Pecorino Cheese Tour: Become a farmer for a day and learn how to make real Tuscan cheese.

Many shepherds and farmers still live in the lush Arezzo countryside and produce cheese the way it was done in the past. It’s a craft, still done by hand and done slowly, with the right amount of time. It’s an ancient tradition that you can learn, putting yourself to the test to make authentic, Tuscan Pecorino cheese. 

The adventure begins with a visit to a farm to meet the real masters of the land, the animals! Hens, roosters, geese, ducks and, the stars of the show: the sheep. You’ll feel time start to slow down as the sounds and colors of nature set the rhythm of the day. After the farm visit, everyone heads to the workshop to get down to work and learn all the ancient secrets involved in the production and the aging process of Pecorino, the typical Tuscan cheese made from sheep’s milk. You’ll learn to make three types of cheese: Raviggiolo, Pecorino and Ricotta. It’ll be an experience dedicated to authentic, Tuscan flavors that finishes up with a sampling of Tuscan Bruschetta, Pecorino cheeses, home-made pasta and Ricotta served with jam. All of this will be perfectly paired with a good wine.

Suddenly the frenzy can be put aside to make room for living and savoring things slowly. Where allowing the right amount of time to do and see things can become a salve for the body and soul. Where human contact and contact with nature come together to energize.

Do you know all the cheeses made by the “Caciaio,” the local cheesemaker?

Tuscan Pecorino has very ancient origins. It was already being produced by the Etruscans as far back as the 7th century B.C. Today Pecorino from Tuscany is considered a “DOP”  (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese and is made by combining sheep’s milk with veal rennet.

Raviggiolo cheese is a fresh cheese made from sheep’s milk that has very old Tuscan origins and is rarely produced.  It’s a very soft cheese with a milky white color. The flavor is sweetly delicate, even a bit buttery. To make this cheese, rennet is added to milk and is left to coagulate for a short amount of time. Then, without breaking the curd, it’s drained onto a mat, a wicker basket or between fern leaves. This cheese is a true peasant speciality, it’s normally eaten very fresh and is only prepared from October to March. 

Ricotta cheese is a dairy product with a sweet flavor. This cheese has been prepared in Tuscany for centuries and is only eaten when it’s very fresh. It’s prepared by heating whey with lemon or with sprigs of fig which, thanks to the sap, curdle the milk to create Ricotta cheese.