Cheese

 

Cheese

                                            Casu marzu

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

WARNING

Do not read further if you have a weak stomach.

Cheese comes in many different consistencies and flavours. Some are mild and nutty, gentle on the palate. Others have a strong and salty flavour, while some may be acidic or ammoniac. Sometimes, fruit or herbs are added. Cheese may be soft, hard, or crumbly. With around two thousand varieties of cheese available worldwide, there is bound to be one to please even the most refined taste.

Cheese is usually made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, or buffalo but occasionally other mammals, like horses, camels, yaks, or reindeer, provide the milk.

I had never thought that cheese might be considered unsafe, unless for those with an allergy, but there is such a cheese. It is a Sardinian delicacy called ‘Casu marzu,’ designated ‘the world’s most dangerous cheese’ or ‘the forbidden cheese. Casu marzu means ‘rotten cheese.’

This pungent sheep’s milk cheese is dependent on the cheese fly, Piophila casei, for its unique character. The cheese starts life in the usual way and resembles pecorino. Cheese fly larvae are introduced to the cheese and proceed to digest it, which leads to fermentation. This results in the cheese becoming smooth, even sometimes semi-liquid.

When the cheese has reached the zenith of its maturing, it is cut open and served with bread and a robust red wine. The sight of wriggling maggots may deter some people from eating it. Those who are not put off are advised to wear glasses and put their hands underneath their noses in case the maggots launch themselves into nasal cavities or eyes. Remember, they’ve been working away in the dark and the light disturbs them!

People who still wish to try the cheese, but without the maggots, can put a piece of it in a paper bag, and once the sound of larvae beating themselves against the paper ceases, because the maggots have suffocated and are now dead, they can eat the cheese.

Should the cheese be found to have no live maggots when opened, it must be discarded as it is now considered toxic.

It is illegal to sell the cheese and is banned in most countries, for fear that live larvae could survive the digestive process and create problems in the gut.

There are several other cheese varieties produced in similar ways.