This may seem weird to some of us but not all cheese are made of cow milk, cheese can be made from many ingredients that sound unbelievable to us.
The world of cheese is a fascinating one indeed, cheese’s ingredients are various and interesting. Each country has its own ways of creating cheese. Today, Illume-eMag will introduce to you some strange types of cheese around the world.
Oscypek cheese
Oscypek is a specialty from sheep’s milk in the Tatra mountains between Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Holding Oscypek cheese in your hand, you will imagine yourself holding a piece of bread. The best cheese and most characteristic flavor when made by hand, go through many stages of mixing sheep’s milk with condensed milk, warming the milk, rinsing the milk with boiling water continuously, pressing it by hand and placing it in molds. The cured cheeses are also placed in brine tanks for one or two nights and then smoked continuously for two weeks. Experiencing so many complicated stages to produce Oscypek cheese products, which pleases many tourists when visiting Poland.
Chhurpi cheese
Chhurpi cheese is widely consumed in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Eastern India. Chhurpi is made from buttermilk, tastes like ricotta (an Italian cheese) but has a strong aroma due to a longer fermentation process. Chhurpi cheese when soft will have a taste like cheese made from goat’s milk, often served with rice. In order for cheese to return to its hard form, people often use the method of removing all the water or heating it on fire.
Casu Marzu
Casu Marzu is a “specialty” dish of the people of Sardinia. The main ingredient of this type of cheese is sheep’s milk that has rotted, that is, has decomposed and still contains larvae. In European countries, this cheese is blacklisted, banned from sale and consumption, but on the black market, Casu Marzu becomes a “poison” product thanks to its supposedly superior taste. Looking at this cheese, are you sure you will give it a try?
Leipäjuusto
Leipäjuusto cheese is also known as “creaky cheese” in Finland. The main ingredient in cheese is bovine colostrum (the first part secreted from milk), sheep’s milk or goat’s milk can also become ingredients for this cheese. You can also make Leipäjuusto at home with regular milk, but it won’t have the distinctive flavor. The shape of Leipäjuusto cheese resembles bread, sliced and served with a cup of coffee. To get a layer of burning on top of cheese, people often pour alcohol on it and burn it.
Sakura Cheese
Japan is reminiscent of famous traditional dishes like Sushi and Udon noodles. You would have never thought that the country “Rising Sun” would give birth to a cheese named Sakura. As the name suggests, Sakura cheese is a milky white soft cheese, the taste is really different from cherry blossom leaves in ingredients. Sakura made a surprise at the Mountain Cheese Olympics in 2004 when she won a gold medal in the “Soft Cheese” category. It is thanks to this event that Sakura’s name is increasingly popular not only in Asian countries but also in countries known as the “hometown of cheese” such as Italy, France, and Switzerland.
Parenica cheese
Parenica is a traditional cheese dish of Slovakia located in Eastern Europe, bordering the Czech Republic and Austria. Parenica put on a shirt like some artist’s butter sculpture you see in old-fashioned eateries. Parenica is yellow when it has been steamed and smoked. The spiral shell shape creates an eye-catching appearance for all who have the opportunity to enjoy this cheese.