Day Three Hundred and Seventy Five : A basic Eastern European Cheese Primer

By special request of a Fromagical follower, today I'll be giving you a brief introduction into the cheeses of Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungry, and Romania), at least what I know of them. I guarantee traveling to these different nations you will find authentic, fresh, unique, and non-imported cheeses so this pretty much is a primer of cheeses from that region and their history. In eras past, cheeses produced in this region were never consumed outside the borders of their home countries. Now, that is not the case in our contemporary society where local and national produce transcend international borders.

Eastern Europe's cheese making timeline is closely tied to the constant shifting and changing of national borders over the course of history. Greatly influenced by the great cheeses of Western Europe, we see the appropriation of classics -- Mozzarella style cheeses, Asiago style cheeses, Swiss style cheeses and more. However the most widely produced cheese influenced by neighboring countries would have to be Feta style cheeses - white, paste-y, young sheep's milk cheeses aged in brine. Bulgarian and Romanian cheesemakers adopted the Greek feta producing techniques to create cheeses like Brinza and Telemea from Romania and Sirene from Bulgaria (translated from Bulgarian, it means white cheese). Each are produced as simple white table cheeses that are crafted in the technique of fetas and are meant to be served plain with bread as an accompaniment to a meal or can also be utilized to cook.

The most well known and widely imported cheese from the region is Kashkaval (meaning yellow cheese), produced in Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Macedonia, and Serbia, this cheese was inspired by and dervived from the Italian Caciocavallo. It is a yellow sheep's milk cheese that is aged for six months and is classically smooth, buttery, and milky with a nice tangy olive oil finish. Essential to the Eastern European diet, you see Kashkaval utilized as a snacking cheese, grilled as it doesn't melt kind of like Halloumi, or cooked with. There's even a restaurant on 9th avenue here in Manhattan named after it.

So now that we covered the white cheeses and the yellow cheeses, let me tell you about the most unique cheese from the region I know of -- Ardalena. Produced in the Transylvania region of central Romania with Transylvanian water buffalo milk, this cheese sure is special and truly local to the region. Aged for twelve months, it is hard and firm with some holes of various sizes -- an honest and pure cheese. Slightly tangy, with hints of grassy farmstead-ness and butterscotch / caramelly notes with some crystallization like other aged firm cheeses, this is a must try. How often can you say you had a cheese made with the milk of Transylvanian water buffalo?