Age: 51
Saro Patitò manages the family dairying business, with his two brothers and nephews.
He started to work when he was 12 years old by taking care of his brother’s sheep. Thanks to that he developed a strong sense of responsibility, sense of duty and spirit of sacrifice. Today Mr. Patitò company produces an average of 50/60 kg a day of cheese and owns a flock of about a thousand sheep, of which 20 rams are also known with the Sicilian word “crasti”, whose meat is a typical and very appreciated food.
Name of the local area:
Mr. Patitò’s family runs a dairying company located at Palazzo Adriano, a small town in the hinterland of Palermo. Precisely it is located on an upland at the foot of Monte delle Rose.
Is it a well-known place? For which reason?
Palazzo Adriano has reached a very high level of international notoriety as natural set of the movie “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” directed by Peppuccio Tornatore, who, with this movie, has won the Academy Award as best foreign movie. On the gastronomic point of view, Palazzo Adriano is known for his dairy and confectionery products and various typical food linked to the traditional festivals ( for example the cuccia festival ) and holy days to honor the Patron Saint or celebrate greek-orthodox rituals.
Information about plants and landscape related to Mediterranean environment linked to this production activity:
The rural area of Palazzo Adriano is characterized by olive trees, vines, and cereals cultivation; all of them typical species of the Mediterranean environment. In the area there are also a lot of vegetable gardens, pastures for the bovine and, especially, sheep farming. This allows a notable dairying production and the consumption of healthy food by the local population, without chemical and local preservatives ( olives, vegetables and fruits in season, pure olive oil, cereals and fresh and aged cheese, etc. ).
Description of the technique/method/practice implemented.
During the interview Mr. Patitò showed us both the traditional technique for manual sheep milking, and the modern technique, done with appropriate machineries and a line+cell canalization system for the animals. This process allows to milk 7 sheep at the same time. From such machines long tubes with a kind of extractor come down and their far ends are connected to the sheep’s udder. The mechanic milking lasts few minutes, after that the individual cells are opened and the milked sheep come back to the corral through a platform, while those to be milked take their place. In addition to recording the interview with the representative (Mr. Patitò), the SlowMed workgroup in Palermo has also shoot videos and taken photos about the whole sheep milking practice.
List and description of the tools used
At the Patitò’s dairying company, we were shown the tools for the mechanic and manual milking. Regarding the preparation of their dairy products, the interviewee has described a process that allows to produce tuma cheese and fresh ricotta at the same time: the sheep’s milk must be heated in a copper pot and poured into a plastic container, putting aside some ladles that will be necessary for making ricotta. The abomasum, a part of the lamb’s stomach, must be added to the milk, that will melt into the liquid. It is let standing for about 45 minutes, until the milk becomes a sort of pudding. Then it is time of the curdle: the clotted milk is mixed with a long wood rod while hot water is added. This process allows the thick part (the curdle) to pour out at the bottom while the whey, the watery part (degreased milk), comes out. Then it is picked with a ladle or a copper bucket, sifted and then put again in the pot to be slowly cooked, obtaining in this way the ricotta. In the pot it is now added the ilk put aside before, cold water and salt, all in proportion with the quantity of the whey. When the curdle becomes thicker the ricotta appears, is collected with a pierced ladle and is carefully poured in appropriate white plastic pierced buckets, called lath, which was reed or cane in the past. So the ricotta cheese is now ready to be eaten.
Meanwhile it is possible to obtain cheese from the curdle. It is collected from the laths and well pressed with the hands to compact it and extract the whey. The laths are turned upside down and let stand to simplify the leak of the exceeding liquid. After that they are put in the hot whey that remained after the harvest of the ricotta for about 2 hours to boil. The buckets are then extracted and the cooked curdle is pressed again, becoming now tuma cheese, that at this point is left standing for 2 days. After these 2 days the tuma cheese is put into appropriate straw buckets and it can be eaten or further processed to create other kind of cheeses. For example spiced with pepper to obtain a more decisive and flavor taste, or mixed with salt and leave it to age for some days to obtain primosale, or weeks and months to convert it into pecorino.
According to Mr. Patitò five buckets of sheep’s milk ( about 6 liters ) are needed to produce 1 kg of cheese.
List of products from the company:
The Patitò’s dairying company produces an average of 50/60 kg of cheese a day, especially fresh ricotta, tuma cheese, primosale, pecorino, etc. The cheeses are still prepared respecting the traditional manual techniques, in full compliance with the periodicity and the flock, that indeed is feeded only in the pasture, without chemical animal feeds. Each sheep is milked 2/3 times a day (except those pregnant that are omitted ) and daily produces about half a liter of milk that is used for the preparation of cheese. This allows a double valorization of the land, both for the fertility of the pastures and for the excellence of the raw materials directly produced and controlled by the dairying company. The local distribution of the dairy products allows the inhabitants to eat it at 0 km, sure of their origin and freshness. Moreover, this circumstance fostered a close relationship of trust and friendship between the maker Patitò and compatriot consumers.
Sometimes at local level, the distribution of food follows traditional local organization. For example: farmers > local market > House of the customer, without mediatory. Sometimes this process follows long tradition in some area, in other cases not. Is this the case?
The Patitò’s company dairying products are allocated in the area through :
– local sellers;
– home delivery to the habitants of Palazzo Adriano and neighboring areas;
– supply to the farm holidays, accommodating and catering buildings of the area.
The Patitò dairying company promotes:
* the abundances and natural resources of the territory;
* the consumption of high quality local products;
* respect of the periodicity;
* valorization of the local gastronomical traditions, perfectly in line with the fundamentals of the Mediterranean diet;
* the transfer of ancient knowledge from one generation to another.
How did he learn this practice?
Mr. Patitò’s father taught him all the processes and techniques linked to his activities.
Is there some memory/historical event connected to this method/technique/practice?
All the manual production techniques have been handed down from a generation to another. All the basics and techniques learnt by the interviewees are imbued with parents and grandparents’ memories.
Are there any references to Mediterranean Community?
Mr. Patitò dairying company is family owned and run. All the working and productive phases, from the management and concerns of the flock to the distribution of cheese, etc. are entirely managed by the interviewee and his family (brothers and nieces). Together they share the efforts and the results of their activity, as in the Mediterranean tradition.
Mr. Patitò’s dairying company method of production refers to artisanal manufacturing, which are linked to the farming tradition of the Sicilian hinterland. In particular, the typical and locally produced cheeses are widely used in the local gastronomy.
Is this activity connected to the territory you live in? Is it strictly linked to the specificity of the environment?
At Palazzo Adriano the traditional dairying production and the pastoralism in general risk to extinguish due to the rejection of the new generations to make efforts in the hard work of the farmland, pastures and food production.
During which season this production activity does take place?
The production of the typical cheese and sheep dairy products is carried out during all the seasons, with peaks linked to the major/minor flock milk production.
