PRIMO SALE CHEESE

Primo Sale is a hard cheese with a thin rind; it is made from cow’s or sheep’s milk or, more rarely, goat’s milk. Very often the different types of milk are mixed. Primo Sale cheese is made from sheep’s milk is a cheese mainly found in the southern regions of Italy. On the other hand, the one made with cow’s milk is popular in many northern Italian regions such as Emilia-Romagna and Liguria.

Primo Sale cheese is characterised by a thin, white or straw yellow rind and on it you can see the pattern of the basket in which it was placed to mature. The baskets used are typical Sicilian ones called “fascedde”: they are made of interwoven branches of rush and give the cheese its distinctive decoration. The colour of the Primo Sale cheese is white and the texture is compact.

Our Primo Sale chesse is made from pasteurised whole mixed milk (sheep, goat, cow), lamb rennet and salt. It has a savoury, but at the same time sweet and delicate taste. It is reminiscent of fresh milk and allows the aroma of butter to be perceived. It can be eaten as it is, cut into slices, seasoned with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkling of pepper, or combined with honey and fresh fruit to be enjoyed at the end of a meal to refresh the palate. It is also perfect accompanied by cooked or raw vegetables for a simple but delicious meal and ideal in summer, when you want something fresh and light but at the same time rich in taste.

Processing

The production method of the Primo Sale cheese involves adding small amounts of rennet to the milk and then letting it coagulate slowly. The curd, once formed, is then put to drain in special places. Primo Sale cheese is generally small and it has a cylindrical, parallelepiped or pyramid shape.

Historical notes

Primo Sale is a cheese with ancient origins, typical of Sicily. The first evidence of its production dates back to the sixth century BC, when Pliny the Elder described it as one of the best cheeses of the time in his work Naturalis Historia. Moreover, it is a cheese shrouded in legend. In fact, in the 9th century BC Homer wrote that it was Polyphemus who invented the first salt. In his texts we read that the Cyclops milked goats and sheep, curdled half the milk and left it to rest in woven baskets.