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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Poland, Podhale

Bundzbundz

Ewe milk is warmed in a cauldron over the hut fire and set with rennet, and the curd is gathered into a linen cloth to drip. The result is bundz, a soft, sweet, loaf-shaped fresh cheese with small holes. Shepherds shape it into oscypek, or leave it about two weeks to sour and grind it with salt into bryndza. Made in 3 steps over 14 days. The longest step, leave to sour (towards bryndza), takes 14 days (Ceklarz K. 2023). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Levilactobacillus brevis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 daysReported[ceklarz2023]Leave to sour (towards bryndza)
AciditypH 6.4Measured[bonczar2009]Gather the curd and let it drip
Fully documentedCheese14 daysTraditional product list (Poland, 2005)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese familyMore fresh acid-set cheesesMore from Poland

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed recipe or amounts; bundz is made from whatever the flock gives each milking during the grazing season.
Ewe milk · From Polish Mountain sheep; the related PDO cheeses allow up to 40 % Polish Red cow milk[nalepa2022][bryndza-oj-2006]
Rennet (klag) · Traditionally calf stomach contents in water; now commercial rennet[ceklarz2023]
Starter: none; spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countL. mesenteroidesLevilactobacillus brevis

What changes: Ewe milk is warmed over the fire and rennet is stirred in to set it

Step 1 of 3
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. mesenteroides
Levilactobacillus brevis
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: set milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Bundz is the fresh curd at the start of the Podhale chain. Shaped by hand, soaked in brine and hot water, and smoked, it becomes oscypek; soured for two weeks, ground and salted it becomes bryndza.

Milk
Ewe milk; the related PDO cheeses oscypek and bryndza allow up to 40 % Polish Red cow milk
Ripening
Eaten fresh; or soured about two weeks for bryndza

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk in summer huts. One tested sample carried Listeria monocytogenes DNA, so bundz is a perishable raw-milk cheese to keep cold and eat soon.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes DNA detected in one Podhale bundz sample.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Bundz was entered on Poland's list of traditional products in 2005. Sheep cheese from Podhale is recorded from 1527, and in 1683 it was paid as part of feudal dues.

  1. [bryndza-oj-2006] European Commission 2006, Summary of the application «Bryndza Podhalańska» (PL/PDO/005/0450), Official Journal of the EU C 230/2, 23 September 2006 (Hungarian edition)spec
  2. [bonczar2009] Bonczar G., Reguła-Sardat A., Pustkowiak H., Żebrowska A. 2009, Wpływ substytucji mleka owczego mlekiem krowim na właściwości bundzu (Effect of mixing ewe's and cow's milk on bundz cheese properties), Żywność. Nauka. Technologia. Jakość 5(66):96–106paper
  3. [ceklarz2023] Ceklarz K. 2023, Oscypek na nowo. Między tradycją a turystycznym biznesem, Perspektywy Kultury 42(3)paper
  4. [nalepa2022] Nalepa B., Markiewicz L.H. 2022, Microbiological biodiversity of regional cow, goat and ewe milk cheeses produced in Poland and antibiotic resistance of lactic acid bacteria isolated from them, Animals 13(1):168paper