Traditional Skills in Glukh Cheese-Making and Preservation Among Armenians

Abstract

Even in different villages of the same region ordinary cheese is known by different names, nuances of preparation and storage.  It was made from the milk of sheep, goat, cow, and buffalo. Sometimes the milk of different animals (for example, sheep and goat) was mixed to make a special type of cheese, but most often, even today, for economic purposes. Traditionally, the best and highest quality cheese was considered to be made from sheep's milk. Field materials testify, that cheese made from  goat’s milk ranks first according to its prestige among the people. Nowadays, cheese made from cow's milk dominates in terms of production volume. In the past, it was customary to make ordinary cheese only from whole, full-cream milk. Nowadays, some housewives even cheese on sale make from full-cream milk, because the taste and smell of homemade butter is not pleasing to the palates of the young men in the house. Most housewives today use a store-bought ferment called pepsin. To obtain of good quality cheese, the freshness of the milk, the correct temperature, the amount of ferment, the duration of curdling, etc. are important. The curdled mass is processed by hands, poured into a bag or mould, and turned periodically, coating different sides with salt.To make the cheese taste unique, preferred herbs or greens are added. For long-term use, nowadays cheese is mainly stored in  different containers full of brine.