Milk production and processing have been the main activities of most of the
Montenegrin agricultural population, for centuries. That's why, there is a wide range of
traditional dairy products that take primary place in Montenegrin meal, both during
history and today. From a wide range of traditional dairy products, the most famous,
the highest quality and, according to the quantity of production and consumption, the
most common cheeses are Pljevaljski, Njeguški, Lisnati, and Prljo. They are all
characterized by high nutritional value, piquant, unique and specific aromas. Pljevaljski
cheese is full fat, soft cheese that ripens in the wooden vat for at least 4 weeks. During
ripening the cheese acquires a pleasant milky-sour taste and odour, white to yellowish
colour and a compact texture suitable for slicing. Lisnati cheese belongs to pasta filata
cheeses. The name Lisnati was given because of its very unusual form of slices that are
extremely thin as a leaf (“lisnati” = “leafy”). It is partially skimmed, semi-hard to soft
cheese that can be consumed as fresh or as ripened cheese. The most popular semi-hard
cheese in Montenegro is Njeguški cheese. It is typical semi-hard, full-fat cheese. The
specialty of this cheese is that, after ripening on shelves, cheese can be put into the
olive oil where it continues to ripen. Mature cheese, especially cheese from olive oil,
has an extremely spicy taste. The low-fat, semi-hard cheese Prljo is produced in the
northwestern, mountainous region of Montenegro. The purpose of this chapter is to
discuss the main phases in production technology and the chemical composition of the
most important traditional Montenegrin dairy products.
Keywords: Cheese Technology, Cheese Quality, Montenegro, Traditional
Cheese.
