HOW IT IS WITH KASZKAŁU "SOUL"!

Bulgarian dairy processing is not only the famous yoghurt, they are also excellent cheeses, in the production of which the Polish highlanders have specialized for centuries. Not everyone, whom the tour will lead to the mountain shepherd's hut, dares to try the "crowd”, that is bryndza, which is kept in a leather bag with the hair inside during fermentation, everyone, on the other hand, is delighted with the kashkaval made here.
Preparing kashkaval is not easy. This cheese requires special maturation conditions, which should be made in airy caves with a temperature of 5-8 ° C. After the milk has been heated and concentrated, the whey is drained and the mass is mixed with your hands, and then places it in wooden circular molds. For an 8 kg wheel of cheese, you will need it 50 And sheep's milk or 100 And cow's milk.
Seasoned growers know, that to breathe into the soul, Sheep grazing should follow special rules; in the morning the sheep should eat the white clover, at noon - grass with the addition of dry dandelion and broom, and in the afternoon it should graze in places, where fragrant herbs grow, like for example. thyme. But who is following these rules today?? Who wants to chase sheep from hall to hall? So there is no modern kashkaval, as old-fashioned Bulgarians claim, the "soul he needs."”. well, maybe it's our northern barbarian lack of flair again, but we are half-hard, the fat cheese really tasted great. Especially as an addition to red wine.
In Bulgarian homes, fried kasha is often served. It is a very popular dinner dish. Sliced ​​thick 1 cm cheese is immersed for a moment in lukewarm water, and then roll in flour and beaten egg. It is then fried in hot oil, remembering, so that the fire is not too harsh, because the cheese cannot burn, and inside, it must be completely dissolved under the baked crust, a solid mass. “Kashkaval pane” it is always served on preheated plates, that the melted cheese may not cut off.
However, yoghurt and cheese tasted best for us in the restaurant “Koszarata” in Golden Sands. The scenery of this place, to which you go along a narrow forest path illuminated by lanterns hidden in wicker bee hives, passing the farm with sheep pouting, it always inspired our imagination. A fire burning in the great chimney in the center of the main room, benches covered with sheepskins and the music of shepherd's bells knocked off by the waitresses' hand, create a charming atmosphere of this place. This is where we drank for the first time ,,ajran ”- a great thirst-quenching drink made of yoghurt and soda water, and here our deep conviction was formed, that Bulgaria is, in the full sense of the term, a country flowing with milk and famous for its good sheepdogs. In the folk song it says: ,,Summer is hail or winter snow? And not summer hail, and no winter snow. It's Jankuła-pastuch, Jankuła-shepherd with nine herds, with nine herds of nine hundred…” Today such a view is possible on liwada” Borowiec, Pamporowa, the slopes of Rila, Pirin, Stara Planina…