5 Must Try Bulgarian Cheeses
Bulgaria
Unlike countries that boast hundreds of named cheese varieties, Bulgaria’s dairy traditions are more modest. The two main staples are white-brined cheese, or sirene, and kashkaval, with yogurt-like products such as katak and krokmach rounding out the dairy scene.
This doesn’t signal a lack of interest in cheesemaking. The country’s cheese traditions have been shaped by geography, history, industry, and culture. Mountainous terrain and small-scale pastoralism encourage the production of durable cheeses like the two most often produced. Standardized production under socialism added pasteurization laws and controlled starter cultures, as large cooperatives favored uniform cheeses over regional or experimental varieties.
Market forces also played a role. Limited urban demand, perhaps because other options weren’t available, and centralized distribution reduced the incentive for innovation. More recently, though, a rise in artisanal cheesemaking and interest in playing with classic flavors has led small producers to explore Bulgaria’s heritage cheeses. It’s become a way to not only preserve the flavors of local regions but also expand them. This guide offers a glimpse into Bulgarian cheeses today and the potential for new cheeses to tell the stories of Bulgaria tomorrow.
Sirene
Sirene
Sirene, or “Bulgarian feta,” is the country’s most represented cheese. The white brined cheese is traditionally made from sheep’s milk, although some producers add cow, goat, and even buffalo milk to their versions to add a regional spin to sirene.
Production involves adding lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to the milk after it’s been heated and then cooled for fermentation. Bulgarian white brined cheeses are characterized by the use of Lactobacillus d. bulgaricus, a bacterium naturally present in Bulgarian dairy. “It gives the cheese a distinct lactic freshness and pronounced aroma,” that differs from cheeses produced in neighboring countries, said Hristo Georgiev, the owner of Ferma Georgiev Ltd., a Bulgarian artisan producer specializing in dairy products infused with truffles.
After the starter is added, rennet is used to coagulate the milk proteins, forming the curd. Once cut, drained, and pressed, the curds are salted and stored in brine, which gives sirene its signature tangy, salty punch.
Sirene Shopska Salad
Brined cheeses are an essential food in Bulgarian daily life, Georgiev said. You’ll find them on breakfast tables alongside banitsa, a flaky pastry pie, or crumbled over shopska salad. The classic version, which has enjoyed PDO status as “Bulgarsko byalo salamureno sirene” since 2023, is produced across the country. However, artisanal versions have either begun to reappear after a long absence or pop up as something entirely new. Regions like the Rhodope Mountains, for example, are known for their artisanal varieties of sirene.
“Taste varies depending on whether the milk comes from pasture-raised or barn-kept animals, where the cheese matures, and at what temperature,” said Mina Vardzhieva, a cheesemaker, technologist, and founder of Mina’s Cheesemaking School in Northwestern Bulgaria. Vardzhieva raises her own animals and prepares all the cheeses by hand, in addition to training other cheesemakers. “Even the brine differs. It can be water with salt, whey with salt, or industrial mixes with lactic or citric acid.”
One of the most interesting versions of white brined cheese in Bulgaria is mehovo sirene, which translates to “cheese in a skin.” This version is made by salting and pressing curds from raw ewe’s milk and packing them into a specially prepared skin bag. The method uses spontaneous fermentation, with much of the flavor coming from local microflora, not the skin aging.
Kashkaval
Kashkaval
Kashkaval is the second cornerstone of Bulgarian cheesemaking. This yellow, semi-hard cheese is similar to Romanian cașcaval and is typically made from sheep’s or cow’s milk, though mixed-milk kashkaval is also common.
The production involves a process similar to mozzarella, where the curds are heated, stretched, and then pressed into large wheels. This gives kashkaval its elastic yet firm body and a mild, buttery flavor. Aging the cheese deepens its nuttiness.
Kashkaval is one of the most versatile cheeses in Bulgaria. It melts well, making it perfect for baking, grilling, or stuffing into pastries. It’s essential to kashkaval pane, a breaded and fried Bulgarian cheese dish, is popular as a snack, and is often sliced thin as part of mezze platters.
The cheese has deep roots in the Balkans and Mediterranean, but in Bulgaria, it developed as a shepherd’s cheese, produced in mountain huts where milk was plentiful in summer. Today, kashkaval is made throughout the country. Notable traditions include Trakia Kashkaval, a cheese from the Thracian Plain region, and kashkaval cheeses from Elena, Georgiev said.
“There is growing interest in authentic regional cheeses that were nearly forgotten,” Georgiev said. Kashkaval is also used as a shorthand in Bulgaria for all yellow cheeses with a similar texture and flavor profile.
Cherni Vit Cheese
Cherni Vit photo credit Andrey Anderev
Cherni Vit cheese, which is produced exclusively in the village of Cherni Vit at the foot of the Balkan Mountains, is one of Bulgaria’s most unique and rare cheeses. Its defining feature is its naturally occurring green mold crust, which forms from the combination of mountain climate, humidity, and traditional wooden casks used in its production.
Historically, the green mold was often considered undesirable, and much of it would be discarded by locals who considered it spoiled. Over time, those views changed, and its earthy, tangy flavor has become sought after as one of Bulgaria’s heritage cheeses. The story of how it got there has many twists and turns.
Cherni Vit cheese nearly vanished by the early 2000s when modern plastic containers replaced wooden casks in cheesemaking. Its revival came through the Slow Food movement, an international organization founded in response to the rise of industrialization in food production. Representatives from Slow Food came upon the cheese when they asked Tsvetan Dimitrov, the mayor of Cherni Vit, about endangered foods in the region. That led to Dimitrov finding a single piece of the green-molded cheese in the cellar of a local elderly couple.
Recognizing its uniqueness as the only traditional mold-ripened cheese in the Balkans, Slow Food representatives promoted Cherni Vit cheese internationally at their next festival. That recognition has kept the cheese on the map, although regulatory and commercial barriers still restrict its widespread production and sale.
Flavor-wise, the cheese combines the saltiness of brined sirene with the pungent complexity of a blue cheese. When you can get it, likely in the town of Cherni Vit itself, it’s eaten in small amounts, often with bread, wine, or fruit.
Urda
Urda
Urda is a traditional cheese that belongs to the whey cheese family. It is typically made from the whey left over after producing sirene or kashkaval. The whey is gently reheated, and as proteins coagulate, the curds are collected, drained, and lightly pressed to form a soft, creamy cheese.
While it’s not unique to Bulgaria — you’ll find versions of it in Albania, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and more — it’s popular across the country for its mild flavor. Bulgarian urda has a slightly sweet, milky taste with a smooth, moist texture like ricotta that makes it versatile in both sweet and savory dishes. It’s often used as a filling for pancakes, in pastries like banitsa, or paired with honey and fruit as a light dessert.
Tulum
Tulum cheese
The technique behind tulum cheese comes from very old Balkan traditions. While it’s most widely known in Turkey as tulum peynir, pastoral communities across the mountains use similar methods. In Bulgaria, the goat’s milk cheese has survived thanks to one man: Salih Pashov. Vardzhieva said he’s the only cheesemaker in Bulgaria making tulum, and he does so according to a 500-year-old recipe.
Pashov makes the cheese in the Rhodope Mountains. Fresh curds are salted, pressed, and packed in a specially prepared goatskin with the hair turned inward. This lets excess whey escape and keeps the cheese protected, but it also creates a distinctive, sharp, earthy flavor. Because it’s limited to one producer, it’s spoken of more as a heritage food than a mainstream Bulgarian cheese. Still, “it’s important to preserve this tradition as part of our heritage,” Vardzhieva said.
Most tulum cheeses have a dense, crumbly texture with a sharp, salty edge, sometimes carrying faintly smoky undertones from the skin. Turkish versions are paired most often on meze platters with olives and tomatoes, but even in Turkey, regional differences in tulum cheese result in unique flavor profiles.
Where to Find Bulgarian Cheeses
Finding authentic Bulgarian cheeses outside of Bulgaria can be difficult. Specialty shops and importers may carry some options, but the taste and quality often vary from the products made locally. Local festivals and contacting small producers ahead of a visit are your best bet to try the more rare varieties. As Bulgarian producers and movements like Slow Food continue to highlight the country’s cheeses on the global stage, access to high-quality, traditional varieties abroad may slowly improve.