11430 Macetto cheese - any comments from Abruzzo?

Just watching "Would you eat an elephant" on C4. The theme is why are some foods taboo - but is really an excuse to get a couple of uk chefs to eat increasingly squeamish-making things.

Started in Italy, including the above mentioned cheese from Abruzzo - with live maggots in it. Its effects are the same as Viagra, apparently

Category
Food & Drink

Oh no. I think I'll stick with Viagara. lol I can't find any information on Yahoo or Google .....

Ah it's made from Pecorino I see-

Pecorino marcetto o cacio marcetto cheese

This cheese is produced throughout Abruzzo, especially in the inland areas, but most of all in the Castel del Monte municipality of the Province of L’Aquila. The sensorial characteristics are created by the development of Piophila casei fly larvae during the maturing period, but this in no way means there are health risks in the consumption of this cheese. The ingredients are Pecorino cheese made from raw, whole ewe’s milk, rennet (or fig latex) and salt. During the ageing phase, when there may still be some whey present, wheels of cheese that are not yet quite mature or with cracked rind may be attacked by the cheese fly, which lays its eggs there. This is what starts a decaying process, above all of the proteins, so the cheese body becomes creamy and the typical aroma and flavour of this product begin to develop, especially its considerable piquancy, all of which make it a prized item with real connoisseurs. When the phenomenon has involved all the body, the cream is stored in earthenware or glass containers and kept in a refrigerator. The ensuing product is a spread cheese with a deep, penetrating aroma and creamy or darker white paste, depending on the Pecorino used to make it.

(I wonder how haggis would go down with the Abruzzesi on the 25th eh???)

Isn't there also a very similar cheese from Sardinia? I'd try it.

I know someone who thoroughly enjoyed it…..before being told what it was and how it was made.

Who would eat an egg if they knew where it came from

[quote=juliancoll;108173]Isn't there also a very similar cheese from Sardinia? I'd try it.[/quote]

Yep they come round in the summer on the beach trying to sell it.

[quote=annec;108166].

Started in Italy, including the above mentioned cheese from Abruzzo - with live maggots in it. Its effects are the same as Viagra, apparently[/quote]

I eat it all the time.....oppssss got to go

My mother-in-law came from Emilia Romagna and often told stories of when she was a girl in her tiny village. One of which was about a cheese containing "worms"(her words not mine). She was asked to cut and serve this cheese to the elders at the table and then come and sit down to eat. After lunch she was told to clear the table and help wash up...on returning to the cheese to clear away, the cheese on the board had moved all by it's self.....hmmmm :wideeyed:
Sprat

Thanks for the replies. BTW, the programme went on to show horses being killed and eaten in Marche ......

Probably horses imported from Poland and the terrible conditions they have to endure en route to the "abattoirs", no "slaughter houses", and the topic of a thread here a couple of years back.