Salty white sheep’s cheese, mămăligă’s constant companion, made at the shepherds’ summer stâna dairies in the hills. It is grated or crumbled over polenta and eaten with almost everything.
It is a raw-milk cheese made at seasonal mountain dairies and ripened in brine for weeks in a cool store; the flocks and the summer pasture are the method.
What goes into it
- sheep’s milk
- rennet
- salt for the brine
How it is made
Milk from the summer flocks is set with rennet at the stâna, the curd broken, drained in cloth and pressed. It is then salted heavily or packed in brine and kept in wooden vessels for weeks to months, growing sharper and saltier as the season goes on.
How long it takes: weeks to months in brine
How it is eaten
Grated over mămăligă with sour cream, or crumbled with bread and onion.
History
Salty white sheep cheese grated over mămăligă, made at the shepherds’ summer stâna dairies.
Frequently asked questions
What is Brânză de oi?
Brânză de oi is a cheese & dairy from Moldova: salty sheep’s-milk cheese, mămăligă’s constant companion. Salty white sheep cheese grated over mămăligă, made at the shepherds’ summer stâna dairies.
How is Brânză de oi made?
Milk from the summer flocks is set with rennet at the stâna, the curd broken, drained in cloth and pressed. It is then salted heavily or packed in brine and kept in wooden vessels for weeks to months, growing sharper and saltier as the season goes on. It takes weeks to months in brine.
Can I make Brânză de oi at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. It is a raw-milk cheese made at seasonal mountain dairies and ripened in brine for weeks in a cool store; the flocks and the summer pasture are the method.
What goes into Brânză de oi?
Sheep’s milk, rennet, salt for the brine.
How is Brânză de oi eaten?
Grated over mămăligă with sour cream, or crumbled with bread and onion.
