Formaggio di Fossa ✦

Pecorino di Fossa

What it is

The wheels go down into sandstone pits in August, wrapped in cloth and sealed under a lid of clay and sand, and the pits stay shut until the feast of Santa Caterina on 25 November. Three months without oxygen do what no cellar does: the paste crumbles, loses its shape against the pit wall and turns sulphurous, almost truffled.

In the kitchen

It arrives already at full pitch, so use it as a seasoning: shave it over hot tagliatelle at the table rather than cooking with it, and salt the dish only after tasting.

Goes with

Honey Pear Walnut Fig Chestnut honey Saba (cooked grape must)

In season alongside

White truffle Bagnoli truffle Bay bolete Bianchetto truffle Bleu de Termignon Musky truffle

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