Il Formaggio marchigiano

Cheese is deriving from milk, whose denomination has origin from the Latin word formaticum with reference to the wicker baskets in which it was put "to mature".
It can be classified according to the used type of milk. In Italy there are cheeses of cow, buffalo, sheep, goat milk and also of mixed milk, as an example cow and mixed ovine . Those not derived from cow milk have to be marked with the name of the species from which they derive (sheep cheese as an example). At the consumption it is spoken about fresh cheeses, ready for the consumption within the 60th day; semihard and hard, respectively with less or more than six months of seasoning. Goat cheeses and mozzarella are fresh for example, soft the Casciotta of Urbino, hard the Cheese of Fossa (strong, cavern-aged cheese) .
In the kitchen cheese is used for many preparations, grated or in chips it is used like gravy for many preparation of pasta or rice, or like an aromatic element. It is commonly thought that in the risotto and in the gravies for pasta the cheese must never be joined during the baking, but only at the end, at the moment of the service. In many types of risotti a certain amount of Cheese of Fossa must be joined five minutes from the end of baking outside from the fire. It is advisable, in order to make the gravy amalgamate, put the cheese on the pasta as soon as poured, then the hot gravy, that will facilitate the fusion of the cheese; everyone then, if appreciated, will be able to put an other spoonful of cheese in their own plate. It must be remembered that the cheeses used in kitchen are often salty, therefore the salt, since the beginning must be regulated without forgetting the eventual further salting caused from cheese.

The sheep and the goats were tamed in Eurasia 8000 - 9000 years before Christ.

With the exception of many other animals the lamb has had a less tormented history thanks to the identification of the Christian religion with God's son not risking the extinction.

The cheese consumption is very changed, turning from hard seasoned cheeses (that they represent the greater part of the traditional products) towards fresh and soft cheeses. On the contrary of what it is commonly thought the fresh cheeses are as rich as the seasoned ones, while as for digestibility they are always the most seasoned to gain the comparison with the fresh ones.

Currently the ovine breeds present in the Marches are the Gentile di Puglia, the Fabrianese , the Sopravissana and the Sardinian. The milk and cheese production aims at the Sardinian breed.

The Pecorino In the Marches it is the most produced cheese. Once the sheep has given birth the lamb, the milk production begins (from January-February until May-June). After 20 days of maturation the pecorino it is said bazzotto or barzotto to indicate that it is neither hard or soft. The seasoning can last also a year or more, according to the largeness of the cheeses that generally are from 1 Kg to 3 Kg: in this period the pecorino loses most of its weight, hardening and acquiring a more and more complex taste. The best pecorino is the April-May milk produced one, when the pastures are rich of fresh and aromatic grass and perfumed flowers. The municipalities where it is possible to find good pecorini at shepherds' or groceries are: Force, Comunanza, Amandola, Montemonaco, Montefortino, Visso, Ussita,Sarnano, Colfiorito, Fabriano.
Casciotta of Urbino and the casciotta of the Montefeltro The Dpr of the 30/03/1982 that has instituted for casciotta of Urbino doc and dop fixed the proportions of the milk to respect in the production at 75% of ovine milk and 25% of cow milk. The casciotta is better if it is consumed fresh, after a short period of maturation. The eventual seasoning is made covering the cheese of walnut leaves and holding the casciotte in small barrels, between fresh forage, walnut leaves and chestnut tree. In this way the casciotta loads with particular herbaceous aromas that contribute to an organoleptic improvement and moreover the cheese endures a slow maturation contributing to mantain itself soft and tender for long time. The shape conquered from this cheese, only doc and dop of the Marches, is due to the fact that Michelangelo Buonarroti, born in Caprese (Arezzo) not far from the Urbinate, consumed an enormous amount with his friends and collaborators, so that, in order to take an abundant supply he had had some farms rented, from one of his workers, close to Urbania as certified from a notarial deed of the 12/02/1554. The best casciotte in Urbino are produced in Urbino, Urbania, Sant' Angelo in Vado, Piobbico, Cagli and Fermignano. The best casciotte of the Montefeltro are produced in Piandimeleto, San Leo, Sant' Agata Feltria , Macerata Feltria, Pennabilli, Carpegna, Talamello and Casteldelci (the latter is excellent as well as unfindable).
Cottage cheese It is the leanest by-product of the working of the pecorino or the caciotta. The cottage cheese must be consumed very fresh having not necessity of maturation and seasoning. It is a very light food, as it has a minimum presence of fat.
Cheese of fossa (Ambra di Talamello) It was born from the wit of the peasants of Talamello who, against the pillages of the soldiers, hid food in tufa holes. It is considered a unique cheese, produced along the border between the province of Pesaro and Forlì, using caciotte of the Montefeltro deriving from ovine and cow milk, in variable percentages. Caciotta that will become the cheese of fossa is the one worked at the beginning of the summer. The hollow is made at the end of August in was situated in the houses of Talamello municipality, small village in province of Pesaro. The holes, dug in the typical sandy-tufaceous cliff of the zone, have a particular flask shape, are deep approximately three meters, wide from two to three meters and are covered of straw or dry hay supported from a cane scaffolding. Once full the hole is covered with covers of wood, puttied around to the closing with sand or mould and covered from the original pavement. Here in the closed, anaerobic atmosphere, the caciotta will lose approximately 20% of its weight and it will be transformed in cheese of fossa in a approximately three month time, until the expected 25 November, the day dedicated to Santa Caterina and to the opening of the holes.

Red wine drunk Cheese (Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, Vernaccia di Serrapetrona)
Fossa cheese barrelled with wallnut leaves (b.with hay in summer)

The ruzzola game
It is an ability and force game that was played with very seasoned and hard cheeses of the weight varying from 900 g to 3 kg, in spring and autumn Sundays. The game field was constituted from the steep and tortuose roads of our hills that twenty, thirty years ago were still not asphalted. The game carried out between two adversaries or two teams composed from two players each. The pecorino cheese had to be launched and made rolling along the road, leaving from an established point and trying to make it arrive as far as possible with five shooting at disposition. In order to address the trajectory and give speed to the cheese a string was rolled up, of which an extremity was tied to the player's wrist, along the circular external perimeter of the cheese that then was launched, after a short run-up, trying to give a remarkable push of propulsion trough the string. Strict rule of the game was that the launch was effectuated from the point in which the ruzzola stopped anywhere it was: the place was marked throwing some mould over the cheese that once collected, the circular shape remained on the ground and the player, pulling,had to step on the shape but not to overcome it (" pistare o battere la sponga ").The game was at the best of the three sets but it lasted various hours in a succession of new challenges whose prize was constituted from the pecorino cheeses gained to the adversaries and consumed in the tavern in the evening.

INDICATIVE DISTRIBUTION IN CHEESE AND SERUM OF THE MAIN COMPONENTS OF MILK
Milk components for 100 Kg.	Distribution percentage in cheese and serum
water (87-88 Kg)	6	94
dry substance (12-13 Kg)	48	52
casein (2.3-2.6 Kg)	96	4
albumins-globulins or proteins of the serum (0.6-0.8 Kg)	4	96
fats (3.2-4.0 Kg)	94	6
lactose (4.5-5.0 Kg)	6	94
vitamin A (30-40 mg)	94	6
tiamin (40-45 mg)	15	85
riboflavin (160-180 mg)	26	74
vitamin C (1.700-1.800 mg)	6	94

MEDIUM CONTENT OF WATER, PROTEINS AND FAT, AND CALORIES SUPPLIED FROM 100 G OF SOME KNOWN CHEESES
Cheese	Composition percentage			Calories in 100 g
Cheese	water	proteins	fat	Calories in 100 g
Po grain	32,4	35,9	26,5	390
reggiano parmesan	30,8	33	28,4	395
cow mozzarella (milk flower)	55	20,6	20,3	270