Gastronomic rarities: the Prescinseua, the cheese of the farmers of the Genoese hills, the only one that could be given to the Doge

… With that flavor that is a bit like this / with that name that is a bit like this / that we have / that we have seen Genoa. Asking forgiveness from Paolo Conte and his beautiful "Genova per noi" which later became Bruno Lauzi's workhorse, the reference to the Genoese composer's verse comes spontaneously when speaking of Prescinseua, a name that looks like a calembour, difficult to pronounce and above all unknown to most, even to some Ligurians of today, at least to those who are not familiar with the history of Genoese gastronomy. Historical dairy product, typical of the province of Genoa and its hills, the Prescinseua is a fsoft fat cheese with a consistency between yoghurt and ricotta, with a sour taste which has found application in numerous historical recipes of Genoese cuisine and in particular of the Focaccia di Recco.

A fourteenth-century law established that only the Prescinseua could be brought as a gift by peasants to the Doge

Let's start with the name: Prescinsêua derives from a Genoese dialect term, presû (which means rennet) and sôla which would mean that it is a cheese that curdles on its own. Over time, it was also improperly called "milk curd" or Ligurian or Genoese quagliata (or curd).

Its origin is remote. We have to go back to XIV century when it is mentioned in a law of the Republic of Genoa which established that the only homage that humble populations could pay to the Doge it was that of the Prescinseua which evidently was well liked by the high dignitaries of the ancient maritime republic.

Fundamental component of Focaccia di Recco, now replaced by Crescenza due to its difficult availability

According to some scholars, however, the Prescinseua or Prescinsöa it would even have more ancient and not even Italian origins, it would have arrived in Genoa from navigators who came from the East and there is even talk of cheeses called prescizolam and presinsoria used in the fourteenth century which would therefore be the ancestors of the Prescinseua.

Coming to more recent times, Franco Accame, author of the Grande Libro della Cucina Ligure cites a : «recollection of other times when the shepherds went down to the beaches with their characteristic moleskin costumes and red and white striped caps, the men, and hats gathered in braids wrapped around the head as the basis for the container of cheese and the women sold the precious curd not only to the housewives but also to the children who handed them greedy cups for them to put in a tasty and healthy snack, adding sugar or simply cinnamon".

The important gastronomic history of Prescinseua for some typical dishes of the Ligurian tradition

Those shepherds came down from Val Fontanabuona, above Camogli and Rapallo, where they brought cows from the mountain resorts of Val d'Aveto to spend the winter. Here they produced the Prescinseua cheese soft and moist paste with an unmistakable sweet taste with acidic notes that recalled that of yoghurt obtained from whole cow's milk and calf rennet. Like other products, Prescinseua is the result of the culture of local farmers and above all of the need to make the most of a precious resource such as milk left over from the processing of more important cheeses. And this is also the reason why today it is almost unobtainable.

Deeply rooted in its authenticity to the Genoese gastronomic tradition in the past this particular cheese has found wide application in the preparation of various typical preparations of the region: dal filled with Barbagiuai, fried pumpkin ravioli, rice cake and Pasqualina to traditional Ligurian savory pies, ai pansoti (tortelli stuffed with eggs and preboggion, or a mixture of aromatic and field herbs, with Genoese green rice, even to a tastier pesto variant of the traditional green sauce, but above all the his name is linked to the famous focaccia di Recco in which only a memory remains because due to its difficult availability it has been replaced by the more common crescenza.

However, for its protection the prescinseua has been included in the MIPAAF PAT register.

If by now the producers of the real Prescinseua can be counted on fewer than the fingers of one hand, it is clear that one can take away the satisfaction of producing it with home methods to have the satisfaction of trying an ancient, genuine and original taste.

The recipe for making Prescinseua at home

The use of whole cow's milk and calf's rennet is obligatory. You need two liters. Proceed as follows: after letting the milk rest for 48 hours, divide it into two containers. One must be heated to a temperature of 40-50° then the heated milk is combined with the one that has been left at room temperature and the veal rennet is added to the mixture. We must therefore wait four hours for the rennet to do its job well. At this point the curd can be roughly broken and then placed in glass containers or better still in baskets. It is left to rest for a little longer and then it can be used, given its creamy consistency, to be spread on croutons, to flavor salads or vegetables in pinzimonio. But due to its delicate flavor in the total absence of salt, it can also be used in the preparation of spoon desserts, ice creams or cheesecakes. With a caveat consume it greedily within two to three days because more does not hold.