This little-known Serbian delicacy, made with milk thought to slow the ageing process and increase virility, is the most expensive cheese in the world.

Slobodan Simi sat like the caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on the crude wooden bench in Zasavica Special Nature Reserve’s dining room, holding court and puffing on the quarter-bent Calabash-style briar pipe that dangled delicately from his teeth. Tanned creases ran like tributaries down his face, and his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Rakia?” he asked, offering me a shot of the strong Balkan brandy commonly consumed in the morning, even before coffee.

“Ne, hvala,” I said, shaking my head in thanks. Instead, I accepted a cup of thick Turkish coffee and a shot glass of Zasavica’s herd’s donkey milk. It was my first taste of the sweet milk, and I couldn’t wait to try the donkey cheese. Slobodan Simi sat like the caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on the crude wooden bench in Zasavica Special Nature Reserve’s dining room, holding court and puffing on the quarter-bent Calabash-style briar pipe that dangled delicately from his teeth. Tanned creases ran like tributaries down his face, and his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Rakia?” he asked, offering me a shot of the strong Balkan brandy commonly consumed in the morning, even before coffee.

“Ne, hvala,” I said, shaking my head in thanks. Instead, I accepted a cup of thick Turkish coffee and a shot glass of Zasavica’s herd’s donkey milk. It was my first taste of the sweet milk, and I couldn’t wait to try the donkey cheese.

“I fell in love right away,” he said.

Zasavica, named after the river that runs through it, is only 90 kilometres northwest of Belgrade, but the 1,825-hectare area was largely unknown. The area is ideal for bird watching, and the colours are so vibrant in the summer that they appear otherworldly. Simi turned the wild marshland into a nature reserve in 1997 with the help of his political contacts.

Simi was at a fair in the nearby town of Ruma three years later when she saw some abused Balkan donkeys. They’d been beaten and were in bad shape, so they weren’t needed for work or transportation. He had the bright idea of rescuing them and bringing them to Zasavica. Today, there are 180 Balkan donkeys. Smaller than most donkeys and with crosses on their backs, they roam the lush marshland. Other native animals were introduced, such as the Mangalica, which is related to the Hungarian “curly pig,” and the Podolian cow, which is descended from the European wild cow. Beavers have also been introduced back into the area.

“We lost contact with animals, and we desperately need that contact,” Simi explained.

But I was coming for the donkeys. More specifically, for donkey milk cheese, which is the most expensive cheese in the world due to the magarica’s (female donkey’s) extremely low milk yield: only 300 millilitres per day. Donkey milk, which is high in vitamins and minerals, is thought to slow the ageing process and has been used as an immunity booster in the Balkans since ancient times. Cleopatra is said to have bathed in it. It is also said to increase virility.

“You can even sleep with your own wife if you drink our milk,” Simi, who has been married three times, joked.

Simi came up with the idea of making donkey milk cheese a few years ago.

“He has a lot of crazy ideas.” “But he’s always right,” said farm manager Jovan Vukadinovi, a formidable former traffic police chief with a bristle brush-like moustache.

Nobody had ever made cheese from donkey milk before, so it took some trial and error. A dairy technologist, Stevan Marinkovi, was brought in to consult. Because donkey milk lacks enough casein to make cheese, he supplemented it with goat milk. Marinkovi is in the process of patenting the winning formula, which is 60% donkey milk and 40% goat milk.

Despite the fact that there are no established rules in Serbia for donkey milk (or donkey milk cheese), concerns arose about the use of unpasteurized milk, and Zasavica was forced to halt factory production of the cheese.

In the meantime, local cheesemakers Zoran Nedi, Momilo Budimirovi, and his assistant, Milena, are producing small amounts of donkey cheese with low-level pasteurisation milk for Zasavica in a room adjacent to Budimirovi’s kitchen in the nearby village of Gluci.

I sat at Budimirovi’s table with Nedi, Vukadinovi, and Simi, who were chatting in quick Serbian. On the table was Domae crno vino (domestic red wine) and a wedge of white cheese.

“Does this taste like donkey cheese?” I inquired. Vukadinovi raised his head. “You can tell the difference with goat cheese.” It had a dark kora od hrast (oak bark) rind and was tangy and crumbly.

Budimirovi then brought out a much smaller bell-shaped chunk of magarei sir without much ceremony (donkey cheese). It was yellowish in colour and less crumbly than the goat cheese. I was told that this piece, the size of a cupcake, would sell for 50 euros. Nedi cut me a slice of bread. It tasted sweet, clean, and mild, unlike any cheese I’d ever tried.

We went to see how cheese was made in the cheese room. The trio of cheese makers were making goat cheese that day, but they explained that donkey cheese is made in the same way – though the exact method is kept secret. The milk is coagulated with rennet, and the curds are strained and hand packed into moulds. The cheese is left in the mould for 24 hours before being removed and refrigerated in Budimirovi’s yard in a large trailer cooler.

Zasavica also sells donkey milk cosmetics such as soap and anti-aging face creams that contain essential fatty acids and high levels of vitamin A, as well as donkey milk liqueur that tastes like milky Limoncello. The reserve is working to become self-sustaining, thanks to international grants. Selling animal products is part of the plan, as is camping: Zasavica was named one of Europe’s top 100 campsites in 2013 and 2014.

SAM

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