Brânză frământată de Teaca

Appearance & taste

The cheese is irregularly oval or round and weighs about 0.4 to 2 kg; its shape and weight depend on the size of the pig bladder it is filled into. It is sold in natural casings, unwaxed with a semi-gloss to matt surface or with a glossy layer of cheese wax, and also in slices. On the outside it is cream-coloured to golden yellow, with a clean, dry surface that is not sticky.

The cut surface is a uniform milky white to yellowish white, homogeneous and grainy; the cheese is compact, adheres to the casing and sticks slightly to the knife when cut. The texture is soft, creamy, supple and dense. It tastes mainly of cow’s milk, slightly salty but also sweet and mildly sour, and smells milky and buttery with a sour, slightly sharp note.

Production

The raw cow’s milk is filtered and curdled with rennet. According to the specification, the cheesemakers judge when it is ready not by fixed times or temperatures but by feel and by eye. The curd is worked, heated a second time together with the whey and shaped. It then ferments; during this the cheesemakers check its colour, consistency, smell and taste. This fermentation gives the cheese its yellowish colour and its delicate fermented flavour.

The curd is then finely crumbled and kneaded. The cheese consists of a mixture of salted and unsalted ripened curd, which is put together in layers with salt until an elastic texture with “unbroken threads” forms. When the pig bladders are filled, the air is kneaded out, and then the bladders are sewn tightly shut. According to the specification, this preserves the creaminess and flavour and prevents the cheese from drying out. All steps take place in Teaca.

Origin & history

The area covers only the village of Teaca in the commune of the same name in Bistrița-Năsăud county. According to the specification, the link with the place rests on the cheese’s reputation and on the knowledge passed down there from generation to generation. According to a specialist journal quoted there, Teaca is known for its cattle farming.

A German monograph by Ilse Schliesleder-Fronius reports that the village received the right to hold a weekly market on Mondays in 1734, and that at Easter each family was officially allotted two lambs, two hams and two cheeses. The kneaded cheese has long been sold at the market in Teaca. Older villagers tell how their mothers let the curd drain and ferment, minced it with a meat grinder and kneaded it with salt. In the past the cheese was buried in the ground in sealed containers for months or kept in a well; whatever was not stored went to market by the kilo.