I u kalupima ostaje do sledećeg jutra, zato što sir mora sasvim da se ocedi od surutke And it remains in the moulds until the next morning, because the whey must be completely strained from the curd
Sa prvim suncem tu su i prvi kolutovi. Sir je već formiran, pa je spreman da se vadi iz modli With the first sun come the first rounds. The cheese is already formed and ready to be removed from the moulds
J ust before dawn, when the cows are led to the pasture to graze, a chunk each of bread and cheese are wrapped up and packed in a shep- herd’s bag, along with a piece of dried meat, in the case that the shepherd comes from a wealthier home. Nothing else is required for a long summer’s day. It has been this way for centuries, and so it remains today in the ar- eas around the cliffs where the song of the lone shepherd can still be heard. The secret of these chunks is hidden within the cheese from the local area, the widely-renowned Sjenica cheese. The first records of this cheese date back to pre-Ro- man times and the semi-nomadic herding tribes of Dardanians, who made Dardanian cheese. Then later, during the time of Ser- bia’s Nemanjić Dynasty, when Sjenica was an important stop on the route of mer- chants, word spread among the people of Dubrovnik about what was then called Vlach an old salty cheese from the region. It be- came one of the most valued export com- modities, more expensive even than mutton. And in order for that secret to be fig- ured out, you need look no further than Sjenica. The name of this small town is of Slavic origin and means“land of hay”. Sjen- ica was named after the endless fragrant grass meadows that used to be mowed up to three times a year, and dried to make hay for winter fodder. Nestled on the Pešter pla- teau, the largest such plateau in the Balkans and one of the largest in Europe, this vast pasture is situated at an altitude of about 1,100 metres above sea level and covers an area of over 60 square kilometres, punctu-
ated here and there by occasional areas of woodland, crop fields or compact villag- es. It is covered by yellow trefoil, red clo- ver, common vetch, orchard grass, various types of yarrow, Timothy-grass etc. And it is this abundance of medicinal flora con- sumed by the cows, - that is key, because that milk is the reason Sjenica cheese is re- nowned – as it is otherwise apparently the same as all other traditional cheeses and is produced in a similar way as in every farm- house since ancient times: from milk, ren- net and salt. It has always been known that, as soon as the housewife milks the cow in the morn- ing, the milk is curdled with the rennet en- zyme added, then wrapped in a cloth and placed under a stone for a few hours to strain off the whey. Afterwards it is stacked and salted, then finally left for twenty days to ripen. And although it seems complete- ly simple, it is not easy for rural women to save this craft from oblivion. In the house of the Marić family from Sjenica, care is taken to ensure the secret of Sjenica cheese lives on according to an old recipe, but also meets the regulations required by new times. No wonder, then, that the entire household is involved in the cheese business. Thus today Nikola, the head of the household, has for more than two dec- ades sought to use his cattle to produce Sjenica cheese as his ancestors once did. He endeavours to continue, despite the declining number of cattle, the death of rural households and the challenges of the modern market, to make cheese like
Sada dolazimo do faze kada se svaki krug seče na četiri kriške Now we reach the stage when each round is cut into four chunks
Na kraju sir treba dobro da se usoli, te da se naređa u kantu. Posuda mora dobro da dihtuje kako bi sir u narednih mesec dana sazreo And finally the cheese should be well salted, then stacked in a bucket. The vessel must be well sealed, in order for the cheese to mature over the next month
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