🧀 Kashkaval

Kashkaval is a yellow pasta filata cheese of the Balkans, traditionally made from sheep's milk. It is a hard cheese with a natural rind. It belongs to the pasta filata cheeses, whose malleable, fibrous texture comes from heating and stretching; kashkaval production dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries. It is widespread in the Balkans. ¹

In the traditional method described for Galichnik and Lazaropole on Bistra mountain in North Macedonia, raw milk is renneted at 33-38 °C, the curd is drained, pressed for 3-6 hours and held in blocks until its pH is about 5.2-5.4. It is then sliced and stretched in hot brine (5% salt, 73-75 °C, about 5 minutes), kneaded, put into moulds and dry-salted. The wheels, flattened cylinders of 3-3.5, 5-6 or 8-9 kg, ripen for about three months at 12-18 °C. ¹

In the EU, two names are registered as PGI: Caşcaval de Săveni (Romania) and Kashkavali Pindou (Greece). They name specific products, not the whole type. ²³

Its composition changes clearly with age. In kashkaval from Galichnik, moisture falls over a year from about 46 % to 28 %, while protein rises from 12 % to 28 % and fat from 21 % to 31 %. In kashkaval from Lazaropole, moisture falls over the same time from about 46 % to 28 %, and fat rises from 25 % to 33 %. ¹

Mount Bistra gives the cheese a special raw material: rich pastures of grasses, legumes and aromatic plants, the last about 19 % of the flora, along with a long tradition of sheep breeding. Ripening runs at 12–15 °C in Galichnik and 15–18 °C in Lazaropole, and the finished wheels are usually vacuum-packed. ¹

Why it matters to you. Plain "kashkaval" tells you neither the milk nor the country: in Galichnik it is sheep's milk, while Caşcaval de Săveni is made from cow's milk. So read the ingredients, and look for the PGI mark if origin matters. The older the cheese, the drier and denser it is. ¹²³