Kashkaval

Etymology

The name kashkaval possibly comes from Latin caseus (cheese) and caballus (horse). According this theory for the Italian name caciocavallo, the widely accepted explanation of the word cavallo (horse) comes from the cheese being traditionally dried by attaching two gourd shaped balls of caciocavallo with a single rope and hanging them to a wooden pole as if placed on a horse's back.

Another theory exists. Some researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade claim the Aromanian population, a native Balkan people, created cașcaval. As in Romanian, the word caș means in Aromanian language cheese. No etymology is given for the suffix -kaval in the word kachkaval in the study, nor do the researchers mention the horse, the Latin term caballus or even the Italian term cavallo and instead refer to the seasonal movement of the semi nomadic Aromanians and their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures (transhumance).

Albania

In Albania, kaçkavall is the most popular type of cheese after djathë i bardhë (white cheese). It's considered a traditional Albanian cheese, and is widely used as a side dish. A great majority of traditional restaurants will bring plates of raw or fried kaçkavall for no additional cost before the main dishes finish cooking. All dairy companies in Albania produce kaçkavall and mainly use cow's or sheep's milk.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, kashkaval (Bulgarian: кашкавал) is made from cow's milk and is known as kashkaval vitosha, while a variation made from ewe's milk is called kashkaval balkan. Kashkaval preslav is the name given to the cheese made from a mixture of both milks.

Kashkaval is a traditional food used in most of the breakfast pastry. One of the most common dishes with kashkaval is kashkavalka which is a little pastry containing kashkaval inside and on top. Like in the other Balkan countries, it is a major substitute for all other kinds of cheese, especially in pizzas. Another popular Bulgarian snack is "princess" (Bulgarian: принцеса) which is a grilled slice of bread topped with kashkaval or topped with ground pork meat and kashkaval.

Israel

Kashkaval is one of the most popular types of cheese in Israel, due to the large Jewish population of eastern and southeastern European origins.

Romania and Moldova

In Romania and Moldova, cașcaval (Romanian pronunciation:) is used to refer to a number of types of yellow medium and semi hard cheeses made of sheep's or cow's-milk. The best known varieties of cașcaval in Romania are dobrogea (from sheep's milk only), penteleu (from mix of sheep's and cow's milk), dalia and rucăr (both from cow's milk only). But the term is often used by extension as a generic name for all semi-hard yellow cheeses such as the Swiss Emmental cheese, the Dutch Gouda and the British Cheddar, or anything that looks similar to cașcaval.

During the communist regime, because of the food shortages, Romanian housewives developed a technique for a homemade pressed cheese, similar to cașcaval, made out of milk, smântână, butter and eggs. In Romanian cuisine, a lot of dishes are made with cașcaval, like caşcaval pane or mămăligă.

Russia

Kashkaval (Russian: кашкавал) cheese is popular in Russia. In addition to the Balkan and Italian products, there exists also a Russian version of kashkaval.

Serbia

In Serbia, kačkavalj is traditionally a sheep milk hard cheese, and as such a protected brand of the city of Pirot. Other cheeses, made from a mix of cow and sheep milk, are sometimes also branded as kačkavalj but they cannot be defined as pirotski (of Pirot).

Kačkavalj is one of the six traditional cheeses of Serbia. The production process (in Serbian) can be seen online, and according to a TV show video clip, it was brought to Pirot in the 1810s with the Dalmatian or Italian cheesemakers who settled in then-Ottoman Empire; the cheese was distributed throughout the Balkans (specifically mentioned in the link are Salonica and Istanbul).

Levant

In the Levant (Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon), this type of cheese is called qashqawān (Arabic: قشقوان‎). It is generally imported or manufactured domestically.