The best cheese in Hungary

The Csíz Sajtműhely is a cheese manufactury in Baranya county in Hungary. It has the best cheese of the year. Therefore, it has the privilege to represent Hungary in the most prestigious cheese championship around the globe. Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu talked with Anita Kun, founder of the manufactory.

As we previously reported, the best cheese in Hungary in 2017 was the 6-month-aged cheese in a so-called gouda shape. It has the privilege to represent our country at the Mondial du Fromage in France in 2019.

About the winner

According to Anita, this cheese is good-looking and golden coloured. It weighs ten kilos (about 22 pounds), so people often ask for a smaller slice to bring home. The other interesting fact about it is that due to the ageing process, it has a nice, characteristic, “cheesy” after-taste.

Cheese consuming

Anita believes that cheese is an elemental part of the Hungarian cuisine. However, most people are not picky at all. In the last 50-100 years, Port Salut was the most popular. She believes that industrial production ruined the cheese manufactures because now we do not have a rich taste anymore, like in France, the Netherlands or Italy. It is difficult for most people to think about any Hungarian cheese names other than Trappist. Maybe Óvári or Lajtai, if anyone remembers them. In France, there are 400 different types of cheeses at least for this reason French people do not have a hard time naming a couple.

From the office to the countryside

Anita states that a few years earlier she would have never thought that she was about to become a cheese manufacturer. She moved to the countryside from the city. She worked in an office; then she became a farmer. Now she produces all sorts of cheeses from organic milk without any preservatives. Her hobby has become her profession. She tasted a lot of weak quality cheese that she bought, so she came up with the idea to make her own. Her first product was red onion-flavoured, and it tasted so good that she is making it ever since then.

Development

Anita thinks that after reaching a certain level, it is tough to make progress. People know that they make good quality cheese, but they don’t know how to develop due to the lack of professional support in the country. The French cheese championship gives an opportunity for further professional development as well; this is why Csíz Sajtműhely applied. Anite experienced the national cheese festival as a fantastic event. There were 356 types of cheeses, so she had the chance to get inspired. The most appealing about it was, though, that the French cheese knighthood’s members came to judge. It was a wonderful experience for the manufactory to win, but they had to realise that they still have a lot of work ahead. They want to make their cheese even better to deserve taking part in the final championship.