“Meravigliao” Aged Pecorino With Cocoa

“Meravigliao” Aged Pecorino With Cocoa.

The first important feature to consider when talking about “Meravigliao” Pecorino is that, contrary to what you can imagine, to accompany the cheese is not chocolate, but a pure cocoa that comes directly from the lush crops of the Dominican Republic that are located a few kilometers from the Caribbean Sea.

This means that the cocoa beans produced in this territory preserve intact all the biological and organoleptic properties, in addition to the flavor, that these places are able to offer them.

Not only that, because the high quality of the raw material is also guaranteed by constant monitoring and control of the plantations. Here cocoa beans are grown, selected, harvested and processed only by hand by experienced operators who do not use any kind of chemical or growth accelerator to obtain a premium quality cocoa.

Letting the cocoa beans follow their natural growth helped only by the Sun, the wind and the warm, humid and slightly brackish climate of these places guarantees the product a unique quality that remains constant even throughout the aging process.

The realization of “Meravigliao” Aged Pecorino With Cocoa takes place by inserting the forms of “Crosta D’Oro” Pecorino inside oak barriques where the roasted cocoa beans and cocoa powder are simultaneously inserted. This guarantees the cheese, but above all the rind, a bitter and aromatic fragrance and aroma that persist for a long time and guarantee the product a characteristic flavor.

Moreover, thanks to this combination that is formed on the surface of the cheese, the crust can be eaten or removed in case someone prefers a softer and less marked aroma.

The shape of “Meravigliao” Aged Pecorino With Cocoa is the typical one that we find in all Tuscan pecorino cheese and that is cylindrical bowl with the upper and lower face flat and the side wall rounded.

At first glance it shows itself with a dry and fairly thin crust covered with cocoa powder that gives the cheese a light brown or dark brown color depending on the degree of seasoning. The interior has a compact and dry paste of white color tending to straw as close as we get to the crust.

The smell is, undoubtedly, that typical of “Crosta D’Oro” Pecorino but enriched by the notes of roasted cocoa that also let you feel reminiscences of coffee, while on the palate you can feel both the delicate salty taste of the cheese and the slight bitter note of roasted cocoa that becomes even more marked eating even the crust that has a slightly lumpy and crumbly structure.

As for the combinations and the dishes in which it can be used, the “Meravigliao” Aged Pecorino With Cocoa lends itself to be served both inside large cutting boards or appetizers rich in other dairy products and cured meats of the Italian tradition, but manages to release the best of itself even with tempting first courses within which it can be served both in flakes and in the form of velvety cream.

Size: 325 g. Vacuum packed product.

Ingredients: Pasteurized sheep's milk, salt, rennet, lactic ferments. Crust treated with beans and cocoa powder. Edible rind. Origin of milk: Italy.

How to store: Store in the fridge between 0° C - +4° C.

Average expiry: 90 days.