Brânză de burduf

Brânză de burduf (also known as "brânză frământată"^[1] (English: kneaded cheese)) is a salty type of Romanian cheese, made with sheep (or occasionally buffalo) milk.^[2][3] It has a strong flavour and is slightly soft in texture.

Brânză de burduf
Country of origin	Romania
Region	Romanian Carpathians
Town	Fundata
Source of milk	Sheep, Buffalo
Pasteurised	Traditionally, no
Texture	Soft

Processing

To obtain it, sweet maturated caş (an Emmental-like cheese known as "caş dospit") is cut into small pieces, salted and then hand-mixed in a large wooden bowl. The mixture is then placed in a sheep's stomach,^[4] or into a sheep's skin that has been carefully cleaned and sawed on the edges, or in a tube made of pine bark (giving it a slight piney bitter taste). The cheese can be consumed even if kept for a long time in a sheep's stomach or in a sheep's skin. If kept in pine bark, the cheese gets a specific pine resin flavour.

The cheese is specific to different areas from the historical regions of Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia (including assortments known as: "Brânză în coajă de brad" (Cheese in fir shell, famous in the traditional cheese region of Rucăr). A softer, more fatty variant of it is known as "Brânză de putină", "Cremă Focșani", "Brânză Moldova", "Brânză Dorna" (commonly found in supermarkets), "Brânză Luduș", "Brânză Bistrița", "Brânză Săveni" or "Brânză Botoșana".^[1][5][6]

Regions where it is traditionally found

-Rucăr area of Rucăr–Bran Pass

-Sibiu County

See also

• Brânză
• List of cheeses