For all the cheesaholics out there, does Serbia have a treat for you! A cheese that is even more expensive than cheese made of real gold. Yes, this Serbian cheese is worth more than the gold-flecked Stilton, Britain’s “blingiest” cheese. Pule, the world’s most expensive cheese, costs a whopping $1700 a pound.
The reason for its jaw-dropping price?
Donkey’s milk.
Yes, that’s right, we’re not joking. The thing that’s worth more than real gold is donkey’s milk. Donkey’s milk cheese, or Pule (the Serbian word for foal) as it is called, is made from milk collected from 100 Balkan donkeys, that found their home in Zasavica, a Special Nature Reserve north of Belgrade, Serbia.
Zasavica, the magnificent nature reserve which spreads over 1825 hectares, is located in west-central Serbia, in the southern part of Vojvodina and northern part of Mačva, east from Drina river and south from Sava river. Owing to its fertile soil and a small river Zasavica which flows through these parts, this place has become a home to many unusual and endangered species.
So, what makes Serbian donkey cheese so special?
There are a couple of reasons which make Pule so unique and rare.
The first one is that it takes about 25 litres of donkey milk to make one kilogram of this white and crumbly cheese. For the sake of comparison – 10 litres would be the usual amount of milk needed to produce 1 kg of hard cheese. Bear in mind we’re talking about donkeys here. And we all know how stubborn they can be.
Furthermore, a jenny can give only 0.2 litres of milk, and since there are no milking machines that fit donkeys, all the milking (three times a day) has to be done by hand. Other than donkey milk, no other special or secret ingredient goes into making this cheese.
The second reason is that Pule cheese is low in milk fat. In fact, it contains only one percent milk fat.
Moreover, it contains precious ingredients which get lost if the donkey milk is boiled. One of them is vitamin C, which is present in donkey milk in 60 times larger quantities than in cow milk.
And as if all this wasn’t enough, it also has anti-allergenic properties.
All these reasons make it very expensive to produce and that is why one else makes this cheese.
A cheese with a cause
Another interesting fact concerns the criteria for pricing. There are none. Apart from one maybe. According to the dairy’s manager the value of the cheese is based on the going rate for the milk, which is around 45 dollars per litre.
The head of the Zasavica donkey reserve, told Reuters in 2012 that it could probably, if it were sold in the free market, reach the price of 3, 4 or even 5 thousand euros per kilogram.
However, the reserve’s management decided to sell the cheese at a more reasonable price of 1000 euros a kilo. Why? So as to help local farmers gain income from the reserve and to promote the conservation and management of specific species and their habitats.
Even at this lower price, it is still the most expensive cheese in the world, as certified by the the World Record Academy.
Where can you find your wedge of donkey cheese?
Sad news for all those cheese gourmets with a deeper pocket – Pule isn’t produced commercially.
So there’s no point in selling the golden flakes you’ve just extracted from your slice of Stilton because it is highly unlikely you’ll find donkey cheese in your local cheese shop.
You can find it in one Las Vegas restaurant, which acquired it not a long time ago, at a humble price of $4,094 per slice.
You can, however, order this cheese from the Zasavica special reserve website. Even Novak Đoković purchased the entire year’s supply (2013) in order to set his restaurants apart.
But, if you’re a cheese addict or just a curious cheese novice and you happen to find yourself in Serbia, make sure you find your way to Zasavica and take a glorious bite out of this special Serbian cheese deemed worthier than gold.
Featured image by Marko Đurica, REUTERS
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