We Have It Too!: The World of Polish Cheese
On 2 June 2020 the National Twaróg Day was established by a group of Polish chefs and culinary activists, led by the leading cheese expert Gieno Mientkiewicz. Quite understandably: twaróg – fresh, acid-set, white cheese, translated into English as quark, farmer’s cheese or cottage cheese – is so common, we tend to forget it’s our national pride.
For years we didn’t really pay much attention to cheese and even today we tend to talk about it using just two adjectives: it can be either ‘white’ (that’s how we refer to twaróg) or ‘yellow’ (such as tilsit, gouda or the Polish salami). We make an exception for distinct cheeses from the mountain regions – such as oscypek and bryndza – which are very famous, but not necessarily a part of our daily diet. In the 1990s we fell in love with the Italian mozzarella and parmesan, the Greek feta and the French camembert, but only in the last decade the artisan production of cheese in Poland has been on the rise. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular – and some of the best – Polish cheeses.
Twaróg
The most common of Polish cheeses, which can be found in every shop and in innumerable recipes. It is essential in making Ruthenian cheese-and-potato pierogi (substitutes like ricotta or American farmer’s cheese are usually used abroad), as well as in the kids’ favourite, sweet and buttery pierogi leniwe. We sweeten it and fill crêpes with it or turn it into the Polish version of a cheesecake. We mix it with chopped chives and radishes and eat it for breakfast. We basically eat it all the time, yet rarely think about it. As Gieno Mientkiewicz says:
It is commonly created and commonly used: for pancakes, dumplings, cakes, in hundreds of recipes that make up the canon of Polish cuisine. But on the other hand, cottage cheese exposes every weakness of the raw material and of the producer, it shows the season and character of the region. Finally – it brings joy incomparable to any other Polish cheese.
Oscypek
In a way oscypek is the opposite of twaróg – apart from the mountain regions we don’t eat it as much (the real one is very hard to get), yet everyone knows it to be the pride of Polish cheesemaking. It is a salted, smoked cheese made with unpasteurized sheep’s milk with a strictly regulated addition of cow’s milk, exclusively in the Tatra mountain region – as its production has been registered under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin. It is then put into spindle-shaped moulds, rests in brine for a couple of days and is then hot-smoked. Traditionally it is served as an appetizer with cranberry jam on the side, or just hot from a cart on the streets of Zakopane.
Bryndza & bundz
The first stages of bundz-making are the same as with oscypek, but the cheese curd is brewed, and then strained to make large lumps. At first the resulting cheese is quite sweet and mild, but when left to mature, it becomes sour – and it’s then when you can make bryndza out of it. Mature bundz is ground and salted, and turned into a beautiful soft cheese, which – as bryndza podhalańska – has a geographical indication under EU law, with PDO status. Although bryndza is very tasty as a pierogi or pancake filling, or just simply spread on bread, we tend to say ‘ale bryndza!’ when something doesn’t go our way.
Ser koryciński
This traditional cow’s milk cheese from the town of Korycin in Podlasie, is one of the most popular Polish artisan cheeses. According to the legend, Korycin inhabitants learned how to make it from Swiss soldiers who stationed in Podlasie during the Swedish Deluge in the 17th century. It’s a semi-hard, spongy yellow cheese that matures over time. It has become quite common all over Poland and is often counterfeit, so you need to look for the ‘real deal’. What makes it attractive, is that it can be flavoured with different herbs and spices – caraway, nigella seeds, wild garlic and lovage are among the most prized varieties.
Kozia rura, Frontiera Blue & Other Artisan Cheeses
In the past decade a new wave of artisan products has become available to Polish foodies. They are sold at farmer’s markets, in hipster local shops and online, and no one has been more important in their popularisation than the aforementioned Gieno Mientkiewicz. Some of the specialties he presented in his TV show dedicated to Polish dairy, are the strong, mold cheese Frontiera Blue made with sheep milk in the Frontiera Ranch in the village of Warpuny, goat’s cheeses Kozia Rura and Kozidymek from Robaczkowo and… so many others! Krzywonos, Kreuzer, Ritta and Blue Jersey are just some of the names you might want to remember if you want to explore Polish cheese.
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