How far would you journey for cheese? Uncover Europe’s best-kept cheese secrets and techniques on this epic journey

Cheese continues to be one of many world’s most cherished meals, cherished for its versatility, various flavours and distinctive histories.

Varieties corresponding to Camembert and Mozzarella have been famend for many years and are utilized in numerous dishes and preparations internationally at present. However, Europe nonetheless holds many secret, historical cheeses, deeply rooted in cultural id, custom and resistance.

Made with centuries-old practices, these varieties are aged utilizing animal stomachs, fermented with reside cheese mites, brine-washed, or made in distant shepherd huts.

If you’re obsessed with cheese, this epic journey will take you from dramatic mountains, distant villages, flatlands and extra to a few of Europe’s extra under-the-radar cheeses.

Pule cheese, Serbia

Start off this unforgettable cheese pilgrimage in Belgrade, Serbia, on a quest to style what’s broadly thought of the world’s rarest and most costly cheese, Pule cheese.

From Belgrade, travellers can simply take a prepare to Sremska Mitrovica (Vojvodina), adopted by a taxi or rental automotive to the Zasavica wetlands to the Zasavica Donkey Reserve.

The coveted cheese, made from milk from Balkan donkeys , is barely produced on this tiny reserve by a single cheesemaker known as Slobodan Simić.

Made with milk from round 100 endangered Balkan jennies (feminine donkeys), generally blended with goat milk, Pule has a signature wealthy, nutty, earthy and barely candy style.

Around 25 litres of milk are wanted to provide only one kilogram of cheese, making Pule a staggering €1,000 per kg. Conservation efforts and donkey care prices additionally contribute to the value. This consists of having to take advantage of the jennies as much as thrice a day, attributable to their extraordinarily low milk yield.

The reserve additionally presents different merchandise created from donkey milk, like cosmetics and liqueurs.

Bonus? See the cute donkeys and different native animals like beavers and bushy Mangalica pigs whereas soaking within the pristine nature, excellent for peaceable river cruises or picnics.

Travellers can keep in Hotel Sirmium in Sremska Mitrovica and benefit from the city’s rustic allure. Tuck into čvarci (pork crackling), native fruit brandies made with pears and plums known as rakija at conventional Serbian farmhouses in Zasavica.

Gjizë, Albania

From Serbia, travellers can take a prepare or drive to Podgorica, Montenegro, earlier than persevering with by automotive or bus to Shkodër and onwards to villages within the Accursed Mountains corresponding to Theth and Valbona.

Here, locals make gjizë, a comfortable, strained curd cheese, in small stone farmhouses. This cheese is commonly preserved in clay pots with olive oil and eaten with peppers and herbs, and is deeply consultant of Albanian highland traditions.

Gjizë is made by acidifying milk utilizing citric acid or yoghurt, giving it a dry, bitter ricotta-like flavour. It can also be utilized in conventional dishes like Albania’s well-known Fërgesë.

While the odd restaurant may serve it, travellers have a greater probability at a extra immersive tasting expertise in the event that they stick with an area household and attempt to trek to smaller, extra distant villages from Theth or Valbona.

Hike the famend Valbona-Theth Trail, which connects each valleys by the Albanian Alps. In Theth, guests can hike to the Theth Blue Eye, a pure spring with a shocking turquoise color, or head to the Grunas Waterfall in addition to the Theth Church.

In Valbona, discover the Old Mill of Valbona and lakes corresponding to Xhema Lake, or take a picturesque ferry journey on the Lake Koman Ferry.

Stay at Guesthouse Rrashkadoli in Theth, or at Guesthouse Lazer Cardaku in Valbona, that are each family-run, providing selfmade meals.

Tuck into farmhouse dinners with wild mountain herbs, gjizë on contemporary bread and byrek (savoury pies with spinach, cheese, meat or potatoes).

Caciocavallo Podolico, Italy

From Theth, drive or take a bus right down to Durrës, earlier than taking a ferry or prepare to Bari, Italy. Drive or take a prepare from Bari to Basilicata, for the subsequent cease on this epic cheese journey.

Here, travellers can pattern a extremely seasonal and scarce Italian gem, the Caciocavallo Podolico cheese. This pear-shaped selection is made from milk from the uncommon and semi-wild Podolica cows, native to southern Italy.

Cheeses are tied with rope and hung from rafters to age, after going by a standard pasta filata (stretched curd) course of. The ageing course of can take wherever from three months to over two years.

Many of the cows roam wild for many of the yr, which means Caciocavallo Podolico is extremely prized and fairly uncommon, with travellers having to trek into mountain shepherd dairies or farms in and round Basilicata or Calabria to style it contemporary throughout the summer time milking season.

The cheese has an intense, richly complicated and spicy flavour, which champions the wild pastures stuffed with varied grasses and herbs the place the Podolica cows roam. It has savoury notes of herbs, smoke, and toast, balanced by fruitiness and tang.

Younger cheeses are extra delicate and candy, whereas older ones develop a uniquely tangy and spicy flavour and semi-hard texture with age.

Travellers can keep in mountain dairies or Italian farms referred to as agriturismos, across the Pollino National Park, for a style of this elusive cheese.

Experience conventional rural Italian life by serving to out with agricultural actions on a working farm, whereas additionally collaborating in issues like olive oil manufacturing, wine tastings, truffle hunts and cooking courses.

Often dotted throughout distant, scenic areas throughout the southern Italian countryside, these farms and dairies present a serene alternative for sluggish journey and cultural immersion, with regionally sourced, sustainable produce. Travellers additionally contribute to the preservation of those rural areas by their visits.

Pollino National Park additionally presents numerous horseback using, mountain climbing, mountain biking, canyoning, rafting and mountain climbing alternatives, amongst different out of doors actions.

Ziger, Switzerland

From Basilicata, drive or take a bus or prepare to Naples, earlier than taking a prepare to Milan. From there, travellers can take one other prepare to Zurich, earlier than driving to alpine villages within the Bernese Oberland area corresponding to Grindelwald and Wengen.

Here, travellers can pattern ziger, an historical Swiss whey cheese, typically flavoured with alpine herbs. It is created from leftover whey from different Swiss cheeses, corresponding to Emmental, and was as soon as thought of a ‘peasant survival food’. It has an extended, wealthy historical past, going again to the eighth century, when it first began being made in monasteries.

Ziger, particularly Glarner Schabziger, a specific kind of ziger cheese, accommodates a whole lot of floor blue fenugreek, giving it a novel lime-green color, a spicy, pungent flavour and a tough, gritty texture.

Rather than being eaten by itself as a standalone cheese, it’s primarily used as a condiment, over potatoes and pasta, or blended with butter as an expansion.

Today, regardless of Glarner Schabziger being Switzerland’s oldest protected meals model, it is extremely little-known outdoors of particular Alpine areas, with its manufacturing having declined considerably.

This is principally attributable to a shift away from whey-based diets, a rise in buying energy and the rise of different Swiss cheeses. The cheese can also be hardly ever exported and often eaten by the farmers themselves.

Travellers can get ziger from little farmers’ markets within the Bernese Oberland area and Uri, in addition to mountain dairies.

Grindelwald additionally presents many out of doors actions. Ride the gondola to First, the place guests can expertise the First Cliff Walk by Tissot, which is a steel walkway alongside the cliffside with panoramic views and a suspension bridge.

Soak within the crisp and pristine Alpine environment on a hike to the picturesque Bachalpsee Lake, or strive ziplining with the First Flyer zipline. Rent a mountain cart or trotti bike and race down the slopes from First in summer time or discover the Glacier Canyon for beautiful views from the Mӓnnlichen viewpoint.

In Grindelwald, travellers can keep on the Hotel Belvedere for breathtaking views or at Romantik Hotel Schweizerhof for extra luxurious and tuck into conventional Swiss delicacies corresponding to rösti, ziger cheesecake and alpine cured meats.

Milbenkäse, Germany

From Zurich, take a direct in a single day prepare to Leipzig, Germany, earlier than driving to Würchwitz in Saxony-Anhalt. This tiny village is the one place adventurous travellers can style a little-known German cheese, milbenkäse.

This historical cheese dates again to the Middle Ages. Quark cheese balls, flavoured with salt and caraway, are aged in picket packing containers with cheese mites and rye flour for at the least three months, and even as much as a yr.

These reside microscopic cheese mites, that are eaten with the cheese, burrow by the quark and excrete digestive enzymes, serving to it ferment and ripen. The rind turns yellow after a couple of month, turning into reddish-brown after which black, relying on how lengthy the cheese is aged.

It has a pointy and tangy style, with a zesty, bitter aftertaste, just like Harzer cheese, with a particular aroma and semi-soft to agency texture, relying on the age of the cheese.

The Würchwitz Milbenkäse Manufaktur is the one business producer of milbenkäse at present, with the whole village revolving across the cheese and its historical past.

Travellers may also see the Mite Cheese Museum and cheese mite memorial, which is a statue within the city centre, additional celebrating this deep-rooted medieval survival meals observe. Head to the historic village corridor (Rathaus) or go to the St. Michaeliskirche church for extra perception into native structure.

Another close by attraction is the Unterirdisches Zeitz (Underground Zeitz), a novel wartime and medieval underground tunnel system, primarily made up of beer cellars, which had been additionally used as air-raid shelters throughout World War 2.

Stay in inns like Lumiere Boutique Hotel in Leipzig, solely about 45 minutes from Würchwitz. Don’t overlook to dine on the native inns, referred to as Gasthäuser close to Würchwitz, the place you will get rye bread with Milbenkäse , beer and wurst.

Urgelia, Spain

From Leipzig, take a high-speed prepare to Paris, then one other prepare to Barcelona, earlier than driving up into the Alt Urgell valleys, to La Seu d’Urgell, in the midst of Spain’s Catalan Pyrenees.

Here, travellers can strive the final cheese on this epic journey- a Pyrenean rarity known as urgelia cheese. This is a comfortable washed-rind cheese, solely present in a number of Pyrenean valleys.

It is at the moment solely obtainable from the Cadí Cooperative, a cheese and dairy cooperative in La Seu d’Urgell. It sources milk from over 200 small farms in and round La Seu d’Urgell, the Alt Urgell area and Andorran borderlands.

This is the one Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheese from Catalonia and can also be a prizewinning Spanish cheese. It is made by curdling pasteurised cow milk with rennet, then urgent the curds into moulds. The wheels are aged for at the least 45 days after brining, throughout which the rind is washed many occasions with a yeast brine.

It has a barely salty, robustly buttery style with an occasional trace of acidity or bitterness and underlying nutty and fruity notes. The orange-brown rind provides urgelia a gentle mushroomy or earthy aroma, too.

Travellers may also hike alongside historical Pyrenean cheese routes to smaller and extra distant farms for a extra genuine and immersive cheese journey.

The Alt Urgell area offers excellent journey sports activities, corresponding to kayaking and white water rafting, in addition to mountain biking, mountain climbing and snowboarding within the winter.

Travellers can go to La Seu d’Urgell’s historic cathedral or go to the Diocesan Museum for spiritual artefacts. Explore the charming outdated city with its many cafes and bars and slender streets, or take a day journey to close by Andorra.

Stay at Parador De La Seu d’Urgell for some luxurious, or on the Hotel Restaurante La Glorieta for a riverside expertise with a pool.

Don’t skip conventional delicacies like fregit, a pork and beans dish, and mantequilla de l’Alt Urgell, a slow-ripened butter with a novel flavour and aroma.