🇷🇴 Romanian cheeses

Romanian cheeses are above all white brined and fresh cheeses made from sheep's and cow's milk, crafted for centuries by Carpathian shepherds: telemea, urdă, caşcaval, brânză de burduf and fresh caș. This page gathers the country's protected names and best-known varieties.

The shepherd tradition. In summer, on the mountain pastures of Transylvania, Maramureș and Bukovina, shepherds at their sheepfolds (stână) made caș, a young pressed cheese, from sheep's milk, and urdă from the leftover whey. Matured caș was crumbled, salted and kneaded into brânză de burduf, traditionally packed in a sheepskin or fir bark. Besides sheep's milk, cow's milk and in places buffalo milk are used.

Main styles. Telemea is a white brined cheese with a soft paste and salty taste, a relative of feta. Caşcaval is a semi-hard cheese with a scalded, stretched curd. Urdă is a delicate whey cheese. Caș is eaten young or smoked.

The EU register eAmbrosia lists 4 protected Romanian cheese names. One is PDO: Telemea de Ibăneşti from Mureș county. Three are PGI: Telemea de Sibiu, Caşcaval de Săveni from Botoșani county and Brânză frământată de Teaca, a kneaded cheese from Bistrița-Năsăud county.

How to choose and serve. Look for the registered name and the PDO or PGI logo. Keep telemea in its brine in the fridge; soak a very salty piece in water before serving. Telemea and brânză go with polenta (mămăligă), salads and pies (plăcintă); urdă is used for papanași doughnuts and pancakes, and caşcaval is fried in breadcrumbs.

Why it matters to you: knowing the milk and region of a Romanian cheese helps you choose the right telemea for a salad or a bake and tell protected names from ordinary cheeses.