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Cheese from Slovakia

Ovčí salašnícky údený syr

A smoked sheep cheese made by hand in Slovak shepherds' huts, often pressed into moulds shaped like hearts, cockerels or other animals. Raw sheep milk is set with microbial rennet at 30–32 °C, and the curd is pressed into lumps and left 2–3 days in a warm room to ferment. It is then brined in 10–15% salt and cold-smoked over hardwood for 12 to 24 hours.

Fully documentedCheese2.6 days – 4.5 daysTSG (registered 2010; amended to TSG with reserved name, application OJ C 388, 2016)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification doses per volume of milk (rennet 40 ml per 100 l; water 2–3 l per 50 l) and gives no batch size. A finished cheese weighs 0.1–1 kg.
Fresh raw sheep milk from grazed mountain and foothill sheep, filtered through cotton wool[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]
Hot drinking water at 50 °C2–3 litres per 50 litres of milkOr the milk is warmed in a jacketed vessel, or with boiled sour whey[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]
Microbial liquid rennet (Rhizomucor miehei, salt-stabilised)40 ml per 100 litres of milkThe producer adjusts the dose with the milking period[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]
Boiled drinking water cooled to 65 °C, to warm the cut curd[tsg-2016]
Brine of 10–15% salt, made with boiled drinking water[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]
Hardwood, for cold smoke[tsg-2016]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.6 days – 4.5 days

Start
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30–32 °C

What changes: Hot water goes into the fresh sheep milk and warms it to 30–32 °C

Step 1 of 8
Warm the fresh milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
30–32 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Streptococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactococcus
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

A smoked sheep cheese made by hand in Slovak shepherds' huts, often pressed into moulds shaped like hearts, cockerels or other animals. Raw sheep milk is set with microbial rennet at 30–32 °C, and the curd is pressed into lumps and left 2–3 days in a warm room to ferment. It is then brined in 10–15% salt and cold-smoked over hardwood for 12 to 24 hours. Made in 8 steps over 2.6 days – 4.5 days. The longest step, ferment in a warm room, takes 2–3 days (Publication of an amendment application 2016) and runs at 18–22 °C (Publication of an amendment application 2016). Salt is 10–15 % (Publication of an amendment application 2016). Streptococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysSet[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]Ferment in a warm room
Temperature18–22 °CSet[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]Ferment in a warm room
Salt10–15 %Set[tsg-2016][tsg-2009]Brine

What makes this one different

The raw curd is pressed by hand, soured 2–3 days in a warm room, brined and cold-smoked, often in carved animal moulds.

Size
A lump or a moulded shape (heart, cockerel, other animals, hemisphere), 0.1–1 kg
Composition
Dry matter at least 40%, fat in dry matter at least 50%, NaCl at most 25,000 mg/kg

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw sheep milk. The curd sours 2–3 days, is brined in 10–15% salt and cold-smoked, and the specification caps salt in the finished cheese at 25,000 mg/kg. CDC says eating products made from raw milk can expose people to germs. Its Listeria guidance tells pregnant women, newborns, adults 65 and over and people with weakened immune systems to avoid any cheese made from raw milk 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

Smoking once made the cheese last into winter, when none was made. A 1977 Slovak ethnography describes lump cheese curdled with natural rennet at about 32 °C, pressed in cloth and left several days on a shelf in the hut to dry and ripen. In the 20th century it spread to all Slovak sheep-farming mountain areas.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [tsg-2016] Publication of an amendment application, 'Ovčí salašnícky údený syr', EU No TSG-SK-02134, Official Journal of the European Union C 388, 21.10.2016, pp. 10–13, with the product specification (CELEX 52016XC1021(03); copy hosted by GOV.UK)spec
  2. [tsg-2009] Application for TSG registration 'Ovčí salašnícky údený syr', EC No SK-TSG-0007-0045-20.10.2006, Official Journal of the European Union C 305, 16.12.2009, p. 27, notice 2009/C 305/10 (English edition, EU Publications Office, CELEX 52009XC1216(07))spec
  3. [uk-spec] GOV.UK, Protected food and drink names, 'Ovčí salašnícky údený syr' (TSG, EU registration 19 October 2010)gov
  4. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (31 January 2025)gov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov