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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Poland, Podhale and nearby Tatra and Beskid areas

Oscypekoscypek

Raw sheep milk, partly soured and mixed with fresh milk, is set with rennet in a wooden vat in a shepherd's hut. The curd is gathered, kneaded and scalded in hot water, shaped on a skewer in carved wooden moulds into a spindle, soaked in brine for up to a day, dried, and cold-smoked for 3–7 days. Made in 8 steps over 4.5 days – 9 days. The longest step, cold-smoke under the hut roof, takes 3–7 days (Application for registration of 'Oscypek' (PD…). Salt is 2.8 % (Drożdż A. 2001). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, nearly 60 % of isolates and the main DGGE band and Lactococcus garvieae, a strong DGGE band in most samples do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–7 daysSet[oj2006][drozdz2001]Cold-smoke under the hut roof
Temperature36 °CMeasured[drozdz2001]Set with rennet
Salt2.8 %Measured[drozdz2001]Soak in brine
AciditypH 5.3Measured[drozdz2001]Cold-smoke under the hut roof

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceShepherd's-hut process with no fixed amounts. In one study about 6 l of milk made one cheese of about 800 g (Drożdż 2001).
At least 60 % of the milkRaw sheep milk · From the Polish Mountain Sheep breed[oj2006]
Raw cow milk, optional · Only from Polish Red cows[oj2006]
Rennet · Commercial rennet in the huts studied[oj2006][drozdz2001]
No starter · The souring comes from the milk's own bacteria[alegria2012]
Salt · As brine[oj2006]
Starternone; part of the milk is soured at room temperature and mixed with fresh milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.5 days – 9 days

Start
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shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Soured milk from the night before is mixed with fresh morning milk

Step 1 of 8
Sour part of the milk and mix it with fresh milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus lactis
Lactococcus garvieae
L. plantarumparaplantarum
Lactobacillus casei

The PDO steps are cold souring at room temperature, then warm souring by mixing soured milk with sweet milk; in the huts studied, the morning milk was mixed with the previous evening's. Output: mixed raw milk.

Flavour
slightly sour
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the milk's own lactic bacteria sour the stored milk

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

Oscypek is made in shepherds' huts from raw sheep milk with no starter, and part of the milk is soured first and mixed with fresh milk. The curd is scalded and kneaded in hot water, which makes it partly plastic, then shaped on a skewer in carved moulds. Cold smoke for 3–7 days finishes it, and it is made only from May to September.

Milk
Raw sheep milk, at least 60 %, with optional Polish Red cow milk
Smoking
Cold smoke for 3–7 days
Season and size
Made only from May to September; 17–23 cm long, 0.6–0.8 kg; water at most 44 %, fat at least 38 % of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • BundzFresh rennet sheep curd, eaten young; ripens into bryndza
  • GołkaCylindrical smoked cow-milk cheese of the same area
  • RedykołkaSmall smoked sheep cheese in animal or heart shapes
  • Slovenský oštiepok (Slovakia, PGI)Slovak relative, made in huts or in dairies from sheep, mixed or cow milk

Safety

The milk is raw. Salt, cold smoke and the drop in pH are the main hurdles; one study found enterobacteria numbers falling from curd to smoked cheese.

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteria (one isolate Enterobacter kobei); counts fall from curd to smoked cheese.

History and sources

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

The specification dates the first evidence of cheese making in Podhale to the 1416 charter of Ochotnica village and the first exact description of hut cheesemaking to rules of 1748.

  1. [oj2006] Application for registration of 'Oscypek' (PDO), summary under Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006, Official Journal of the European Union C 180, 2006spec
  2. [drozdz2001] Drożdż A. 2001, Quality of the Polish traditional mountain sheep cheese "oscypek", in Rubino R., Morand-Fehr P. (eds), Production systems and product quality in sheep and goats, Options Méditerranéennes Série A no. 46, CIHEAM, Zaragoza, pp. 111–114paper
  3. [alegria2012] Alegría Á., Szczesny P., Mayo B., Bardowski J., Kowalczyk M. 2012, Biodiversity in Oscypek, a traditional Polish cheese, determined by culture-dependent and -independent approaches, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 78(6):1890–1898, doi:10.1128/AEM.06081-11paper