Kaşkaval

Kashkaval ; bg, кашкавал ; mk, кашкавал ; sr, качкаваљ, kačkavalj; sq, kaçkavall; russian: кашкавал; tr, kaşkaval or ; ar, قشقوان, qashqawān. is a type of cheese made from cow's milk, sheep's milk or both. In Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia and Romania, the term is often used to refer to all yellow cheeses (or even any cheese other than sirene). In English-language menus in Bulgaria, ''kashkaval'' is translated as "yellow cheese" (whereas ''sirene'' is usually translated as "white cheese" or simply "cheese").

Etymology

The name ''kashkaval'' possibly comes from Latin ('cheese') and ('horse'), by means of the Italian '' caciocavallo'', with the widely accepted explanation that the word ''cavallo'' ('horse') comes from the cheese being traditionally dried by attaching two gourd shaped balls of caciocavallo with a single rope and hanging them to a wooden pole as if placed on a horse's back.

Another theory exists. Some researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Belgrade claim the Aromanian population, a native Balkan people, created ''cașcaval''. As in Romanian, the word ''caș'' means 'cheese' in Aromanian. Balkan etymology is given for the suffix ''-kaval'' in the word kachkaval in the study, nor do the researchers mention the horse, the Latin term or even the Italian term and instead refer to the seasonal movement of the semi nomadic Vlachs and their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures ( transhumance).

Locality

Albania

In Albania, ''kaçkavall'' is the most popular type of cheese after ''djathë i bardhë'' (white cheese). It is considered a traditional Albanian cheese, and is widely used as a side dish. A great majority of traditional restaurants will bring plates of raw or fried ''kaçkavall'' for no additional cost before the main dishes finish cooking. All dairy companies in Albania produce ''kaçkavall'' and mainly use cow's or sheep's milk.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, kashkaval is made from cow's milk and is known as ''kashkaval vitosha'', while a variation made from ewe's milk is called ''kashkaval balkan''. ''Kashkaval preslav'' is the name given to the cheese made from a mixture of both milks.

Kashkaval is a traditional food used in most of the breakfast pastry. One of the most common dishes with kashkaval is ''kashkavalka'' which is a little pastry containing kashkaval inside and on top. Like in the other Balkan countries, it is a major substitute for all other kinds of cheese, especially in pizzas. Another popular Bulgarian snack is ''princesa'' ( bg, принцеса, links=no; "princess"), which is a grilled slice of bread topped with kashkaval or topped with ground pork meat and kashkaval.

Regional varieties have their distinct properties. For example, ''kashkaval vitosha'' is made of cow's cheese, ''kashkaval balkan'' is made of sheep's cheese, while ''kashkaval preslav'' is made of both.

Israel

Kashkaval is one of the most popular types of cheese in Israel, due to the large Jewish population of eastern and southeastern European origins.

Romania and Moldova

In Romania and Moldova, ''cașcaval'' is used to refer to a number of types of yellow medium and semi hard cheeses made of sheep's or cow's-milk. The best known varieties of ''cașcaval'' in Romania are ''dobrogea'' (from sheep's milk only), ''penteleu'' (from mix of sheep's and cow's milk), ''dalia'' and ''rucăr'' (both from cow's milk only). But the term is often used by extension as a generic name for all semi-hard yellow cheeses such as the Swiss Emmental cheese, the Dutch Gouda and the British Cheddar, or anything that looks similar to ''cașcaval''.

During the communist regime, because of the food shortages, Romanian housewives developed a technique for a homemade pressed cheese, similar to ''cașcaval'', made out of milk, '' smântână'', butter and eggs. In Romanian cuisine, a lot of dishes are made with cașcaval, like '' cașcaval pane'' or '' mămăligă''.

North Macedonia

Kashkaval cheese is very popular in North Macedonia. It is mostly made of cow's milk, however both a sheep's milk and a mixed (cow's and sheep's milk) variant is widely available. Kashkaval is also a synonym for any yellow cheese, to the extent that the word "cheese" mostly means white cheese such as feta, while yellow cheeses such as Gouda or Emmental have the suffix kashkaval attached to them in everyday speech, as simpy calling them cheese would be ludicrous, since they're not white cheeses.

Russia

Kashkaval cheese is popular in Russia. In addition to the Balkan and Italian products, there exists also a Russian version of kashkaval.

Serbia

In Serbia, ''kačkavalj'' is traditionally a sheep milk hard cheese, and as such a protected brand of the city of Pirot. Other cheeses, made from a mix of cow and sheep milk, are sometimes also branded as ''kačkavalj'' but they cannot be defined as ''pirotski'' (of Pirot).

''Kačkavalj'' is one of the six traditional cheeses of Serbia. The production process (in Serbian) can be seen online, and according to a TV show video clip, it was brought to Pirot in the 1810s with the Dalmatian or Italian cheesemakers who settled in then- Ottoman Empire; the cheese was distributed throughout the Balkans (specifically mentioned in the link are Salonica and Istanbul).

Levant

In the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Palestinian territories, Israel, and Lebanon), ''qashqawān'' is widely used as a melting cheese, particularly in pastries. Hungarian-style kashkaval is the most common type found in the region.

Turkey

Kaşkaval (Ottoman: penir-i kaskaval) was a type of cheese consumed in Ottoman feasts. Evliya Çelebi's ''Seyahatnâme'' mentions that there at his time (17th century) in Istanbul 400 artisans produced different types of cheese: among them, cut cheese and Teleme cheese together with Kaşkaval Cheese. In Evliya Çelebi's Travel Book, it is also mentioned that Kaşkaval cheese was produced in Çatalca.

Notes

References

See also

* List of cheeses
* List of stretch-cured cheeses

Further reading

* Carić M. (1999
Ripened Cheese Varieties Native to the Balkan Countries
In: Fox P.F. (eds) Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology. Springer, Boston, MA.

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