Canestrato Pugliese

Canestrato Pugliese is a hard, matured sheep's milk cheese produced in the province of Foggia and adjacent communes of the province of Bari forming a continuous area. Its defining characteristic is the use of woven basket moulds, called canestri, which impart a distinctive surface roughness to the cylindrical, flat-based form. Registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 under file number PDO-IT-0004.

About this designation

Canestrato Pugliese holds PDO status, registered on 21 June 1996 under eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012986 and file number PDO-IT-0004. The protected name as registered is Canestrato Pugliese. The geographical area of production covers the entire province of Foggia and the adjacent communes of the province of Bari that form a continuous area with it, both within the Puglia region of southern Italy. The cheese is made from whole sheep's milk to which lamb's rennet is added; the curds are brought to a temperature of between 38 and 45 degrees Celsius before being placed in the basket moulds. The canestri are traditional woven forms made by local craftsmen from particular vegetable materials; the pressure they exert on the curd produces the characteristic surface roughness that identifies the cheese. Salting and ripening follow the moulding stage. The specification links the product's character to the climatic and soil conditions of the area, where sheep farming is carried out mainly by free grazing on natural pastureland, and to the unbroken continuity of the basket-moulding technique. The cheese is marketed with a specific label bearing the name of origin. The control body named in the specification is the Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle Foreste — Ispettorato Centrale Repressione Frodi, Via XX Settembre, 20, Roma. The name Canestrato derives from the thousand-year-old use of the canestri.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 under file number PDO-IT-0004 and eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012986.
• The protected geographical area covers the entire province of Foggia and the adjacent communes of the province of Bari forming a continuous area.
• Curds are formed using lamb's rennet at a temperature of between 38 and 45 degrees Celsius, then pressed in woven basket moulds called canestri.
• The name Canestrato derives directly from the canestri, basket moulds made by local craftsmen from particular vegetable materials, a technique described as a thousand years old.

Tasting notes

Apulian sheep's milk cheese aged in canestro (woven baskets) leaving distinctive pattern. Straw-yellow paste, firm dry texture, intense salty-tangy flavor with grass-and-thyme notes.

HoReCa use

Sliced for southern Italian cheese boards; grated over Apulian orecchiette; paired with fava bean purée and local olive oil.

Packaging

• whole-piece-7-14kg
• half-piece-vacuum-3kg
• wedge-vacuum-300g