Mohant

What is Mohant Cheese?

Mohant is a semi-soft cheese from Bohinj, Slovenia, with protected geographical origin. Farmers there made it before the technology of pressing cheese was known locally. The preferred milk comes from the native Bohinj cika cow, though milk from other breeds is allowed. Since 2004, national rules have fixed the production area, the method and the conditions for bringing it to market.

Evening milk is partly cooled and left to ripen overnight. In the morning the cream is skimmed off with a ladle and full-fat milk from the morning milking is added. The milk is heated in a kettle to 32 to 35 C (90 to 95 F), then calf-stomach rennet, still made on the farm, is stirred in and the kettle is pulled off the fire. Setting takes 20 to 40 minutes.

The curd is cut roughly with a wooden knife and broken down to the size of wheat grains, sometimes with extra warming so it sinks to the bottom. Part of the whey is poured off and the mass is shaped by hand into lumps, then placed in a cloth-lined mold the locals call a štecl. It is pressed by hand, turned and salted for a day or two, then dried on shelves for two or three days.

The small wheels are layered into a wooden škaf, covered with a linen cloth and a wooden lid, and weighted with heavy stones to squeeze out the last whey. Once the whey stops running, the vessel is sealed and the cheese ripens at 20 to 25 C (68 to 77 F): at least four to six weeks in spring, up to three months in winter. The paste turns homogeneous and more or less plastic. Finished Mohant is packed into plastic or glass tubs.

The paste is white-yellow, even and smooth, partly elastic, hard to spread, kneaded and sometimes a little lumpy. The taste is piquant and sharp without burning, with a bitter edge. Smell and taste are both aggressive and very strongly expressed. It stays a specialty of Bohinj locals and cheese enthusiasts.