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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Majevica mountain in the north-east

Majevički dimljeni sir Zarac

Raw cow milk sours on its own in pots for one to two days while the cream is skimmed off; the soft curd is cut, drained, frozen, then salted and kneaded smooth. Portions of 320 g are shaped in mesh bags and dried in wood smoke for 2–4 hours, giving a sour, lightly salty fresh cheese with a pH near 3.9. Made in 9 steps over 35 days – 2.2 months. The longest step, pack and keep cold, takes 30 days – 2 months (Sarić Z 2026) and runs at 4–8 °C (Sarić Z 2026). Salt is up to 2 % (Sarić Z 2026). The raw milk's own lactic acid bacteria, which sour the milk without any starter or rennet does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 2 monthsReported[saric2026]Pack and keep cold
Temperature4–8 °CReported[saric2026]Pack and keep cold
Saltup to 2 %Reported[saric2026]Salt and knead
AciditypH 3.8–4Measured[saric2026]Pack and keep cold
Fully documentedCheese35 days – 2.2 monthsPDO (Bosnia and Herzegovina, registered 12 September 2024)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese familyMore fresh acid-set cheesesMore from Europe

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe cooperative's method gives no fixed milk volume; each batch is one day's milk, and the curd is weighed out in 320 g portions for smoking.
Raw cow milk · One milking (morning or evening) from the maker's own cows, strained through gauze[saric2026]
At most 2 % of the cheese massSalt[saric2026]
Garlic or paprika · Optional, kneaded in with the salt[saric2026]
Dry beech, plum or cherry wood, or beech sawdust · For the smoke[saric2026]
Starternone; the raw milk's own lactic bacteria sour it

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 2.2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: one milking of raw cow milk, strained into pots

Step 1 of 9
Strain the milk into pots
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Milk from one milking, from cows on the maker's own farm in Lopare, strained through sterile gauze. Output: raw cow 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

Unlike smoked rennet cheeses such as oscypek, Zarac is set by souring alone, then frozen, kneaded with salt and dried in smoke for a few hours. Its very low pH (about 3.9) and the smoke are what keep it.

Milk
Raw cow milk, partly skimmed by hand after natural souring
Acidity
pH 3.94 and 2.53 g lactic acid per 100 g on average; water activity 0.933
Composition
Dry matter 31.41 %, fat 6.00 %, fat in dry matter 19.10 %, protein 20.16 %, salt 1.30 %
Size
320 g portions shaped for smoking; sold as 200–250 g packs or 30–40 g minis

Related ferments

Variants

  • With garlicGarlic kneaded into the curd with the salt.
  • With paprikaPaprika kneaded into the curd with the salt.

Safety

Made from raw milk that is only warmed slightly. The measured pH of 3.80–4.04 and the smoke help preserve it, but it is a fresh, moist cheese (water activity 0.933) and is kept at 4–8 °C. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Sulphite-reducing clostridia, found in 1 of 10 samples of a related smoked "dry" cheese from near Tuzla (an earlier study cited by Sarić et al.); Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses.

History and sources

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

Filipović (1969) described Zarac as a cheese of milk with the butter taken off, dried in smoke or sun, slightly larger than a fist and very hard, tied to local customs. Today it is made soft and vacuum-packed by the "Zarac" cooperative in Lopare. Bosnia and Herzegovina registered it as a protected designation of origin on 12 September 2024.

  1. [saric2026] Sarić Z., Mitrović D., Kerović Ž., Mahmić N., Barać N., Barać M. and Brenjo D. 2026, The Zarac smoked cheese from Majevica - production and quality characteristics, Agro-knowledge Journal 27(2):105-116paper
  2. [fsa-ba] Agencija za sigurnost hrane BiH (Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina), register of protected designations of origin and geographical indications (January 2025); Majevički dimljeni sir Zarac, ZOP, registered 12.09.2024, Službeni glasnik BiH 63/24gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov