Have you tried cheese made from honey?

If you think lectures at faculties are mostly boring, the students from the Faculty of Agriculture will prove you wrong. It was at a lecture that they got the idea to make something truly unusual in the Serbian market – mozzarella made from honey and molasses.

– All the ingredients used in the production of our cheese are of very high quality. As for the environmental aspect, we use beeswax in the packaging, there's also the honey from the Tara National Park and we use molasses as well, in a way increasing its application in the food industry – says Jana Simonovic, a student at the Faculty of Agriculture.

Although different from all other “pasta filata” cheeses, it is based on the same recipe, the post-graduate students claim.

– The fermentation is followed by the “filatura” process. That's where we come in, adding molasses and honey and shaping the cheese. Unlike similar cheeses, our cheese is not matured and can be consumed immediately. We package it into beeswax personally – Jana explains.

Three months from idea to consumption

However, it takes two to three days for the process to be completed. It took three months for the idea to be realized.

The first steps were made at the milk technology laboratory at the Faculty of Agriculture. The students then got the opportunity to continue the production in industrial conditions at a local dairy.

The cheese was perfected there. The flavor is a mix of sweet and savory. They say that it goes best with waffles, pancakes or sweet pizzas.

– The reaction has been surprisingly positive, as this is a specific product, because it is sweet, whereas cheeses here are consumed as an appetizer, not as a dessert. This is a dessert cheese and it helped us realize that consumers are not conservative – emphasizes Dr Zorana Miloradovic, a research fellow at the Faculty of Agriculture and the project's mentor.

Although it is not available in stores, the cheese can be tasted at food shows, markets and festivals. However, the plan is to make it available soon, and the team is still working on perfecting the cheese. They are also considering founding a kind of a cheese academy, which would be developing various other types of cheese.

Poljoprivredni fakultet Beograd

Nacionalni park Tara Bajina Bašta

cheese made from honey

honey cheese

Jana Simonović

production of cheese

Dr Zorana Miloradović

cheese academy

mozzarella made from honey

mozzarella made from molasses