Fiore Sardo dei Pastori

This was the cheese of the Sardinian shepherds, and the island's most-made cheese until milk went from the shepherds to the industry and Pecorino Romano took over. Fiore, flower, seems to come from the thistle flowers once used as rennet, though another account has it from the flower, asphodel or peony, carved into the wooden moulds, by which you could tell one maker or one village from another. The flavour is strong and its own.