Ser koryciński swojski

Appearance & taste

Ser koryciński swojski has the shape of a flattened ball with an elliptical cross-section. It measures up to 30 cm in diameter and weighs 2.5 to 5 kg, depending on the sieve, the amount of cheese mass and the ripening time. The sieves in which it is shaped give it its form and the striking ridges on its surface. The paste has many small, evenly distributed holes.

It is sold at three stages. Fresh cheese (świeży, 2 to 4 days) is cream-coloured inside and out, wet and very elastic, with tiny holes of about 1 mm; it tastes mild and creamy, smells of fresh butter and squeaks against the teeth when chewed. Stored cheese (leżakowany, 5 to 14 days) is straw-coloured to yellowish on the outside, slightly firm on the outside and soft inside, with holes of about 2 mm, slightly salty and noticeably nutty. Mature cheese (dojrzały, more than 14 days) has a delicate yellow rind with a whitish coating, is distinctly drier and saltier, especially on the outside, with a slightly nutty taste.

The cheese may contain spices and herbs such as pepper, chilli, dill, wild garlic, black cumin or garlic, as well as olives, mushrooms, seeds, vegetables, nuts or fruit; according to the specification, these do not change its characteristics. All producers carry a common logo on the label.

Production

The milk comes from cows that graze on pasture for at least 150 days a year. In winter they eat meadow hay, feed grain such as oats, rye and wheat, or haylage. Raw or pasteurised whole milk is used; apart from pasteurisation and filtering out coarse impurities, no treatment is permitted.

The milk is warmed and rennet and salt are added, and with pasteurised milk also a lactic acid starter culture obtained from raw milk. After curdling, the curd is worked, the whey is strained off in the sieve, and the cheese is shaped and rubbed with salt. During ripening the producers turn it at set intervals. All these steps take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area lies on the Białystok Upland in the North Podlasie Lowland, a moraine landscape shaped by the Ice Age with hills, hollows and lakes. The climate is markedly continental: the winters are long and the coldest in Poland outside the mountains, and the summers, at around 18 °C in July, relatively warm. Of about 650 mm of rain a year, 70 % falls during the growing season, which according to the specification benefits the meadows and pastures. The Podlaskie Voivodeship has the largest share of grassland in Poland and is geared towards milk.

In the past the region mainly sold raw milk, but many farms also made butter and this cheese for their own use and for sale. Knowledge of how to make it was passed down from generation to generation, as dairy technology textbooks do not describe it. Since 2004 a cheese festival has been held in Korycin every autumn, and in 2005 the cheese was entered in the Polish list of traditional products.