How many times have we bothered looking at the cheese we’re eating? Hardly. The processed cheese that comes in sealed tins or as flattened slices or liquid spreads is generally made from cow milk. Easily and readily available, cow’s milk is the most ideal choice to make dairy products like cheese. France is well-known for a variety of cheese they offer, right from the classic brie to camembert and Roquefort. Made from cow or sheep’s milk, the cheese comes in different textures and flavours. The cheese that is generally doused on our pizzas, burgers and pastas in India is mozzarella. This is a household name and commonly used for making cheese-based dishes.
However, have you ever thought about a cheese made from donkey’s milk? Well, some people did already and they’re selling it at an exorbitant price of $600 per kg. As surprised as you may seem, the specialty of the world’s most expensive cheese lies in the fact that it is made from donkey milk. Known as pule cheese, the claim to fame for this variety of cheese came with the fact that it is produced in only one farm in the entire world that is located in Serbia. The Zasavica Special Nature Reserves is involved in the tedious task of producing 50 to 70 kgs of cheese in a year.
Mulling Over Pule Cheese
The donkeys involved in the process of making this unique cheese are an endangered Balkan species, which can be only found in the region. The story behind inventing this cheese is quite fascinating. As shared by the creator Slobodan Simic with Business Insider, the cheese was created accidentally. The initial motivation was to save the donkeys that were on a verge of extinction. With a sparse population of only 1,000 donkeys surviving in Serbia, the concept of dairy donkeys was given birth.
What started as a mission to prevent the species from going extinct resulted in large quantities of donkey milk and pule cheese was a delicious consequence of the same. The process of making the world’s most expensive cheese requires 6.6 gallons of donkey milk and is quite time-consuming and tiring. The donkeys are only milked by hand, unlike cows, which adds to the labour-intensiveness of the task.
A combination of 60% donkey milk and 40% goat milk is used for churning out a creamy and thick bunch of this rare cheese. Since the donkeys produce milk only for six months in a year, this combination helps in a sustainable supply of pule cheese. The white colour of the cheese as well as the rich and dense taste and texture are a result of the presence of a protein which helps in binding the cheese. It is considered high in protein and has been acknowledged by the United Nations as a feasible substitute for those who are allergic to cow milk.
