territory has always been a great influence on its products, but in this case it is of enormous importance because the conditions of this area are truly unique and absolutely can not be reproduced elsewhere.
The particular characteristics of Carmasciano Pecorino derive from bred sheep e dall’feeding of sheep. The breed reared in this area is the Laticauda (and its mestizo), whose milk is of excellent quality and with a high attitude to cheese.
Le 400 Of Sheep D'Apolito they feed on forage pastures, alfalfa forage and cereals (barley and oats) autoprodotti. The only ingredient purchased outside is corn, useful as a protein supplement; the company still aims to eliminate, gradually increasing the alfalfa production.
The area offers a wide variety of typical wild herbs, among which particular types of clover and thyme. But the singularity is given by Mefite, a lake of sulfur origin and its fumes – through the rain and the winds – influence all land surrounding and enriches sulfur. All these powers are transferred to the milk and to the cheese; the sulfur smell is more pronounced on the pecorino from long ripening.
The sheep are milked twice a day; daily milk production is on average about one liter per head of sheep.
The transformation takes place every day, all year long, unabated.
WORKING Carmasciano PECORINO
The production process of the Carmasciano Pecorino is with raw milk from two milkings, worked the following day; after the heating in the boiler, the addition of rennet, the formation of the curd and the break with a skimmer, the cheese is placed in the molds, hand-pressed and subjected to stewing for a couple of hours, in replacement of the old sheet in serum.
This operation serves to remove water still present inside the shape, that must be removed as a cause of food perishability.
After stewing, the cheese passes into the storage cell at a constant temperature of around 15 gradi, and the next day is salted by hand.
Traditionally (but someone still does) Pecorino Carmasciano was heated in a copper caldara call cacco, then broken with the wooden ruotolo and placed in wicker fuscelle. For several years the company D'Apolito was converted to steel structures; the process has remained the same, They have changed only equipment.
re-heating the whey removed from the cheese becomes ricotta. The advanced whey from the cheese is labeled as burns, and it should be disposed of according to the provisions of non-hazardous waste. Here in the company the sheet is used as feed for pigs: a useful system and ecological.
In the cell there is the cheese made from one day up to 3 mesi, ie the minimum seasoning for Carmasciano Pecorino. It is periodically turned off and washed every time that forms the mold.
Once elapsed 3 months is passed to the curing cell.
On the fourth month the crust is treated with extra virgin olive oil to help conserve. The oil acts as an insulator and makes breathing less cheese, so accruals occur more slowly.
In this cell the cheese is turned and greasy cyclically.
The size of the cheeses vary according to the expected maturation; ad esempio, the form from 1,5 kg at the maximum in 8 mesi di stagionatura, while the forms from 6-7 kg arrive until a year and a half. The larger shape, more numerous and lens are the maturation.
We said that the Carmasciano Pecorino owes its uniqueness to the pestilential pastures; perciò, we went to see up close the infamous Mefite in the Valley Ansanto.
THE MEFITE
The Mefite - which takes its name from an ancient pastoral goddess, revered for both fertility of the fields and women - it is presented as a sort of bubbling puddle; It is the largest emission of carbon dioxide to the natural world. There is a volcano, although its appearance would assume the; the gaseous emanations are related to the presence of tectonic structures that allow the ascent of deep origin fluids.
The fumes have a very penetrating smell sulfurous; They are lethal up to a meter in height, so it is not uncommon to find dead animals in the immediate vicinity.
The pond is mentioned by Virgil in the Aeneid which access to the nether.
In honor of the goddess Mephitis in place a temple was built, whose remains were discovered as a result of archaeological excavations in the 50s. All findings are kept in the Museo Irpino Avellino. Among them, some wooden sculptures in human figure.
In this area they were living the Oscans (also called Osci), a population of Indo-European origin sannitica. From the fifth century BC this people was incorporated by Sunnis.
Perciò, the walk pestilential was enlivened by the presence of Oscan Rabel.
ROCCA SAN FELICE
Our tour ended at Rocca San Felice, village by the typical medieval conformation.
On the top of the fortress are the ruins of the castle, where the most significant core is constituted by the Donjon, the cylindrical tower.
The heart of the country is Piazza San Felice, It characterized by a fine old linden tree planted during the Neapolitan Revolution as a symbol of freedom.
In Conclusion, there are many reasons to come to make a detour around here: history, science and gastronomy!
The production of Pecorino Carmasciano is still rather limited, and the limited availability of regional boundaries; therefore come directly on the spot to make supply in one of the members of the Association dairies.
You will find companies "to zero meters" with their flocks, its own history and its own traditions.
Azienda Agricola D'Apolito
Contrada Montanaldo – S. Angelo dei Lombardi, Avellino
such. 0827/45331
http://carmascianodapolito.it/