Ainuzzi

A cows milk cheese made in Cammarata and San Giovanni Gemini in Sicily. Small spun paste cheese, with a thin crust of pale yellow color, the texture is soft and compact, the flavor is sweet and delicate. The milk is from the evening milking and is filtered and stored until the next morning. It is brought to a temperature of 37 C through the addition of fresh milk. After clotting, through the addition of lamb rennet, the product is broken in order to achieve a grainy appearance (during this operation water is added at a temperature of 65/70 C). It then stands for about 10 minutes. The curd is on the bottom of the container and the outcropping of the whey. After a further period of rest and after the temperature has dropped to around 30 C. The curd is extracted, placed on a special table and covered with a cloth of linen or cotton for about a day. During this stage the dough loses its residual whey and begins the process of acidification. The dough is cut into strips and placed in a container. The strips are taken and worked by adding hot water to obtain the desired shape, after which they are immersed immediately in cold water and then saturated in brine. After the brine the ainuzzi are again immersed in cold water and then left to dry in special well-ventilated rooms.