Cherni Vit

What is Cherni Vit Cheese?

Cherni Vit is made only in and around the village of Cherni Vit, at the northern foot of the Balkan Mountains in Teteven Municipality, Lovech Province. Villagers made it for centuries, though many of them thought the mold was poisonous and threw moldy batches away. Production faded in the 1970s, when plastic cans replaced the wooden casks the mold needs, and by the early 21st century the green cheese had all but disappeared.

In 2007, Italian representatives of the Slow Food movement asked the mayor, Tsvetan Dimitrov, about village foods in danger of vanishing. He found a single matchbox-sized piece of green cheese saved in the cellar of an elderly couple living in the highlands above the village. The cheese was presented at the international festival in Bra and met a strong reception.

Milk comes from Karakachan sheep and the native Teteven breed. Shepherds move the flocks to high mountain pastures after Saint George's Day, and when the sheep come back in September or October the cheese, already packed into wooden casks, is stored in humid village cellars at 10 to 12 degrees C (50 to 54 degrees F). Brine evaporates slowly through the wood, and mold appears on the surface only after the casks are opened. Air humidity, cold winters and the wide gap between day and night temperatures all shape the result.

It is essentially a white brine cheese, sirene, changed by that mold growth. The paste is silvery white, the crust is green, and the cheese is very soft with a dense, hot taste and a rich aroma. Its protein content differs from that of cheeses made in other Bulgarian regions. As of 2009 it was not sold commercially inside Bulgaria or exported, since farms cannot sell dairy products directly without veterinary approval.