In this program I offer you a new installment of the Quilo of my teacher, Miguel Pocoví Mieras, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Zaragoza, now retired, and my former professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology during my undergraduate and dissertation and current good friend.
Miguel has written a series of interesting articles about cheese curiosities that we will gradually offer you. I specify that cheese is one of the most important foods for humanity, which, as far as is known, began to be produced shortly after the domestication of sheep, about ten thousand years ago. It is believed that the cheese was probably discovered by storing milk in the stomach extracted from a dead sheep, which started the fermentation process, since viscera such as the bladder or stomach were used as primitive containers. Cheese extends the shelf life of milk and has therefore been an important source of calories and nutrients for humans throughout time.
It is also believed that the first cheeses were similar in texture to today’s Greek Feta cheese. From its origin, the evolution of preparation methods, the different microorganisms involved in its maturation, the temperature or humidity during processing, the amount of salt added to preserve it, and many other factors, have led to the generation of hundreds of varieties of cheeses, particularly in Europe.
One of these varieties of cheese is the most expensive in the world, and Miguel tells us about it in the following article:
Curiosities about cheeses(I). The most expensive cheese in the world
Pule milk cheese from a special breed of donkey from the Balkans, with a price of around 1,300 euros/kilo, is probably the most expensive commercial cheese in the world. It should be noted that the Pule (which in Serbian means foal) is not the most expensive price per kilo of cheese that has been paid, since others beat it at auctions. In 2014, 13,050 euros were paid for half of the piece (about 700 grams) that won the Idiazabal Cheese Contest in Ordizia, Gipuzkoa, or a Cabrales that in 2019 broke the Guinness Record in auction price by paying 20,500 euros for a piece of 2.4 kilos, but it must be taken into account that the objective of these auctions is their media coverage. Therefore, the most expensive cheese on the market is still Pule.
This donkey cheese, “magareći sir” in Serbian, is made from the milk of an endangered breed. These animals live in a small natural reserve called Zasavica, near Belgrade. This farm has 190 donkeys, of which only about 20 are available daily to give milk. These grays are smaller than the rest of their species and have a cross-shaped mark on their backs. Each donkey is milked by hand three times a day, produces about 300 milliliters of milk and 23 liters are needed to make 1 kilo of cheese.
Since ancient Greece, beneficial properties for health such as boosting the immune system, virility or delaying the aging process have been attributed to donkey milk, without scientific basis. Hippocrates of Cos, father of Western medicine, used it to soothe arthritic pain, an antidote or heal wounds. Cleopatra bathed in donkey’s milk to preserve her beauty. The beauty, Poppea Sabina, Nero’s second wife, washed her face several times a day with this milk to avoid wrinkles. Many European hospitals and orphanages, until less than a century ago, kept several donkeys to provide milk for babies whose mothers had trouble producing it, because they considered human milk to have characteristics similar to donkey’s.
Apart from the scarcity of milk from this type of donkey, another additional problem is that it contains very little casein, the protein that helps its coagulation. Stevan Marinković, an expert in dairy product development, found a way to achieve good coagulation by mixing it with goat’s milk (60% donkey/40% goat) and several secret natural additives. Pule cheeses remain in molds for 24 hours, maturing for a month and naturally smoked in order to achieve optimal qualities.
Pule cheese is semi-soft, whitish in color and easily crumbly, it has a pleasant mix of flavors: goat cheese, Feta, Wensleydale and a certain similarity to Manchego, although it is a bit more intense and salty. As for the smell, it is particularly malodorous, similar to a strong sheep cheese, but without reaching the stinkiness of a Munster or an Epoisses.
Miguel Pocoví
And up to here Miguel’s explanations. I am sure that more than one person has wanted to try Pule cheese, which, due to current inflation, must be more expensive than a watermelon in the Sahara. For my part, I am satisfied with the excellent Manchego cheese, at an affordable price, and very abundant in the land where I live. As for my curiosity, I would rather satisfy it by finding out how much Caesar would have liked to give the entire donkey farm to Cleopatra.
Jorge Laborda (09/25/2022)
Works by Jorge Laborda.
Your defenses against coronavirus
Your defenses against coronavirus
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Kilo of Science Volume XII eBook
Kilo of Science Volume XII Paper
Kilo of Science Volume I. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume II. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume III. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume IV. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume V. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VI. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VII. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VIII. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume IX. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume X. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume XI. Jorge Laborda
Matrix of homeopathy
Chained circumstances. Ed.Lulu
Chained circumstances. Amazon
One moon, one civilization. Why the Moon tells us that we are alone in the Universe
One moon, one civilization. Why the Moon tells us that we are alone in the Universe
One Moon one civilization why the Moon tells us we are alone in the universe
The thousand and one bases of ADN and other science stories
Adenius Fidelius
The intelligence funnel and other essays
The gods have been cloned