The most recognized brand of Małopolska. Sheep milk cheese, hard, Wallachian style, made through “pucenie”, a traditional hand pressing technique, produced on the mountain pastures of Podhale during the summer sheep pasturage, from May to September each year. Oscypek has an archaic shape of a spindle, a light golden, shiny skin and a distinctive, smoked, slightly salty taste. It is a product with tradition dating back to the 15th century, belonging to the European category of products labelled “Protected Designation of Origin” and protected by EU law. This truly top-range gourmet specialty acquires its noble taste and hue while lying in the smoke from hearth, on perches situated just below the roof of a shepherd’s hut. One is tempted to say: for connoisseurs only!
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GOŁKA Often confused with oscypek, gołka cheese is different in almost every aspect, including its shape and taste. Gołka, also called “mountain farmer’s cheese”, is a soft, smoked cheese, made in Podhale from cattle milk practically throughout the year, particularly outside the sheep pasturage period. Formerly produced only for the needs of the farmers, it eventually filled a market void resulting from the seasonal nature of sheep cheese. It owes its name to the characteristic, cylindrical shape, and its popularity to its soft taste and affordability, especially when compared do oscypek. |
| REDYKOŁKI Small, spindle-shaped cheese, sold universally from street stalls to large department stores. It is a modern adaptation of the old redykołki, i.e. cheese figurines in different shapes, brought by farmers from their pastures during the autumn herding (redyk) as a gift for their loved ones, and children in particular. |
| BUNDZ Also known as bunc, gruda and syr. A soft, maturing cheese, with a slightly sour and nutty taste, a kind of a dry cottage cheese with a dense, elastic consistency, making it easy to cut it in slices. It is made by heating sheep milk with an addition of rennet in a special pot. Gourmets claim that particularly worth recommending is spring bundz, made with milk coming from may milking and maturing before Midsummer Night. |
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ŻENTYCA Sheep milk whey left after the production of oscypek. This drink used to be appreciated by young shepherds grazing their sheep on mountain pastures, who were convinced that drinking żentyca will make them more masculine and help them acquire strength and fitness. |
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BRYNDZA PODHALAŃSKA It has a soft, slightly lumpy consistency and a pungent, salt and sour taste. For centuries it used to be the staple diet of shepherds grazing their sheep on mountain pastures, and even a currency, in which they were paid for their work. Today it is a delicacy and one of the country’s favourite Tatra cheeses. The privilege of making bryndza – just like in the case of oscypek – belongs to a limited number of old shepherds who meet the requirements of EU law for products with the “Protected Designation of Origin” label. |