Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Slovenia, Karst

Kraški ovčji sir

Kraški ovčji sir is a hard cheese made on farms of the Karst plateau in Slovenia from the raw milk of local pramenka sheep. Cheese trade routes from the Karst led to the Vipava valley, Trieste, Gorizia and Rijeka. A Biotechnical Faculty thesis, citing a 2006 account of the make, gives its temperatures, times, salt range and wheel size; the national specification itself could not be read.

DocumentedCheese2.1 months – 12 monthsSlovenian national PDO under a 2008 ordinance (Uradni list RS 29/2008); not in the EU register and not on the ministry's 2021 or 2025 lists of EU-protected productsFamily: Hard pressed ewe cheese family (Manchego and Pecorino Romano as templates)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe thesis gives no batch size; it gives a yield of 15 to 17 kg of ripe cheese from 100 kg of sheep milk.
Raw sheep milkTraditionally from the local pramenka breed; large dairies are advised to thermise it[slwiki][debevc2011]
Fermented secondary whey0.4 to 0.6 % of the milk[debevc2011]
Rennet[debevc2011]
SaltBrine, or dry salting[debevc2011]
StarterFermented secondary whey, 0.4 to 0.6 % of the milk, added before the rennet (Gerželj 2006, in Debevc 2011).

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
31–33 °C

What changes: Fermented whey goes into the warm sheep milk

Step 1 of 6
Warm the milk and add fermented secondary whey
Time
Not documented
Temperature
31–33 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Enterococcus faecalis
L. paracasei
L. plantarum
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Kraški ovčji sir is a hard cheese made on farms of the Karst plateau in Slovenia from the raw milk of local pramenka sheep. Cheese trade routes from the Karst led to the Vipava valley, Trieste, Gorizia and Rijeka. A Biotechnical Faculty thesis, citing a 2006 account of the make, gives its temperatures, times, salt range and wheel size; the national specification itself could not be read. Made in 6 steps over 2.1 months – 12 months. The longest step, dry the surface and ripen, takes 2–12 months (Debevc L. 2011) and runs at 15–18 °C (Debevc L. 2011). Salt is 1.5–2.5 % (Debevc L. 2011). Lactic acid bacteria of the cheese, with Enterococcus faecalis the leading enterococcus and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–12 monthsReported[debevc2011]Dry the surface and ripen
Temperature15–18 °CReported[debevc2011]Dry the surface and ripen
Salt1.5–2.5 %Reported[debevc2011]Dry the surface and ripen

What makes this one different

Like Bovški sir it is a raw-milk sheep cheese from western Slovenia, but it comes from the dry Karst plateau near Trieste and has only national protection, not EU protection.

Milk
sheep milk, raw (traditionally local pramenka sheep)
Ripening
At least 2 months, up to a year; eating ripeness at 60 to 90 days
Wheel size
Round wheel of 2.5 to 5 kg, 9 to 10 cm high and 20 to 26 cm across
Yield
15 to 17 kg of ripe cheese from 100 kg of sheep milk

Related ferments

Safety

Traditionally it is made from raw sheep milk, and larger dairies are advised to thermise the milk at 64 °C for 30 minutes (Debevc 2011). It ripens at least 2 months. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Making Kraški ovčji sir has a long tradition on the Karst plateau (Debevc 2011), and cheese trade routes from the Karst led to the Vipava valley, Trieste, Gorizia and Rijeka (Slovenian Wikipedia). A 2008 ordinance reserved the name for certified producers following the ministry's specification.

  1. [debevc2011] Debevc L. 2011, Opis posebnih značilnosti slovenskih tradicionalnih sirov in določanje ACE-inhibitornih peptidov v siru tolminc in bovškem siru, graduation thesis, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty (section 2.1.4, table 7 and the make described after Gerželj 2006)paper
  2. [uradni-list] Pravilnik o Kraškem ovčjem siru z zaščiteno označbo porekla, Uradni list RS 29/2008 (2008-01-1080); the ordinance names the ministry's specification, which is not in itgov
  3. [mkgp2025] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MKGP) 2025, Slovenski kmetijski pridelki in živila, zaščiteni pri Evropski komisiji (list dated 12.12.2025)gov
  4. [mkgp2021] MKGP 2021, Slovenski zaščiteni kmetijski pridelki in živila (publication of protected products)gov
  5. [slwiki] Wikipedia (Slovenian), Kraški ovčji sir (outline only)wiki
  6. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  7. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov