In the Tatra Mountains of south of Poland, there is a cheese that seems to be a pure, unadulterated Platonic form of cheese: oscypek. It’s made of sheep and cow milk which is turned into a cottage cheese, pressed, and left to sit in a brine for up to forty-eight hours. Afterward, it is slow-smoked for up to two weeks. It’s a cheese unique to the region and is protected under the European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin geographical marker and has to have at least 40% sheep milk to be considered real oscypek.

The cheese is made in a wooden hut called a bacówka, which is where the shepherds also sleep. A small fire pit is built into the corner of the hut over which the unpasturized milk is heated until it curdles, making a cottage-cheese-like substance. Those curds are then gathered by hand and pressed into football-like masses which then are placed in salt water. Finally, it’s taken out and placed on shelves high in the hut where it slowly takes on the smoke of the fire used to curdle the next batch.

Visitors to the bacówka can drink the whey (what’s left behind), which is sour, strong, and delicious.

More information is here. It also mentions bryndza, another of my personal favorite cheeses.