APULICA / HONEY AND DAIRY
Jonica goat
Slow Food Presidium · Honey and dairy · Puglia
In brief
- A Salento goat breed from the old Terra d'Otranto, today the provinces of Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce, probably descended from crosses with Maltese goats. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica)
- It is recognised by its long drooping ears and white coat, sometimes with tawny patches on the head and neck. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica)
- Its milk makes fresh, forte and marzotica ricotta in spring, cacioricotta in summer and fresh or grating cheeses the rest of the year. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica)
- Only about a hundred animals remain. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica)
History and origin
The Jonica goat is a native Salento breed that for centuries has grazed the old Terra d'Otranto, now split between the provinces of Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce. Its herds are part of the landscape: countryside scorched by the summer sun, olive groves, dry-stone walls and shepherds leading the animals in search of pasture.
The breed most likely arose from crossing a local population of the Ionian arc with Maltese goats, from which it inherited its long, drooping ears. For many years it played a leading economic role for Salento families.
The gradual disappearance of pastoralism along the Ionian coast led to the abandonment of its breeding, and today only about a hundred animals remain. That is why Slow Food made it a Presidium, to encourage breeding and increase the number of animals.
Area and method of production
The Presidium brings together a few breeders, each keeping a small number of animals in the breed's historic territories, across the provinces of Lecce, Taranto and Brindisi. The aim is to promote and preserve the Jonica goat through traditional cheeses and dairy products, so that its milk becomes a resource again for those who raise it.
The breeders follow the traditional method. The animals graze for most of the year on Mediterranean scrubland, kids are weaned under their mothers and reproduction is natural.
It is a very prolific breed, raised mainly for milk, which follows the seasons: in spring it becomes ricotta, in summer cacioricotta, and for the rest of the year cheeses of various shapes and sizes.
How to recognise it
The most recognisable feature of the Jonica goat is its ears, particularly long and wide and drooping in both males and females, a legacy of Maltese goats.
It is a medium-to-large animal, with a small, light head and long, light legs with pale, sturdy hooves. The coat is white, sometimes faintly pinkish, and may have fawn speckles or patches on the head and neck. Males have a tuft of ruffled hair on top of the head.
It spends most of the year at pasture among the Mediterranean scrub and olive groves of the Salento, and its white herds with drooping ears are part of the character of this landscape.
In the kitchen
The milk of the Jonica goat gives rise to the dairy products that mark the Salento year: in spring fresh ricotta, ricotta forte and ricotta marzotica, in the summer months cacioricotta, then cheeses to eat fresh or grate.
Ricotta forte, which in Puglia is also made with goat's whey, is creamy and spreadable, with a very sharp taste and a pungent aroma; the version with sheep and goat whey is made mainly from October to May. Cacioricotta, produced from March to October also with goat's milk, is eaten fresh or aged, and one of its traditional uses is grated over orecchiette with tomato sauce.
Tasting these cheeses is the most direct way to support the breed's survival.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Ricotta forte · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Cacioricotta
Where to taste it
The Presidium's breeders are spread across the old Terra d'Otranto. In the province of Lecce they are in Lequile, Nardò, Alezio, Calimera, Squinzano and Torre San Giovanni, in the Ugento area; in the province of Taranto in Martina Franca; in the province of Brindisi in Ostuni and in the countryside around the provincial capital.
Visitors to the Salento or to the area of Martina Franca and Ostuni may come across herds grazing among olive groves and dry-stone walls. Goat dairy products can be found at dairies, farms and agriturismi, which the regional records name as the typical places to buy ricotta and cacioricotta.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Ricotta forte · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Cacioricotta
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — capra-jonica (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Capra jonica)
When
- The sources consulted give no months.