ZASAVICA – White, dense and rich in flavour, Serbia’s one-of-a-kind donkey cheese is not only tasty but good for your health, says maker Slobodan Simic.
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There’s only one catch – at 1,000 euros ($1,130) or around Dh4,176 a kilo, it may well be the most expensive cheese in the world.
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Since 2012, Simic and his team of farmers have been milking a herd of more than 200 donkeys who live on a nature reserve northern Serbia called Zasavica.
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Their milk has similar properties to breastmilk and is touted by Simic as a cure for a range of ailments, including asthma and bronchitis.
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“A human baby can take this milk from the first day, without having it diluted,” he says, calling it a “wonder of nature.”
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While a lack of scientific studies make it difficult to assess its health properties, the milk is high in protein and has been recognised by the UN as a good alternative for those with allergies to cow’s milk.
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But “what no one in the world does, and could never make, is the donkey cheese,” Simic says of his flagship product.
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Donkey milk has low levels of casein – a type of protein that acts as a binding agent in cheese-making.
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Less than a litre of milk a day
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But a staff member at Zasavica discovered that portions of donkey milk could be mixed with some from goats in order to craft the crumbly mounds of cheese.
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The mixture also helps make up for the fact that donkeys produce less than a litre of milk a day – a fraction of the 40 litres a cow can provide.
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The farm sells between six and 15 kilos of cheese a year, mainly to foreigners and tourists who visit, says Simic.
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They also produce donkey milk soap and liquor.
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For Simic, the business is also a way to protect the Balkan donkey, an animal that has become less prevalent as machines take their place in agriculture.
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“We are maintaining the need for this animal and now there are more and more donkey farms, the demand for donkeys is higher… which is a very good thing for us and the region,” he says.
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The unique product made headlines in 2012 after false rumours spread that Serbia’s tennis star Novak Djokovic had bought up an annual supply – which he denied.