Chechil vs Circassian cheese
Chechil
Facts
- Milk
- Cow
- Texture
- Semi-soft
- Type
- Stretched curd
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Armenia
- Place
- Armenian Highlands
Chechil is a brined string cheese from Armenia, made in the Armenian Highlands. Makers pull the curd into thin strands and braid or coil them into dense ropes. The usual milk is cow's milk, often skimmed, so the cheese is lean and chewy rather than rich. Some ropes are only salted in brine. Others are smoked, which adds a dry, brown edge to the braid.
Circassian cheese
Facts
- Texture
- Soft
- Type
- Fresh
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- Russia
- Place
- Adyghea
Circassian cheese is a mild, soft cheese from the North Caucasus, and in Russia it is closely tied to Adyghea. The Adyghe name and the Russian name adygeyskiy syr point to the same family of cheeses. Makers shape it into rounds, often with a basket, and sell it fresh, dried, or smoked. It crumbles rather than stretches, and it works as a table cheese as well as a cooking cheese. The style belongs to Circassian food, not to a single factory brand.