Urman cheese
| Urman cheese Urmanski sir (Sirmian) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Other names | Mur shepherd cheese |
| Country of origin |  Nikolia |
| Region | Mur Voivodeship |
| Town | Urma, Mur Voivodeship, Nikolia |
| Source of milk | Sheep |
| Pasteurised | No |
| Texture | Soft |
| Certification | RICH 2002 |
The Urman cheese (Sirmian: Urmanski sir), also known as Mur shepherd's cheese (Sirmian: Murski čobanski sir) is a type of Nikolian cheese traditionally made by shepherds in the Voivodeship of Mur around the town of Urma. It is made with sheep's milk and has a strong, slightly salty taste with a soft texture. The earliest mentions of this cheese go back to 17th century, but it is believed that it has been produced as far back as 14th century. The specific and unique process of cheesemaking involved in production of Urman cheese led to it being inscribed in ARCHO's Registry of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2002.
Production
The Urman cheese is traditionally produced by Urman shepherds, as they took their herds to nearby mountain pastures. The process starts when the first milking of the sheeps happen, usually around April or May, and lasts until autumn, when the cheese matures and shepherds return to the valley.
First, curd is made from sheep's milk, by straining and heating the milk, then adding rennet. When the curd is made, it is then drained through a cloth to extract the excess whey, often pressed hard in order to prevent the excess whey from producing an unpleasant acidic taste.
The drainage process produces wheels of curd which are placed in wooden cylindrical boxes, often 6 at a time, that are left to ferment in a dark room for 7 to 14 days, depending on the outside temperature. After the fermentation, the wheels of cheese are extracted, then grinded either using a traditional tools in a special oval bowl, or using a meat grinder. The grinded cheese is then salted and mixed, then stuffed in sheep stomach, which is later sewn. Sacks of cheese are laid to rest on the floor of the cheesemaking room until the sheeps come down from the mountains in late autumn, totalling the curing process to around 6 months.
A variant of Urman cheese, called Urman basket cheese (Sirmian: Urmanski košarski sir) exists, whereby cheese is stuffed into fir bark baskets, instead of sheep stomach, giving the cheese a specific woody, resin taste.