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The Ark of Taste: Polish Oscypek Cheese

High in the Polish mountains near Zakopane, cheesemaker Wojtek Komperda is part of a long line of shepherds who have been making Oscypek cheese from sheep's milk since the 14th century. For six months of the year they live in small wooden homes, tending to a fire that is never allowed to die out. They mould the ewe’s milk by hand for over an hour and wrap a carved wooden band around it, which imprints geometric markings that are individual to each producer, before hanging it over the fire to smoke until it turns a pale yellow colour. Recently, however, this age old practice has struggled to compete alongside modern cow milk equivalents wrongly labelled and sold as Oscypek. Despite this, Wojtek hopes that authentic Oscypek cheesemaking will be kept alive as he passes his knowledge on to his children, just as his father did to him.

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Duration:

4 minutes