“T” is for TELEMEA
With a shout-out to my new blogger pal Silvia, today’s featured cheese is Telemea.
Telemea is a traditional Romanian cheese made by the Vlach or Wallachian people of Europe. There are various types of telemea official recognized such as Telemea de Arges, Telemea de Brasov, Telemea de Carei, Telemea de Harghita, Telemea de Huedin, Telemea de Oas, Telemea de Sibiu and Telemea de Vâlcea.
Telemea is a semi-soft, white, sheep’s milk cheese with a creamy texture and tangy aftertaste. In some cases cow’s milk is also used. The cheese was originally produced only in Romania but when the Vlach population started spreading beyond their native country, the recipe became popular in European nations like Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Poland. Sharing similarities to Greek feta, telemea is often used in salads. Telemea is stored in a brine solution, and gets saltier with age.
Made similarly to paneer and queso blanco, telemea is left to mature in brine. It’s usually desalted in fresh water before consumption.
You want to see cheese being made? Watch this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfiXfEGhY-Y
Glad I visited today during the #atozchallenge. Delighted with your blog and am now following. Love cheese, great topic for the month. Spent time scrolling through more of your posts and look forward to reading more. Congratulations on this worthwhile reading.
Thanks, Stepheny! I appreciate it, and am off to find you now 🙂
Also, thank you for the shout out. Now, I shall go see where I can find some telemea. 🙂
Oh, my God! Thank you for making Telemea the star of the day. Yes, I am particularly familiar with Telemea of Arges. So good, oh, it’s to die for. 🙂 We ate it with bread and/or slices of tomatoes on the side. This brings back such good memories. I can almost smell it and taste it as I type.
I didn’t know of this cheese–thanks for the education! Like Denise, I love tallegio too–stinky but oh so tasty!
Another new one for me. My favorite ‘T’ cheese is tallegio. It makes great grilled cheese sandwiches.
Denise, I haven’t had a grilled cheese sandwich in many years. When I was younger, I would grill them with a slice of ripe tomato placed inside. Another of my favorites was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Now I am getting hungry. Lunch time!