🧀 Murazzano

Murazzano is a fresh full-fat Italian cheese made exclusively from ewe's milk of the Delle Langhe breed, or from a mixture of at least 60 % ewe's milk with cow's milk up to a maximum of 40 %. It has been an EU PDO since 1996 (eAmbrosia file PDO-IT-0015); the specification was amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1915. The production area covers the entire territory of 50 municipalities in the Alta Langa hills, in Piedmont; the milk is produced and processed, and the cheese ripened, there.

According to the specification, the annual feed ration must be at least 70 % green or conserved fodder (dry matter) and at most 30 % concentrates, and at least 80 % of the fodder must come from the production area; the animals graze when the season allows. The milk of two or more milkings is used. It may be heat-treated and inoculated with milk enzymes and/or natural starter cultures, and liquid calf rennet is added.

The cheese is a cylinder with flat faces and a slightly raised edge, about 10–15 cm in diameter and 3–4 cm high, weighing 250–400 g after the minimum ripening. The paste is soft, slightly firm, finely grained and sometimes has a few eyes; its colour goes from milky white to straw yellow as it ripens. The fresh cheese has no rind, only a milky white outer layer; with ripening it becomes darker straw yellow. The taste is fine and delicately fragrant, recalling ewe's milk, and becomes stronger with ripening. Fat is at least 50 % of dry matter (with a 2 % tolerance) for the cheese made only from ewe's milk and 47 % (2 % tolerance) for the mixed one.

Murazzano or feta? Both are sheep-milk cheeses, but Murazzano is a protected Italian cheese with its own specification. It is made from the ewe's milk of the Delle Langhe breed, alone or with at most 40% cow's milk, in 50 municipalities of the Alta Langa hills in Piedmont. It is eaten fresh, with soft, slightly firm, finely grained paste and no real rind, and it gets stronger with ripening. The label may say “Con latte di pecora delle Langhe” or, for 100% ewe's milk, “Solo latte di pecora delle Langhe”.

Look for the name Murazzano, the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin) and the cheese's own symbol, a stylised capital M, which may be applied only after the minimum ripening. The wording “Solo latte di pecora delle Langhe” means 100% ewe's milk. A cheese is a small cylinder of 250–400 g, milky white when fresh and straw yellow when ripened. You will usually find it at a cheesemonger, a delicatessen or a supermarket cheese counter.

Ripening lasts at least 4 and at most 90 days. Longer ripening, up to 15 months, is allowed only in the traditional burnie (hermetically sealed glass vessels), after at least 20 days of ripening. The label carries the symbol of the cheese, a stylised capital M, and may be applied only after the minimum ripening. The wording “Con latte di pecora delle Langhe” may be used, and “Solo latte di pecora delle Langhe” for cheese made 100 % from ewe's milk. The specification links the Delle Langhe breed with the Alta Langa for centuries; the first written reference is in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia.