Cheese Database

Pecorino Romano vs Pecorino Toscano

Pecorino Romano, field guide plate
Pecorino Romano, photographed

Pecorino Romano

Facts

Milk
Sheep
Texture
Hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Italy
Place
Lazio, Sardinia, and Tuscany
Status
PDO

Pecorino Romano is a hard, salty sheep's-milk cheese. Pecora is the Italian word for sheep. Romano is the Roman style.

Pecorino Toscano

Facts

Milk
Sheep
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Italy
Place
Tuscany
Status
PDO

Pecorino Toscano is a sheep's milk cheese from Tuscany, and the name is protected. Pecorino means a cheese made from sheep's milk, and Toscano places the style in Tuscany, with some making in nearby parts of central Italy. The wheels can be sold young and tender or older and firm. A young cheese is mild and good in slices on a board. An older cheese is drier and saltier, and it is the one to choose when you need to grate.