The Bulgarian green cheese from the village of Cherni Vit, which conquered the world
Source：Dir BG
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/05/25
Along with the lutenitsa and the pie, Bulgaria is already famous around the world as the country of green cheese. If you are hearing about it for the first time, then you probably have not passed by the pretty Teteven village Cherni Vit, which is actually the Mecca of the production of the interesting type of cheese, which has no analogue anywhere in the Balkans.
In the last few years, his fame has gone beyond our country and reached as far as Italy, France and Switzerland. The three leading countries in the production of the best, specific and expensive cheeses in the whole world. From a village sunk into oblivion, Cherni Vit is turning into a new attractive tourist center that attracts gourmets from different parts of Europe who want to get to know the production process of the phenomenal cheese up close, as well as try it first hand.
But what is the history of green cheese? It turns out that even centuries ago the people who inhabited the Teteven Balkan region raised numerous flocks of sheep, which were their main livelihood and sustenance. Residents of the village of Cherni Vit made homemade cheese from sheep's milk using a specific technology. They stored the molds in wooden crates, in which over time the brine began to drain through the pores of the wood.
During the summer season, the cheese was churned in the village cellars, with the mandatory conditions for this being a temperature of 10-12 degrees and the presence of moisture. The hatches opened in the spring, and upon the direct interaction of the cheese with the cool and moist mountain air, mold formed on it, which gave it its interesting greenish color.
For a long time, local people considered mold cheese to be of poor quality and threw it away lightly. In the period of the 70s of the XX century, the wooden ducks were replaced by plastic cans. This essential change, of course, completely disrupted the technological process and mold cheese almost completely disappeared.
However, the myths and legends about it continued to spread and reached experts from an international organization researching different types of authentic and rare local foods.
Thus, in 2017, Italian specialists arrived in Cherni Vit, looking for the green cheese. With the assistance of the mayor of the village, they began to question the local population about what exactly the secret was, and they answered that there was none. There was no longer any mold on their cheese, except for a single house where an elderly family kept a piece of the green cheese the size of a matchbox. It was forgotten in an old wooden box, and the experts decided to present it at the world cheese exhibition in the Italian city of Bra.
There, our cheese made a real sensation and was appreciated extremely highly for its uniqueness and unsurpassed quality and taste. At the exhibition in question, hundreds of cheeses are displayed every year, produced according to ancient technologies for centuries. However, the Bulgarian green cheese managed to outshine even a Spanish cheese ripened in a muslin cloth, a Swiss cheese with roasted hemp seeds, and one made just like the one Leonardo da Vinci gave as a wedding cake in the late 15th century.
Then three biologists took up the cause of determining exactly what temperature and humidity are needed to ripen the green cheese. After dozens of attempts, they succeeded and its production was revived again in Cherni Vit. During the clinical research experiment, it was proved that the composition of the milk obtained from the local animals is much different from that of other Bulgarian regions. The area mainly breeds Teteven sheep, but due to its reduced number, the herds were often mixed with representatives of the Karakachan sheep breed. This is how the interesting mix of quality milk was obtained, which is of fundamental importance for the final result.
Former mayor Tsvetan Dimitrov, a biologist by profession, was the first to take on the task of reviving green cheese production in Cherni Vit. To date, a dozen local people have already been trained and enlightened in the original recipe and make the cheese in their homes.
There is no mass production in the village to keep the interest still alive. Obviously, their approach is correct, because all year round there are throngs of tourists, and it seems that most of them are foreigners.
Recently, an annual cheese festival has been held in the village, where you can also try their famous green delicacy. Its texture can rather be defined as creamy, its aroma as moist-earthy, and its taste is characterized by a subtle spicy note.
Source: https://vkusotii.dir.bg/lyubopitno/balgarskoto-zeleno-sirene-ot-selo-cherni-vit-koeto-pokori-sveta