TABLE OF CONTENTS
Best Sicilian Soft Cheese Types
Ricotta di pecora, or sheep milk ricotta, is produced in many Italian regions, and each cheese has a slightly different flavor. Sicilian ricotta is seasonal, the best one is made in the period from November till May when the ewes are feeding on new grass and produce the most milk, but due to very high demand, nowadays it is also produced during the warmer months, usually using a mixture of sheep's and cow's milk.
Ricotta di pecora technically isn't a cheese but a creamy curd made by reheating sheep's whey, a watery liquid that remains as a byproduct of cheesemaking – hence the name ricotta, which literary means re-cooked. A small quantity of sheep's milk can be added to whey in order to improve its softness and flavor - generally, sheep milk ricotta has a slightly richer flavor than the one made with cow milk.
Ricotta salata is the saltier, aged version of the famous fresh ricotta. This Italian cheese hails from Sicily and it's made from sheep's milk whey. The cheese is salted, formed into a wheel, then aged for about 3 months. The texture is creamy, but firm and the flavors are salty, mild, and nutty.
Ricotta salata can be crumbled, grated, and even sliced. And anywhere you'd usually use feta cheese, try ricotta salata instead.
Provola dei Nebrodi is an Italian pasta filata cheese hailing from Sicily. The cheese is made from raw cow's milk and it comes in a few versions – fresca (fresh, less than 30 days), semi-stagionata (partially aged, from 30 to 120 days), stagionata (aged for more than 120 days), sfoglia (flaky, at least 5 months), and con limone verde (with green lemon, at least 90 days).
Underneath the thin and smooth rind, the texture of the fresca is soft, while the other versions have a texture that's semi-hard to hard, except for sfoglia, which has a flaky texture. The cheese can have small eyes dispersed throughout the paste.
When fresh, the flavors are sweet, delicate, and pleasant, while the aged versions have a stronger flavor.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.