Capracotta, Isernia province, Molise — Capracotta is the highest village in Molise and the centre of the upper Molise transhumance tradition. The sheep cheese tradition is continuous from the ancient Samnite period; the same routes between the Molise highlands and the Apulia plains were used in Roman times.
Capracotta, the highest village in Molise (1,421m), is the centre of the upper Molise sheep cheese tradition — a Pecorino made from raw sheep's milk from flocks that still follow the ancient transhumance routes between the Molise highlands and the Apulia plains in winter. The Capracotta Pecorino is unmoulded, salted, and aged in cool mountain cellars for minimum 3 months (fresco) to 12+ months (stagionato). The milk quality — from sheep grazing on the flower-rich meadows of the Matese plateau — produces a cheese with a complexity and a mountain-flower herbaceousness that lowland Pecorini cannot replicate. The semi-aged version (4-6 months) is the most versatile: sliceable but already developing the sharpness of aging.
Pecorino di Capracotta semi-aged has a paste of ivory-yellow with small eyes; the rind is golden and fragrant with olive oil. The flavour opens with clean sheep's milk sweetness, then the mountain herbs arrive (thyme, wild thyme, mountain oregano from the grazing), then a long, slightly sharp finish. Grated, it is intensely flavoured; sliced, it can be eaten alone with honey.
The production: raw sheep's milk is essential — pasteurisation eliminates the mountain-flower complexity. Natural fermentation with the lamb rennet paste (caglio in pasta — a traditional Molisani preparation of lamb stomach dried and stored in salt and whey). Set at 35°C for 30-40 minutes to a firm, clean-breaking curd. Cut to rice-grain size; heat-stir to 42°C. Mould in wicker or perforated plastic forms. Press by hand; unmould next day. Rub with salt; brush with olive oil at 2 weeks. Age on wooden planks turned daily for first month; weekly thereafter. The stagionato rind becomes golden-brown and hard.
Capracotta Pecorino stagionato grated over pasta or shaved over salad is more complex than commercial Pecorino Romano — it has a specific mineral, slightly sweet mountain note from the transhumance milk that processed Pecorino does not possess. In the Molise kitchen, the freshly made Pecorino (ricotta salata stage, 1-2 weeks) is used crumbled over summer pasta; the semi-aged is sliced for the table; the stagionato is grated.
Using pasteurised milk — Pecorino di Capracotta is specifically a raw milk cheese; pasteurised milk Pecorino lacks the mountain flora complexity. Under-aging — the fresco at 3 months is mild but somewhat undeveloped; the best flavour development is at 6-9 months. Not oiling the rind during aging — the olive oil treatment in the first weeks prevents cracking and mold attachment.
Giorgio Ottogalli, Atlante dei Formaggi; Slow Food Editore, Molise in Cucina