Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Livno field

Livanjski sir PGILivanjski sir

Raw, thermised or pasteurised cow or sheep milk is set with rennet at 29–34 °C in 30–45 minutes, cut to wheat-grain size and warmed to 46–48 °C. The curd is moulded and pressed, brined 12–48 hours in 18–22 % brine, and ripened on wooden shelves at 13–16 °C for at least 60 days, ideally 90. It becomes a hard, full-fat wheel with a golden rind and a sweet, nutty, slightly piquant taste.

Fully documentedCheese2 months – 2.1 monthsPGI (EU, 2024; applied 2022)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification sets ranges, not amounts. Wheels weigh 1.8–3.5 kg, small ones 0.6–1.2 kg.
Cow or sheep milk, or a mix, at least 60 % from the defined milk areaMilk not processed within 6 hours is cooled below 10 °C and used within 24 hours[livno-spec]
Lactic acid starter cultures, or a house culture of milk or whey ripened warm overnight[livno-spec]
Animal rennet or microbial coagulant[livno-spec]
Salt, as brine[livno-spec]
Lysozyme and calcium chloride (allowed)[livno-spec]
Starterthermophilic house culture from yesterday's milk or whey, or selected lactic cultures for hard cheese

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 2.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
29–34 °C

What changes: The milk is heat-treated or left raw, then warmed for setting

Step 1 of 6
Prepare and warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
29–34 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Evening milk may be left to stand and skimmed before mixing with morning milk. Pasteurised milk is pre-ripened with a culture.

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

Raw, thermised or pasteurised cow or sheep milk is set with rennet at 29–34 °C in 30–45 minutes, cut to wheat-grain size and warmed to 46–48 °C. The curd is moulded and pressed, brined 12–48 hours in 18–22 % brine, and ripened on wooden shelves at 13–16 °C for at least 60 days, ideally 90. It becomes a hard, full-fat wheel with a golden rind and a sweet, nutty, slightly piquant taste. Made in 6 steps over 2 months – 2.1 months. The longest step, ripen on wooden shelves, takes at least 2 months (Association for the Protection of the Origin…) and runs at 13–16 °C (Association for the Protection of the Origin…). Salt is 18–22 % (Association for the Protection of the Origin…). Lactic acid bacteria from the starter or a house culture of warm-ripened milk or whey does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[livno-spec][livno-pgi]Ripen on wooden shelves
Temperature13–16 °CSet[livno-spec]Ripen on wooden shelves
Salt18–22 %Set[livno-spec]Brine

What makes this one different

Livanjski sir is a hard pressed cheese that may mix cow and sheep milk and may be raw, and its curd is scalded only to 46–48 °C, below the 54–59 °C cooking heat of Gruyère. Its aroma is said to recall aromatic and spicy herbs of the milk area.

Composition
Dry matter at least 60 %, fat in dry matter at least 45 %, salt 1.8–2.2 %
Size
Wheels 18–28 cm across, 7–10 cm high, 1.8–3.5 kg; small wheels 0.6–1.2 kg
Premium
Cheeses ripened at least 6 months may carry a PREMIUM mark

Related ferments

Safety

Milk not cheesed within 6 hours is cooled below 10 °C and used within 24 hours. Every wheel ripens at least 60 days, and cut, packed cheese is kept below 8 °C. The milk may be raw, and a 60-day minimum does not guarantee safety. In tests that added the bacteria on purpose, E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria survived well beyond 60 days in Cheddar. A thesis reviewing these tests says many hard raw-milk cheeses aged 60 days or more have an excellent food-safety record. ANSES, the French food-safety agency, advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheese, except cooked pressed kinds such as Gruyère; this curd is only scalded to 46–48 °C.

History and sources

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

The specification says written sources place the start of Livanjski sir in the Livno area in 1888, at the state agricultural station founded there by the government in Sarajevo under Austro-Hungarian rule. Swiss cheesemakers there introduced hard cheese from sheep milk on the model of Gruyère. It says sales were 700–900 tonnes a year in the 1970s and 1980s and 500–800 tonnes in the 2000s, with more than 80 % going to Croatia in the 2000s. The European Commission approved the name as a PGI in December 2024.

  1. [livno-spec] Association for the Protection of the Origin of Livanjski sir 2019, Product specification 'Livanjski sir', indication of geographical origin (English version filed with the EU, Ares (2023)3902732)spec
  2. [livno-pgi] European Commission 2024, Single document 'Livanjski sir', EU No PGI-BA-2881 — 16.12.2022, Official Journal C/2024/4535, 18.7.2024spec
  3. [livno-microbes] Microbial diversity of Livanjski cheese with the emphasis on lactic acid bacteria based on culture-dependent and sequencing method, International Journal of Dairy Technology 73(1):202–214, 2020 (abstract)paper
  4. [ec-pr-2024] European Commission 2024, Daily News 12/12/2024, 'Commission approves new geographical indication Livanjski sir from Bosnia and Herzegovina'gov
  5. [damico2008] D'Amico D.J. 2008, Incidence, ecology, and fate of target foodborne pathogens in the cheesemaking continuum, PhD dissertation, University of Vermontpaper
  6. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov