Masserie del Parco - Arsita (TE) - Abruzzo

The agricultural cooperative Masserie del Parco was born in 2005. It is constituted by five partners, among those, four are also sheeps breeders. The cooperative belongs to the Consortium of Pecorino di Farindola, that is a group of producers but involves also Gran Sasso National park, Laga mountains and the nine municipalities where the cheese is produced. Sheeps are free to pasture outside during spring and summer, sometime even during winter depending on weather conditions. Procedural guidelines for Pecorino di Farindola frame that the cheese has to be done with raw sheep milk and, quite unique in the world, pork rennet. Another unique characteristics is given by the fact that only women are producing the cheese, whilst the men are the shepherds. Since 2004 we have missed Pecorino di Farindola in Sapori. This year we luckily managed to convince Fiorenzo Sarto to come and tell us all around this fascinating and unique cheese produced in one of the most unknown Italian region: Abruzzo.