The Spera family is one of the last to pass down the tradition of making Rasuneddu, a fresh goat's milk cheese, from generation to generation. On the outskirts of Palermo, we discover a sought-after and rare cheese that is at risk of disappearing. I went to visit Nino Spera, and I asked him to tell me his story. This meeting gave rise to this report, at the crossroads of ancient knowledge, craftsmanship, and taste.
"Call of the Goats" has long been your brand, but how did your profession as a shepherd and cheese maker begin?
The Spera family, always in Belmonte Mezzagno, on the outskirts of Palermo, has preserved the art of shepherding. I was able to trace back to sources from 1833 that recorded my ancestors as cheese makers.
Cheesemaking has always been closely tied to herding.
What I learned from my parents, both by accompanying my father to the pasture and observing my mother preparing u Rasuneddu, a fresh cheese made from surplus milk for daily consumption, milked by my father for the family.
The specialization in goats sets you apart, tell me why you made this choice.
My passion started because when I was a child, my father every year in December would take the gentlest goat and bring it home, entrusting me with its care. In those days, there were houses with spaces dedicated to the shelter of family animals: the barn hosted the mule and the goat that would consistently give birth to two kids around Christmas time. I clearly remember being just six or seven years old, taking on the responsibility of caring for them. This is where my love for goats comes from; over the years, raising them and producing cheese has become my passionate work.
Even though I am linked to my hometown Belmonte Mezzano, I have taken on a new challenge by transferring my activity to the Madonie in Petralia Sottana, between Catania and Palermo, grazing on the land of Franco Bellina, a historic shepherd of the area with whom I share a passion for this ancient and hard work. It is a challenge for me to conduct grazing at about two thousand meters! Just as it was a personal challenge to experiment with lactic cheese production, for which I have become a reference over the years.
The composition of goat's milk is different
From the fattest cow's milk and the most widespread and profitable sheep's milk. I enjoy producing cheeses that, looking to the past, are innovative: "Fiore madonita", "Mediterraneo", "Robiola" are my products, and never satisfied, I take care of my cheeses from fresh until they are aged and brought to market with a bloomy rind.
Nino, I don't think your family had this drive for innovation.
Yes, it wasn't easy, but to grow professionally, around 2000 I went to Valle Brembana, to school with Lucia Morali, an expert goat breeder and cheesemaker, where I learned different cheese-making techniques, far from the Sicilian tradition. Techniques that I have made my own by applying them to my flock made up of Girgentane and Sicilian indigenous goats, Mascarune and crosses, which adapt better to the orographic characteristics that distinguish the Madonie mountains.
In your innovative being, you have nonetheless revived a neglected production that had been forgotten. Although it is a cheese of little pretension, u Rasuneddu still evokes emotions.
From the farming tradition, I took up the preparation of this goat cheese that was once made with raw milk from what remained of daily consumption. In favorable seasons, when the pasture was good and milk was abundant, it was possible to age it.
Keeping it in the discarded jars
Used first to preserve the olive oil reserve. These chipped or damaged jars were no longer suitable for oil and served as containers for the home "seasoning" of Rasuneddu. The characteristic that gives the cheese its name is that it was added layer by layer, until reaching a "level", interspersed with straw after being "leveled", hence "rasuneddu" in dialect translated as a diminutive of "leveled". Today, I produce it in baskets, respecting the methods that my mother taught me, in two versions: fresh and aged with a bloomy rind.
