Formaggio con Le Pere

In Tuscany in summer a delicious long-shaped pear ripens at the same time as pecorino matures, made by farmers in the mountains of ewe’s milk in early spring and left to ripen for a few months on open shelves suspended from the ceiling in an airy room serving as farmhouse dairy.

In town these cheeses are not easy to discover. About 20 cm (8") across, creamy within, with a pale exterior. Cheeses of larger dimensions are darker; they are coated with wood ash. In the old days when every peasant supplied the landowner with the fruits of the vineyard — loquats, lemons, oranges, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches, figs — there was a saying: