Nanoški sir

Appearance & taste

Nanoški sir is a slightly convex wheel 32 to 34 cm in diameter and 7 to 12 cm high that weighs 8 to 11 kg after at least 60 days of ripening. The rind is yellow with a slight brick-red to brown tint, smooth, dry and without cracks; in places, traces of mould from ripening may be visible. The paste is deep yellow, elastic, supple, smooth and firm, with a few small to medium-sized, irregular holes. The cheese contains at least 60 % dry matter and at least 45 % fat in dry matter.

The smell is clean and unobtrusive, the taste slightly sharp and pleasantly salty. With age the smell becomes more intense and the taste sharper.

Every wheel that meets the requirements is given a stamp on one side with a narcissus and the lettering “Nanoški sir”, placed so that part of the narcissus can be seen on every piece after cutting. Prepacked pieces also carry the serial number.

Production

At least 80 % of the milk comes from Brown cattle cows. They are fed mainly on green fodder and roughage from the area (pasture grass, hay and grass and cereal silage), which makes up 75 % of the dry matter of their ration. The milk is collected and stored separately, heat-treated at 63 to 69 °C within 72 hours of the first milking and stored cool.

In the cheese vat the milk is warmed to the acidification temperature, rennet is added and it curdles. The curd is cut into cubes, pressed into moulds and pressed; meanwhile the cheese ferments. Each wheel is then given the serial number with the day and month on one side. The cheese lies in sea-salt brine at 12 to 18 °C for three days and is turned daily, then dries on boards and goes into the ripening room. There it ripens for at least 60 days; for the first 14 days it is rubbed and turned every three days, later turned at least once a week. Before it leaves the store, the mould coating is washed off. Selected wheels from each batch are tested by tasting and chemical analysis.

Origin & history

The milk comes from an area in western Slovenia bounded by the Italian border between Sežana and Nova Gorica, the rivers Soča and Idrijca and the roads via Idrija, Postojna, Pivka and Divača. The cheese is made in the upper part of the Vipava valley wine-growing area, in the Močilnik valley from Lozice to Vipava and in the Vipava valley as far as Ajdovščina, on premises no higher than 500 m.

In the Vipava valley, a pre-Alpine continental climate meets a Mediterranean one. Summers are hot, dry spells are frequent, and the bora, a very strong north wind from Nanos, shapes the area. Under these conditions people began to breed the strong and hardy Brown cattle, which make good use of green fodder and roughage and, according to the specification, give milk very rich in protein and fat. According to the specification, the microflora of the air, influenced by the climate, the nearness of the sea and wine growing, affects the ripening, the aroma and the sharp taste.

Cheese has been made on the Nanos plateau since the 16th century: an urbarium of the Vipava estate from that time records mountain pasture leases that the graziers paid partly in cheese. Since 1986 Nanoški sir has been made from cow’s milk using the traditional local method. Acidification has always been carried out at low temperature and in open vessels, so that the natural lactic acid bacteria are preserved and the microflora of the surroundings, above all yeasts, can take effect.