Klenovecký syrec

Appearance & taste

Klenovecký syrec is sold as a wheel 10 to 25 cm in diameter or as a wedge of 10–14 × 12–16 × 8–12 cm and weighs 1 to 4 kg. The surface is smooth and bears an embossed motif: a circle of 4 to 6 cm with a serrated edge and a cross or four-leaf clover in the middle. According to the specification, the motifs stand for the earth, the universe and the sun. Unlike Oštiepok, for example, the motif is not applied but embossed.

The unsmoked cheese is white to creamy white, the smoked one light yellow to golden yellow or golden brown, with a smoky aroma and about 1 % more salt. There are also cheeses coloured green or with wood ash, which are not smoked. Inside, the cheese is yellow to white, soft, supple and elastic, with small holes in the cut surface. It tastes pleasantly of cheese with a slight lactic note, up to ripened cheese with a sheep’s milk aroma, and is slightly salty. The cheese contains at least 43 % fat in dry matter and at most 2.5 % salt. The label states the variety and, for sheep’s milk, the type of milk.

Production

The cheese is made in shepherds’ huts (salaš) or on farms using the salaš method from raw sheep’s or cow’s milk, and in dairies from pasteurised milk. The milk comes mainly from the area. In every case a culture of lactic acid bacteria of the genera Lactococcus and Lactobacillus is added, obtained in Slovak shepherds’ huts from raw sheep’s milk and sheep’s cheese; according to the specification, it gives the cheese its similarity to ripened sheep’s cheese.

The milk is curdled, heated, shaped and scalded with hot water. According to the specification, this requires particular skill: it makes the surface smooth, and the mould with the motif is pressed onto the still warm cheese. The cheese is then pressed and soured, salted, smoked if desired and ripened. All steps take place in the area, and packing is done at the place of production.

Origin & history

The area lies in central and eastern Slovakia and stretches from the Low Tatras in the north to the Cerová Highlands and the Hungarian border in the south, and from the Javorie and Ostrôžky mountains in the west to the Slovak Ore Mountains in the east. It is upland country with much pasture farming; around Klenovec in particular there are many meadows and pastures for sheep and cattle. Sheep farming was long the main source of income in Klenovec and the surrounding mountain villages.

According to the specification, the cheese was already made in shepherds’ huts in the middle of the 18th century, as an order from 1780 shows, and was exported via Hungary to Vienna and Budapest. From 1850 dairies also made it. Originally it was made only from sheep’s milk; when this became scarce, especially in winter, cow’s milk was added. “English presses” were already in use in 1866. With new varieties, the cheese was also smoked, sprinkled with wood ash or coloured green as if coated with verdigris; the coloured rind was removed before eating. A teacher from Klenovec wrote in 1865 that the cheese had been known for its quality since about 1765, and a source from 1924 mentions exports as far as Germany in the 1860s.