Archive for category ‘phototour in Romania’

(Română) Diversitate in calatorie, autentic in fotografie

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Ol’ George’s cheese delights

The sheepfold lies close to Ol’  Gheorge’s house: a hardworking man’s household  shed and yard and all necessary outhouses  for a family of Hutsuls in the Carpathian mountains. You may assume that  Gheorghe is living in the village..well he isn’t. Until reaching his household you have to walk for a couple of kilometers on a forestry road, along a narrow valley until it broadens unfolding  a hamlet of a few households, pastures and hay stacks. 200 meters ahead   and you’re there. Up the pasture, at the forest edge we came across  the sheepfold, home for 45-50 sheep. We arrived right in the middle of morning milking. Sitting on milking stools, in front of the wooden gate, Ol’ Gheorghe’s 3 sons   were all caught up in their daily chores  : while securing the wooden gate of the holding pen with  one knee their hands seemed faster than any milking machine. The milk was spurting from their fists right into the bucket between their legs, all swishing   and   foamy. In less than half an hour the pen was empty, the sheep were taken out for grazing by one of the boys   and the milk carried to the sheepfold by the other two. Every good sheepfold requires certain management skills so chores are distributed considering age and  experience  :Ol’ Gheorghe is the shepherd –“rules” the sheepfold and prepares cheese while his sons either take the sheep out to the grazing pastures or help preparing the cheese.

At the sheepfold the fire is already kindled,  the  tank where the milk is about to be warmed  has a cheese cloth on top (this is a  strainer replacer) and the boys pour the raw milk. The tank is set   over the fire until it warms, then  the milk is poured into a wooden tank where Ol’ Gheorghe adds the rennet. Until the milk curds, he allows himself some time to sit on the bench while he  tells us  all about the hutsuls ,his family and cheese “processing”. I’m curious about the next steps he’ll follow in the cheese making process, as I want to know what to expect further. Then we turn to how cheese is made back home in Bran and he’s quite surprised when I tell him about the kneaded cheese stuffed into bellows of fir tree bark instead the traditional sheep bladder. Then, Gheorghe goes on about the way hutsuls prepare the cheese, time is silently passing by us and in no time milk has curdled.

Ol’ Gheorghe takes his long tailed ladle and stirs well the curdling milk until it turns to liquid again. Then he pulls up his sleeves and starts stirring it gently with his hands. He won’t stop for another 10 minutes and he looks as if he’s found something precious on the wooden tank bottom. All clears out when I see a big, white, cheese ball swimming out to the surface from the floating whey. Bit by bit, the ball grows smaller and when it’s compact enough, it’s poured out into the cheese-cloth, on top of a big strainer. He breaks the cheese into small lumps to remove the whey, then puts it back in the cheese-cloth, ties the corners tight around the curd and hangs it to drain in line with the others. The remaining whey in the wooden tank is set again over the fire, while Gheorghe’s youngest son ladles continuously into the tank’s bottom to prevent scraping. This is when Gheorghe starts gathering the hot, soft cheese lumps floating on the whey.  After the whey has drained off and the curd has cooled down the corners of the cheese-cloth are tightened around the curd and the cheese is hanged to drain.

As the morning chores have come to an end , the boys bring a couple of buckets filled with water from the nearby spring and start washing their utensils and prepare them for the evening milking.

Meanwhile, polenta is bubbling up in a pot and all of us, “the guests”, are invited to taste the mouth watering sheepfold cheese delights: soft , white cheese, bland fat-free cheese (similar to the Italian ricotta), cottage cheese – locally called “jintita” (sheepfold special prepared by slowly heating the whey got by draining from the curd), polenta and another local specialty- “balmos”(polenta mixed with sour cream, butter, soft white sheep cheese and kneaded cheese).

And that’s when “the film turns blank”, or whatever the meaning may be now in digital era. This is not too much to laugh at  back in the world of photographers…I still have to wonder why…

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