Pecorino Romano is made from whole sheep’s milk curdled with lamb’s rennet. There are other Pecorino Romano type cheeses such as Pecorino Siciliano. Romano may also be made from cow or goat’s milk. Italian Romano is ripened for at least 8 months and contains at least 36 percent fat in the dry matter. The surface of this cheese is usually darkened with special clays mixed with tallow or oil.

Romano in the US may be prepared from cow , sheep , or goat milk or from mixtures of two or all of these milks. It is cured not less than 5 months. It may not contain more than 34 percent moisture nor less than 38 percent fat in the dry matter.

This is a Pecorino Romano recipe from Centro Sperimental Del Latte:
Fresh milk is filtered and poured into copper kettles.
The setting temperature may vary from 95-98.6° F. Lamb paste rennet* and whey starter are used. Coagulation occurs in about 10-15 min. and is rather firm.
The curd is cut into small pieces and is then cooked to 111-113° F. Agitation is continued throughout cooking. Stirring is discontinued when the curd, pressed by hand, becomes gummy. At this point, the curd is permitted to settle and mat undisturbed for approx. 20 min.
The whey is drained and the curd is cut into large pieces and placed into the waiting molds. The molds are held on a wooden drain table. When the curd has settled in the mold, it is pierced many times with a round piece of wood to facilitate whey drainage.
At this time the individual cheeses may weigh 22-40 lb. each.
Dry salting is carried out for about 120-130 days in salting rooms held at 57-62.6° F. After this period, the cheese is taken from the salting room, carried into dry rooms, and put on shelves. Every 5 or 6 days it is necessary to clean the cheese. When the cheese becomes drier and tends to develop a thin coat of mold, it is necessary to smear it with olive oil after cleaning to prevent the molds from growing.

Romano Recipe

For 100 lb. cow’s and goat’s milk:
Use whole raw goat’s milk or cow’s milk standardized to 2.0-2.2 % fat.

Heat milk to 90 F. Add starter culture:
For DVS use 1U (1/4 tsp.) EZAL TA062 + 1U (1/16 tsp.) EZAL LB340
or use 0.5 lb. Rosell Thermo B bulk starter culture
(Double the amount of starter culture for pasteurized milk)

Add Lipase enzyme at the recommended rate, up to 9 grams (2 tsp.) per 100 lb. milk.
After 30 min., add 9 ml single strength rennet.
Check for the curdling point and multiply this time by 2 to get the time to wait from adding rennet to cutting, e.g. 8 min. x 2 = 16 min. The curd is rather soft at cutting.
Cut the curd into particles the size of wheat kernels. After cutting, agitate the curd gently for 10 min.

Heat the curds and whey while stirring as follows:
1 F in 5 min.
2-3 F in the next 5 min.
1 F per 2 min. until the final cook temp of 116-118° F is reached.
Total heating time is approx. 50 min.. The curds are cooked at 116-11° F until firm.
After the curds are firmed and no longer stick together, allow the curds to settle to the bottom of the vat.
The curd is pushed to the back of the vat and the whey is drained off. The whey should test .20% titratable acidity (pH 5.80).
The curd is cut into large pieces the size of a whole cheese, which is placed into the cloth-lined hoops. After filling the hoops, the whey should test .30% titratable acidity (pH 5.50).

After 20 minutes the hoops are stacked two high and after 20 more min. the order is reversed. Then, the wheels of cheese are removed from the hoops and the cloths are removed and reversed on the cheese. The cheeses are placed back in the hoops and pressed for 1 hour or longer to form uniform shaped wheels with smooth rinds.
Remove the hoops of cheese from the press. Take the cloths off the cheese and soak in salt brine. Reverse the cheeses in the cloths again and leave overnight without pressure.
The following morning the cheeses are removed from the hoops.

Brine in a saturated salt brine (80-96% saturated or 20-24% salt) for 3-4 days at 45-50° F. Remove from the brine. Place wheels on shelves and dry salt for 60 days.
After salting, cure the cheese at 45-50 F and 75-85% RH . The cheeses are turned and oiled periodically to prevent mold growth. When mold does appear, the cheeses should be scrubbed clean with saturated salt brine, dried and oiled again. A minimum of 5 months curing is required. Romano was traditionally coated with olive oil containing a black pigment such as clay. I have used finely ground charcoal as a pigment.