9/28/2023 0 Comments Cure cheese livejournal![]() That’s how you get this Chanel perfume,” referring to the pungent smell coming from the drying room. “The idea is to let it be as natural as it can get. “We let it get a little hot and a little cold, without controlling it too much,” says Paolo. It’s then left to dry for at least a year, without any smoking. ![]() They cure each pršut by hand with sea salt and season it with pepper, garlic and a pinch of laurel leaves. You can savour tradition in the way they are produced, with the skin removed and the hip bone left intact. During their “office hours,” when not playing weddings and summer parties, Luka and Paolo churn out about 2500 pršuti per year. “Playing the keyboard is my stress therapy,” adds Paolo as he hands me a slice with a metal holder. “We played 27 gigs in August 2019,” says Paolo in the tiny tasting room of their prosciutteria as he cuts the violin-shaped pršut using a thin knife with precision and grace. When they don’t make meat, they make music. So do the brothers, who perform across Istria with their six-person band. Their Istrian pršut, much-lauded and awarded, takes the spotlight. Petar u šumi, two brothers have taken on the family tradition of dry-curing meat. At Pršutana Jelenić in the village of Sv. Beyond just being tasty, it tells the story about the local soil, climate and longtime passions passed down over generations. There’s nothing more welcoming than this trifecta of Istrian tastes. When you visit an Istrian home, a platter is placed in front of you, laden with prosciutto, cheese and olive oil. “What the cows eat on a particular day ends up in our milk and cheese.” It’s this wildly varied feast of flavours that tells tales about the heartland of Istria. “We don’t have copies, only originals,” says the host. The dairy venture at Latus peaks with a yummy dessert featuring an often-overlooked ingredient: skuta (Istrian ricotta), served with fig marmalade. “There is no cheese that tells the story of Istria more accurately than Veli Jože,” adds our host. Made of full-fat cow’s milk and aged on fir planks, the Istrian cheese is a treat, but it’s Veli Jože (Giant Jože) that steals the show, deliciously ripe and sharp under its autumn brown rind. ![]() She places aceto balsamico and olive oil on the table and encourages us to sample each cheese with and without the extras. “You need to eat the cheese with your hands, to really feel and smell it.” When I taste my first slice, it feels like a breeze-powered run on Istrian pastures in springtime. Then our host brings out five slices of cheese on a plate. Some of the milk comes from their own 25 cows, whom they lovingly call “ladies” they also source milk from 15 cooperative farms in the area.Īfter the yoghurt and the milk, my palate opens up for more dairy delights. Started back in 2000 and today counting 28 employees, Latus churns out approximately 8000 litres of milk per day and about 150 tonnes of cheese per year. Decades later, Latus still produces dairy without artificial aromas, colours and preservatives. Unknowingly, they conserved the cheese and dried it, the grain adding a sweet tinge – the perfect preservative provided by nature. We learn how Žminjski sirić (cheese from Žminj) came to be during the hard times after World War II, when Istrian families had many mouths to feed, none (grannies) used to hide the prized chunks of cheese in wheat, a safe place away from hungry children. At this feast of fresh dairy products, yoghurt comes served in a wine glass, and flavours are paired with stories about the area, the farm and the family. I’m sitting in the all-white tasting room of the Milk & Cheese Bar, a swank space of this family-run dairy farm that has been reaping awards for its cheeses. “If you get the fat in your glass of fresh milk, you hit the jackpot,” says Sandi Orbanić, owner of Latus dairy in the village of Gornji Orbanići near Istria’s inland town of Žminj. In this story featuring the producers that Valamar collaborates with, take a journey through Istria, learning about its food and wine and what makes them so prime. The people of Istria have learned over the centuries to let it be the less you mess with nature, the better. But there’s no better way to get to know this triangle-shaped peninsula on the western coast of Croatia than through its flavours.Īt the verdant hideaway of “green Istria,” nature’s bounty is prepared in refreshingly understated ways, revealing its spectrum of rich tastes. There are plenty of pastimes you can embrace in Istria, from lazy stints beachside to cycling its hilly roads and discovering its cultural landmarks.
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