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Brynza and Carpathian Sheep Cheese

бриндза

Specialised

The salted soft sheep cheese of the whole Carpathian arc, made at the summer pasture and stored in wooden vessels. ⚠ IT IS NOT ANYONE’S ALONE: Rusyn brynza, Slovak bryndza (which holds an EU protected designation for Slovenská bryndza), Polish bryndza, Ukrainian brynza and Romanian brânză are one regional family, and the word itself travelled the same routes as the sheep. Related but distinct are oštiepok/ostiepok — smoked pressed sheep cheese — and žinčica/žentycia, the drunk whey.

Atlas — where and when

Communities and languages

Languages: Rusyn, Slovak, Ukrainian

What is recorded

  • Brynza-type salted sheep cheese is shared across the Carpathian arc by Rusyn, Slovak, Polish Goral, Ukrainian and Romanian communities and cannot be assigned a single national origin. The protected designation Slovenská bryndza applies to a specific modern Slovak product, not to the family. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from The Wallachian Pastoral Migration probable

    The sheep-dairy technique and its vocabulary travelled the arc with the Wallachian pastoral migration.

  • related to Romanian Foodways documented

    Romanian brânză is the same word and the same pastoral complex.

  • related to Slovak Foodways documented

    Slovenská bryndza holds an EU protected designation; the cheese family is shared across the whole arc.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.