“a viscous, pungent goo that burns the tongue and can affect other parts of the body”
Casu Marzu is an Italian hard cheese (Pecorino) which is purposefully inoculated with the larvae of the cheese fly, Piophila casei, which makes it soft and illegal. As is the case with Germany’s Milbenkäse, another cheese made with live arthropods (in this case cheese mites), either the authorities tend to look the other way, or there’s a healthy black market, or both. The maggots, which are eaten with the cheese, break down the cheese fats and speed ripening, giving it a runny quality and an extremely strong flavor. The issue of questionable legality comes in part from reports that the cheese can cause larval intestinal infections. Traditionally, it’s made during the hottest months of Summer. Skewers laced with rancid olive oil are used to pierce the cheese, which helps to attract the flies, and so on, until the cheese is transmogrified, and ready to eat, balancing on the edge between ripeness and putrefaction.
0 Responses to “excremental and/or putrefying food #4- Casu Marzu”