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Lazio, Italy

Brunelli Ricotta Salata

Brunelli Ricotta Salata

Ricotta · Sheep Milk · Aged ~90 days

Sheep's milk whey from Lazio—the working cheese Sicilian recipes were written around.

Say it like a localbroo/NEL/lee ree/KOT/tuh sah/LAH/tuhSalata means salted—firm texture, not creamy.
4.7(428 Google reviews)
Hand-cut to orderCold-ship 2-day overnight
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The Tasting

How it lands on the palate

Aged sheep's milk whey cheese from Brunelli in Lazio, Italy. Firm, salty, and crumbly with a clean yogurty tang. Ships to 48 states.

Brunelli Ricotta Salata tasting profile
Deep Dive

A closer look

Ricotta Salata from Brunelli comes from Lazio, Italy and is made from sheep's milk whey rather than curd. The cheese is pressed, salted, and aged into a firm, snow-white wheel that breaks into clean, slightly grainy shards.

The paste is dense and dry, with a pronounced clean salinity on the front of the palate and a gentle sheep's milk sweetness sitting just underneath. There's a light yogurty tang from the whey, then a short, savory finish that clears the palate fast. It holds its shape under a microplane, shaves cleanly with a peeler, and crumbles by hand without falling apart.

Brunelli is one of the highest quality producers of Ricotta Salata outside of Sicily, where the recipe was born. For anyone who already cooks Sicilian and southern Italian food at home, this is the working cheese the recipes were written around, the one that turns pasta alla Norma and bitter-greens salads into the thing they're supposed to be.

The Tasting Notes

Texture

Dense and dry, breaks under the knife into clean, slightly grainy shards. Holds shape under a microplane and shaves cleanly with a peeler.

Intensity

Pronounced clean salinity hits first, with a gentle sheep's milk sweetness underneath. Savory without being sharp.

Finish

A short, salty-savory finish that fades quickly rather than lingering. Clears the palate fast, which is why it works on top of dressed pasta.

Lactic

A light yogurty tang sits on the front of the tongue, a reminder that this is whey-based rather than curd.

Nutty

A faint browned-cream note in the background, more milky than nutty.

Earthy

Clean and bright. No mushroom, no barnyard, no rind funk.

Spicy

No heat or bite. Salt is the only sharpness on the palate.

The Rind

Natural rind

Natural rind, a touch firmer and saltier than the paste; edible but most people grate or trim it.

The Pairing

What to pour. What to put alongside.

Ricotta Salata stands on its own, but the right partners turn a wedge into a moment. Regional pairings first — they were built for each other.

Wine glass — The Sip
The Sip

Frascati · Verdicchio · Vermentino · Chianti

  • Frascati
  • Verdicchio
  • Vermentino
  • Chianti
  • Aperol Spritz

Bright Italian whites and lighter reds carry the salinity without flattening the sheep's milk sweetness.

Fresh fruit — The Bite
The Bite

Watermelon · Fresh figs · Cherry tomatoes · Concord grapes

  • Watermelon
  • Fresh figs
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Concord grapes

Salt-and-sweet works best here. Watermelon and figs play off the cured salinity the way they do on a Sicilian table.

Honey — The Sweet
The Sweet

Acacia honey · Aged balsamic · Salt-cured olives · Sun-dried tomatoes

  • Acacia honey
  • Aged balsamic
  • Salt-cured olives
  • Sun-dried tomatoes
Top Recipe

Pasta alla Norma

Reviews

What our customers say

Real reviews from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills Google Business Profile. Curated by Dom and his team since 1967.

4.7
★★★★★
Based on 428 verified Google reviews
G · Google Reviews
★★★★★

Top Italian and French cheeses, carefully selected

Domenico and his team are fantastic. I’m a chef and I often get my supplies from The Cheese Store — unique products, carefully selected, from top Italian and French cheeses to excellent local ones.

CT
Chef Tommaso
11 months ago · ✓ Google Local Guide · 66 reviews
★★★★★

Like wine tasting, but for cheese

Absolutely loved the cheese store! Everyone was super helpful and friendly. Lena helped us — she was very knowledgeable on all the cheeses: where they came from, what the region is like, what they are known for. It was like wine tasting for cheese.

A
Amandarina
4 months ago · ✓ Google Local Guide · 34 reviews
★★★★★

Excellent customer service on a shipped order

Ordered several cheeses from them and the wrong items were delivered. Contacted the store and they recognized the error and immediately sent the correct order the next day without any fuss. Really appreciate the promptness and professionalism.

SD
Stephen Duffy
2 months ago · ✓ Google Local Guide · 83 reviews
The Origin

From Frosinone, Italy

Brunelli Ricotta Salata origin map
B
Meet the Maker

Brunelli

Family · Frosinone, Lazio, Italy

“Traditional Lazio sheep's milk cheesemaking — hand-salted wheels matured in the region's native tufa caves, the way Roman shepherds have done it for generations.”

Brunelli is a Lazio-based producer working in the heartland of Pecorino Romano — the hill country south of Rome where sheep's milk cheese has been a staple since the legions carried it in their rations. The company specializes in the classic Roman sheep's milk repertoire: Pecorino Romano DOP and Ricotta Salata, both built from the same flocks grazing the volcanic soils of central Italy.

The production follows the old playbook. Raw sheep's milk is cultured and set, the curds cut fine and cooked, then pressed into the tall cylindrical forms that give Pecorino Romano its silhouette. What sets Brunelli apart is the salting — done by hand, dry-salted in stages over weeks rather than brined, the way Roman shepherds have always done it. The wheels are then aged in tufa caves, the porous volcanic rock that honeycombs the Lazio landscape, where steady humidity and cool temperatures pull moisture out slowly and concentrate the sharp, grassy, faintly piquant bite that defines real Romano. The Ricotta Salata is made from the whey left over from the Pecorino make — pressed, salted, and aged until it turns firm enough to grate or shave.

Brunelli's Pecorino Romano is what you want grating over cacio e pepe or amatriciana — saltier and sharper than Parmigiano, with that unmistakable sheep's milk tang. The Ricotta Salata is a workhorse: shaved over pasta alla Norma, crumbled on summer salads, sliced onto a board with melon and prosciutto. Traditional methods, tufa caves, hand-salting — right in the sweet spot for grating cheeses that actually taste like something.
The Signature

Hand-salted Pecorino Romano aged in ancient tufa caves, with Ricotta Salata pressed and salted from the leftover whey.

Ready when you are

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Hand-cut to order the day it ships. Packed cold for overnight delivery.

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