When it comes to expensive cheeses, it’s a lot like couture. Really. To make a great cheese is to create something completely singular: incredibly intricate, with the best milk around, plus intense care and lots of time. And that inspires a price tag that might blow your mind… until you get a taste.
I had the chance to taste a couture-level cheese once in northern Spain: El Teyedu, an otherworldly Cabrales cheese aged in a cave in the mountains at an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet. In 2023, a single 4.8-pound wheel of El Teyedu set a Guinness World Record when it sold at auction for 30,000 euros. While the cheese doesn’t usually cost quite that much, it still showed me that you can’t rush–or fake–a good cheese, and that’s worth a lot of money. Just like high fashion.
This is also true for the world’s currently most expensive cheese outside of an auction. That honor goes to pule cheese (or magareći sir), a rare cheese produced in Zasavica Donkey Reserve in west central Serbia. The price? Around $600 a pound. To put this in perspective, a pound of Parmigiano Reggiano costs $15 to $25 per pound and up, depending on the producer and how many months the cheese is aged.
Let’s start with where the milk comes from: not cows, not goats, not sheep, but donkeys. And unlike their fellow milk-producing animals, donkey milk is super rare. Further, the 120 or so Balkan donkeys are a rare and endangered breed, but now protected at Zasavica, one of the last remaining, authentically preserved wetlands in Serbia.
Rare donkeys in a rare environment is just the beginning of what makes pule cheese so special. The cheese is made from 60% donkey milk from the jenny (female), 40% goat milk, rennet, and a very secret recipe. But it takes 25 liters of donkey milk to make 1 kilogram (around 2.2 pounds) of cheese—and a jenny produces only about 1.5 to 2 liters of milk per day. (Compare that to a cow, which can produce up to 60 liters per day.)
Further, milking must be done three times a day by hand, according to Slobodan Simić, founder of the reserve, (the donkeys can’t be machine milked because of their anatomy). After that painstaking gathering of enough donkey milk, the cheese is put into 50-gram molds for 24 hours and aged for a month. That adds up to a lot of time.
Then there’s flavor: Pule’s flavor has been likened to Spain’s hyped manchego, with more richness and intensity and a uniquely soft and crumbly texture. Donkey milk contains 1% fat and 60 times more Vitamin C than cow’s milk–another influence on flavor, creating a nuanced sour tang. Is that a flavor worth paying top dollar for? Perhaps, especially when you consider that the high price is helping to fund the protection of this rare breed of Balkan donkey and its domestic habitat.
Where Can You Buy Pule?
Want to get a taste? You can’t buy pule in a cheese shop, so you’ll need to hop a plane to Belgrade and drive out to Zasavica Donkey Reserve for a firsthand visit. Or hop online and order your own from the reserve. Either way, that couture cheese moment is there to be invested in–and enjoyed.
Pule cheese or magareći sir, is a Serbian cheese made from 60% Balkan donkey milk and 40% goat's milk. The cheese is produced in Zasavica Nature Reserve. Pule is reportedly the "world's most expensive cheese", fetching US$1300 per kilogram.
The four animals most widely known as the sources of milk for cheesemaking are cows, goats, sheep, and water buffalo. To understand why goat milk cheese is more expensive than cow milk cheese, consider the availability of the milk, the production process of the cheese, and the supply chain (or 'path to market').
The cheese is made from 60% donkey milk from the jenny (female), 40% goat milk, rennet, and a very secret recipe. But it takes 25 liters of donkey milk to make 1 kilogram (around 2.2 pounds) of cheese—and a jenny produces only about 1.5 to 2 liters of milk per day.
Does Pule cheese taste good? Pule cheese is renowned for its unique taste and texture, often described as rich, creamy and slightly nutty. Due to its extended aging process, Pule cheese develops a smooth and velvety texture, making it melt in the mouth.
The largest cheese (sheep's milk) weighs 598.5 kg (1,319.4 lb) and was achieved by Comune di Loculi (Italy), in Loculi, Italy, on 19 July 2020. The Pecorino cheese was prepared using 4,500 liters of milk and it took 9 months of storing.
Serbian Pule ($1,300/kg) The most expensive cheese in the world comes from Serbia: it is produced with donkey's milk, has a white and crumbly texture, and is very difficult to find. ...
The most coveted cheese on the market is produced from donkey milk and is valued at about US$1,320 per kilogram. It's hard to believe that the humble donkey is the source of the world's most expensive cheese.
It's not that the cheese possesses highly unusual qualities: It's white with a crumbly texture and a flavor like strong manchego. No expensive ingredients are added during the cheesemaking process. The donkeys milked for the cheese aren't wild, either.
Donkey milk is one of the most expensive kinds of milk in the world. According to a Krishi Jagran article, the cost of donkey milk varies depending on where you are and how readily available it is.
Parmesan. This is a type of cheese which includes several hard and grainy cheeses, such as Parmegiano Reggiano, “the King of Cheeses”, and Grana Padano. ...
Pecorino. This name denotes all Italian cheeses originally made from sheep's milk.
French cheeses are renowned worldwide for their quality, variety, and rich history. With over 400 distinct types of cheese produced across the country, France boasts the most extensive cheese-making tradition in the world.
Energy costs to produce and refrigerate the cheese, worldwide demand, and the cost of feed for the cows are just a few factors considered in the pricing of cheese. Cheese is one of the biggest ingredient expenses for a pizzeria, so understanding the volatility in cheese pricing is important.
1. Pule Cheese. Pule cheese, also known as the world's most expensive cheese, is made from the milk of Balkan donkeys from Serbia. It takes approximately 25 liters of donkey milk to produce just one kilogram of Pule cheese, contributing to its high price tag.
Pule cheese is known for its strong, pungent flavor and unique texture. The flavor is often described as that of young manchego which is nutty and earthy, with a hint of saltiness (via Cheese and Such). It has a tangy, slightly sour taste that is balanced by the rich, buttery flavor of the donkey's milk.
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-591791872-72144d1702b7419cb4e5eed961a11f7a.jpg "The Most Expensive Cheese in the World Doesn’t Come from a Cow, Goat, or Sheep (1)")
