Bulgarian cheese: recipe, composition and photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

When traveling in Bulgaria, you should definitely try one of the local products, which is a real delicacy. Now Bulgarian cheese is known all over the world, in particular, because of its unique taste. It is exactly what makes this product so recognizable that will be discussed in this article.

A little about cheese from Bulgaria

Before talking about the benefits and harms of Bulgarian cheese, as well as its recipe, you should understand what this cheese is. In its homeland, in Bulgaria, it is considered a real national delicacy, which the locals directly call "byaloto salamureno siren". If you translate it literally, then you can understand that the Bulgarian cheese is a pickled cheese, which is usually made from milk. Moreover, it is worth noting that milk can be different, so manufacturers calmly use not only cow, but also goat and sheep milk.

Although the word brynza is also used in everyday life, Bulgarians understand it as a completely different cheese product, which is produced in violation of the technology used or in cases whereSirene is mixed with cottage cheese or whey.

Production Features

The special unique taste of Bulgarian cheese is given by the bacterial sourdough used in its manufacture. It is added directly to pre-pasteurized milk, which is then turned into cheese under its influence. The prepared raw material is carefully pressed and then cut into pieces, which are placed in a special brine. In this brine, it is aged from a month to 45 days, so that the cheese is completely saturated with it and finds its taste.

Tasting qualities

Now in Bulgaria there are many different varieties of siren, each of which is prepared with the addition of its own special ingredients. This has led to the fact that, depending on the variety, this cheese can be used in your own needs - added to salad, baked, and even turned into a cheese mixture for spreading on bread. However, regardless of the type, they also have a number of similar features - a slightly loose, crumbly texture, a s alty taste with a hint of sourness and a fat content of about 50%.

Basically, Bulgarian brynza is a completely independent product, but there are a fairly large number of national cuisine recipes that use it as one of the ingredients. In particular, some people even stop using s alt in cooking with this cheese.

Product composition

The composition of the Bulgarian cheese is quite simple. However, in order to cook it at homewill have to work hard. To prepare this cheese, you will need to find special yeast for feta cheese (if you cannot find them, then you can get by with yeast for cheese), whole milk, Bulgarian yogurt and calcium chloride. To find these ingredients, it would be best to go to a special cheese shop, or even better to buy them in Bulgaria.

If you decide to buy Bulgarian cheese in a store, then pay attention to the fact that the composition does not contain vegetable oils and milk powder, because in this case this product is just an imitation and does not have a real sirené taste.

Nutritional value

On average, the calorie content of Bulgarian cheese, made using all technologies from natural products, is 221 kcal per 100 g. It contains a huge amount of proteins and fats, but there are very few carbohydrates. However, compared to all other cheeses, such a calorie content is considered quite low, so the siren will not cause much harm to the figure, unless, of course, it is consumed in adequate quantities.

Cooking siren at home

There is no single recipe for Bulgarian feta cheese, which could be easily prepared in Russia, since it is quite difficult to find the ingredients for it. But if they are detected, then subsequent production will not be difficult. When cooking, you should be guided by the fact that, as a standard, from 4 liters of good milk you can get about half a kilogram of cheese. However, depending on otherfactors such as milk fat content or milk quality, the amount of finished product may vary.

Regular cow's milk will be used here to make homemade sirené. It is best to use only fresh product, which can be obtained directly from the cow. If this is not possible, then when buying ingredients in a store, you need to pay attention to the method of pasteurization - it should not be UHT, since such milk is not suitable for making cheese.

Cooking feta cheese

Now let's go directly to cooking:

1. If you manage to get fresh milk, then the first thing you need to do is pasteurize it. To do this, it should be poured into a saucepan and heated to a temperature of 72 degrees. In this state, it should cook for about 20 minutes.
2. As soon as the milk is pasteurized and then cooled, it needs to be heated again, but to a temperature of 33-35 degrees, and then add the starter. Bulgarian yogurt will perform excellently in its role. It must be added at the rate of 1 tablespoon per liter of milk.
3. Then, for coagulation, a solution of calcium chloride should be added to the mixture of milk and yogurt (the ratio should be 1 to 4, that is, for each liter of milk, about 6 drops of calcium chloride are added, which was diluted with drinking water 4 times).
4. The latest addition to the mixture is a special rennet yeast for cheese. For each liter of milk, you will need to add 4-6 drops of this ingredient. Then everything againmix well, cover with a lid and leave in a warm place. The coagulation process will begin in about 10 minutes, and then will last up to an hour and a half. It will be most optimal to keep the temperature at this time at about 30 degrees, so the pan with future cheese should be put in the oven at this temperature or just covered with a warm blanket.
5. Prepared raw materials for cheese must be filtered. To do this, put gauze rolled up in four layers in a colander. It is placed in a pan into which whey will run. The cheese is squeezed out a little, and then left to drain for half an hour. Then everything is transferred to the form, which is pressed down with a load from above for a couple of hours.
6. Already compressed cheese is cut into pieces, which are placed in a container for subsequent s alting. For brine, about 120 grams of s alt dissolves in one liter of water. The cheese is left in a cool place at a temperature of 10-12 degrees for 45 days. Only then is it usable.

Benefits and harms

In fact, the benefits of Bulgarian cheese can hardly be overestimated, since it contains a large amount of calcium and phosphorus, which help people recover from bone-related diseases and injuries. In addition, the beneficial substances contained in it help improve the functioning of the nervous system and kidneys. The presence of a large variety of beneficial bacteria affects the functioning of the intestines, so that the process of digestion is also beneficial.

However, judging by the reviews,Bulgarian cheese also has a harmful side. First of all, you need to understand that it is prepared in brine, and therefore it contains a huge amount of s alt. It is contraindicated in people with patients with gastrointestinal, urinary and cardiovascular systems. And also it should not be used by people with lactose intolerance.

Conclusion

When traveling around Bulgaria, you should definitely try their national cheese - Sirene. Now it is actively used in many traditional dishes, in particular, because of its unique and inimitable taste. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a real product in Russia, and even if you want to cook it yourself, it will be difficult to find all the required ingredients. However, if this succeeds, then it is very easy to cook delicious Bulgarian feta cheese.