Oštiepok vs Redykołka
Oštiepok
Facts
- Milk
- Sheep
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- Slovakia
Oštiepok is a traditional semi-hard cheese from Slovakia, and the classic version is made from sheep's milk. Makers press warm curd into a carved wooden mold, so each piece comes out like an egg or a small spindle with a raised pattern. Many wheels are then smoked, which darkens the surface and adds a wood fire smell. Some dairies blend in cow's milk, and those pieces taste milder and less sheepy. The sheep's milk cheese is the one tied to older mountain farm practice.
Redykołka
Facts
- Milk
- Sheep
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Stretched curd
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- Poland
- Place
- Produced in the Podhale region
Redykołka is a small smoked sheep's milk cheese produced in the Podhale region of Poland. Makers form it from the curd left after larger highland cheeses are shaped, so the pieces stay small. Hearts, wreaths, spindles, and little animals are all traditional shapes. The inside is pale, soft, and elastic, while the outside turns straw colored in the smoke. The taste is salty, lightly spicy, and clearly smoky, and a warm piece smells stronger than a cold one.