Have you ever tried oscypek – the most famous Polish cheese? It is a smoked cheese made from the salted sheep milk (don’t buy imitations made from cow’s milk) and formed in traditional wooden forms. Oscypek is an absolute “must taste” when you visiting Polish mountains. Very tasty when served with red wine or smoked fish.

It is produced in the original form of small, spindle-like blocks with typical regional decorating pattern. Oscypek is one of tourist attractions of Polish mountains. You can eat it as cold or hot (grilled and served with the cranberry). Fresh oscypek is really tasty. One can buy it early in the morning, right after the production, in shepherd’s huts, which you would come across in mountain valleys.

The first mention of cheese production in the Tatra Mountains dates back to the 15th century, in a document from the village of Ochotnica in 1416. The first recorded recipe for oscypek was issued in 1748 in the Żywiec area.

Before Poland voted to join the European Union, some Polish Eurosceptics warned that oscypek could be banned in the EU due to its use of unpasteurized milk and its production by unlicensed farmers. No action has been taken yet against the sale or production of the cheese.

There is also a smaller form called redykołka, known as the ‘younger sister’ of oscypek.

I really like oscypek…I wish I would be able to find it in US…

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)