Poland · Fermentation craft; Dairy craft; Podhale heritage
Oscypek — Sery Owcze Podhalańskie
The making of oscypek — the smoked, salted sheep's milk cheese of the Podhale highland region, shaped in a characteristic spindle-decorated wooden mold and smoked over spruce wood to produce the dark brown exterior and the specific elastic, slightly salty interior. The baca (highland shepherd-cheesemaker) reads the correct curd readiness for molding through a squeeze-and-stretch assessment — taking a handful of the processed curd and stretching it between two hands to read the specific elastic stretch that indicates the correct stage for molding into the oscypek form.
Risk level: Stable · Not listed as ICH; PDO oscypek (European Union, 2008)
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