Price range: £4.55 through £27.30
Pecorino Rosso is a firm Tuscan sheep’s milk cheese with a distinctive tomato-coated red rind and a rich, nutty, savoury flavour.
Pecorino Rosso is one of those cheeses that immediately catches your eye. With its wonderful red rind and pale ivory centre, it certainly knows how to make itself noticed on the counter.
Made in Tuscany from sheep’s milk, it’s a traditional Pecorino with a colourful twist. The word pecorino comes from pecora, the Italian word for sheep, while rosso means red — and one look at the outside of this cheese explains that part rather nicely.
The red colour comes from tomato paste applied to the rind as the cheese matures. It gives Pecorino Rosso its distinctive appearance and adds another little dimension to an already delicious sheep’s milk cheese.
Italy has an extraordinary variety of Pecorino cheeses. Some are young, soft and milky; others are matured until they’re hard enough to grate. The style varies enormously from one region — and sometimes one village — to another.
Pecorino Rosso comes from Tuscany, where sheep farming and cheesemaking have been part of rural life for centuries.
The sheep’s milk gives the cheese a natural richness and sweetness, while maturation develops its firmer texture and more savoury character.
But, of course, it’s the rind that makes this one different.
During maturation, the outside is treated with tomato paste, creating that unmistakable rusty-red coating. Against the creamy ivory paste inside, it makes for a particularly striking cheese.
And don’t worry — it doesn’t taste like a pizza!
Pecorino Rosso has a firm, dense texture but there’s still a lovely richness to it from the sheep’s milk.
The first thing I notice is that classic Pecorino combination of savoury saltiness and gentle sweetness. Then come the nuttier flavours: toasted almonds, perhaps a little hay and a lovely buttery richness.
The tomato-coated rind adds an earthy, savoury note rather than an obvious tomato flavour. It’s subtle, but I think it gives the cheese an extra layer of character.
As it matures, the texture becomes firmer and the flavours more concentrated, with a longer, tangier finish.
And then there’s the appearance. That brilliant red rind surrounding the pale cheese makes Pecorino Rosso an absolute gift when you’re trying to make a cheeseboard look interesting.
Jen’s note: Pecorino Rosso is one of those cheeses that does half the work for you on a cheeseboard. That fabulous red rind looks brilliant amongst all the whites, creams and yellows — sometimes we really do eat with our eyes first.
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Ingredients (Allergens are listed in capitals)
MILK, salt, starter cultures, rennet. rind: olive oil, tomato paste
Normal opening Monday – Saturday 9am – 4pm until:
Sunday 22nd 9am – 4pm
Monday 23rd 9am – 4pm
Christmas Eve 9am – 12pm
Christmas Day Closed
Boxing Day Closed
Friday 27th Closed
Saturday 28th 9am – 4pm
Sunday 29th Closed
Monday 30th 9am – 2pm
Tuesday 31st 9am – 2pm
New Year’s Day Closed
Thursday 2nd January Closed
Friday 3rd 9am – 4pm then open as normal
After Christmas our courier delivery slots start from 8th January.
