🌍 Carpathians

The Carpathians are a mountain arc running from Slovakia and Poland through Ukraine to Romania. For centuries people kept sheep here, and the shepherds’ summer camps on the high meadows (polonyny) were the centres of cheesemaking. Shepherds milked the sheep right on the pasture, curdled the milk and aged the cheese.

The region’s main product is sheep’s bryndza. Slovak bryndza has been protected in the EU as a geographical indication since 2008: it must contain at least half sheep’s milk. Bryndza goes into Slovak bryndzové halušky, and on the Ukrainian side into Hutsul banosh with bryndza. In Romania brânză is made at stâne — mountain sheepfolds — and is sometimes aged in spruce bark. The Polish Carpathians are known for oscypek, a smoked cheese, and for urda (wurda), made from whey.

Seasonal sheep drives in Romania are part of the multinational UNESCO element “Transhumance”.