Džiugas

Appearance & taste

Džiugas is a flat, cylindrical wheel 22 to 24 cm in diameter, 9 to 10 cm high and weighing 4.2 to 4.5 kg. The paste is hard but breaks easily; the longer the cheese ripens, the harder it becomes and the more crystals it contains. It has no holes, but occasionally small irregular openings and fine cracks; small white crystals of calcium salts and the amino acid tyrosine are visible. The cheese contains 40 ± 3 % fat in dry matter, 34 ± 3 % water and 2.0 ± 0.4 % salt.

The colour depends on the age: after at least 12 months the paste is cream-coloured to yellowish, after 18 and 24 months it shows a greenish tinge near the rind, after 36 months it is yellow, in places reddish-yellow or marbled brown, after 48 months yellow with an orange tinge. After 60 months it ranges from yellow to dark yellow with white crystals, and after 100 and 120 months it is intense to deep yellow with an orange or reddish-yellow tinge towards the rind. The flavour is intense, sweet and at the same time tangy.

Production

Only cow’s milk from the grazing season from May to October is used; during this time the cows receive no supplementary feed. A 4 kg wheel needs around 60 l of milk. The milk is standardised, pasteurised and coagulated with an enzyme of microbial origin. Lactic acid bacteria of the genera Lactobacillus and Streptococcus, propagated in whey, serve as the starter: a whey starter can be carried forward up to ten times, and the cheesemakers control pasteurisation and timing so that the ratio of the two groups of bacteria stays the same.

Then the curd and cheese grains are processed, and the cheese is moulded, pressed, salted and ripened. During ripening the wheels stand upright in racks on round, constantly turning rods and are turned by hand by about 60° at least twice a week so that the sides stay smooth and dry evenly. All steps from mixing the milk to ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area is the town of Telšiai in the Samogitian Highlands (Žemaitija) in north-western Lithuania. The municipality is home to the hill fort Džiugo kalnas, which according to an old legend is named after the Samogitian warlord Džiugas; the secret of his strength is said to have been the cheese in his cellar. Since the founding of the Diocese of Telšiai in 1926, the town has been the capital of the Samogitia region.

Traditionally, cheese in Lithuania was coagulated only with lactic acid bacteria; in Samogitia, however, farm women also knew cheese fermented with dried calf’s stomach. Their wooden cheese moulds are on display in the “Alka” museum in Telšiai. Chronicles of the 18th century mention the cheese of the Samogitians, and a cookbook from 1936 contains a recipe for homemade hard cheese ripened for one or two years. The first dairy in Telšiai was founded in 1924; in 1985 trial production of hard cheese, the basis of Džiugas, began at a new production site. From 1994 the quantity grew as new technical manuals and specifications were drawn up. At the start of the grazing season in May, Telšiai holds the “Džiugas Day” festival, at which a panel judges the previous year’s cheese ripened for twelve months.