Friends of Pesto Fresco, today we are talking about Prescinseua, a traditional food product (P.A.T.) from the province of Genoa, which we find in several typical recipes from Liguria, including in a Levantine variant of Pesto alla Genovese.
Prescinseua is a Ligurian dialect term for what is Ligurian Quagliata or Cagliata Genovese in Italian.
With a consistency halfway between yogurt and ricotta cheese, it has a sour taste and has roots in the rather distant past, in fact the first records of this Ligurian dairy product date back to 1383, but the real certainty is that in 1413 a law in force in the Republic of Genoa indicated it as the only tribute the Genoese could make to the Doge.
You can buy Prescinseua in the fresh cheese counter or make it at home in several ways.
Below is one of the recipes for making Prescinseua at home:
- Let2 liters of fresh milk sit in a pot for 48 hours.
- Put 1/4 of the milk in another pot and bring it up to 40-50°C, adding 5 grams of rennet and mixing it with the milk.
- Let it rest for another 4 hours and Prescinseua is ready!
The use of Prescinseua was once mainly in the famous focaccia di Recco, given the limited production of this dairy product and the growing demand for the focaccia itself, it has over time been replaced by stracchino. However, it continues to be a key ingredient in other typical Ligurian preparations, such as the very creamy Walnut Sauce that usually accompanies in delicate Pansotti, Torta Pasqualina, and fried Pumpkin Ravioli.
It finds excellent use in Pesto alla Genovese, mainly in the Levante Ligure region where, for some, without Prescinseua it is not true Ligurian Pesto. For all others, its use is optional and serves to make the texture of the world-renowned Ligurian sauce creamier.
The version of Pesto alla Genovese with Prescinseua is very delicate and we like it very much.
Try it with our Fresh Pesto and let us know!