Back to search

Category

Technical Knowledge

TAG

• AlpFoodway
• Alpine cheese
• Alpine diet
• Cheese
• Cheese manufacturing procedure
• Dairy
• Dairy products
• Food
• Food heritage
• Milk processing
• Mountains

WHERE

Kamnik -

WHEN

In the past during summer months, now according to need.

WHO

Aljaževe dobrote – Hiša domačih sirov (Aljaž's Deli – House of Traditional Slovene Cheese)
(person in charge)

Koželj Tatjana
(informer)

Mali (1928-2021) Rezka
(herdsman/shepherd)

Pr’ Gabršk Farm
(person in charge)

Zavod za turizem, šport in kulturo Kamnik (Kamnik Tourism, Sport and Culture Agency)
(person in charge)

Making Trnič cheese

(kepa - Trnəč)

Trnič cheese is a dried pear-shaped cheese that was manufactured in the alps of Velika Planina, Mala Planina and Gojiška Planina in the Kamnik Alps (and according to some sources also in their lowlands). It is a variety of sour milk cheese, i.e. acid-curd cheese. Coagulation by natural souring, without rennet, is one of the oldest techniques of cheesemaking.
Trnič cheese is prepared from skimmed acidic milk that is heated to 50 degrees Celsius in order to curd. The curd is drained, salted and, when it turns out too dry, some cream is added. Hence the cheese mixture becomes adequately soft to enable shaping. Palm-sized pear or onion-shaped small cheese lumps are formed by hand and made pointed at the top. Once shaped, they are decorated with ornaments imprinted with a carved wooden stick called the pisava. Trnič cheese is dried in a warm, dark and airy space between a fortnight to four weeks. After that, the Trnič cheese has shrunken by half and needs to be kept at a temperature between 14 to 18 degrees Celsius.

Recipe:
-Well-heated plain cottage cheese, dried (excluding whey)
-Salt
-Cream, skimmed from the sour milk (if needed)

Knead the whole mass, which should not be overly wet or soft. Form lumps and partially dry them, stamping them with the wooden pisava tool. Leave to dry (and eventually smoke) between two to four weeks.
The archaic production method and procedure suggest the origin of Trnič cheese dates back to the Early Middle Ages, if not further. Recent etymological hypothesis posits the development of the word trnič from the old Slavic verb tvoriti (meaning ‘to shape’). The derivative of the word trnič is the hypothetical tvornič, meaning ‘a small shaped cheese’, pronounced trnič in the East Gorenjska dialect.
In the 19^th and early 20^th century, Trnič cheeses were made by shepherds while summering in the Velika Planina alps (Velika Planina, Mala Planina and Gojiška Planina). Preparation of the curd took between four to five days, made using milk stored in large clay pots. After three or four days it was skimmed, poured into a special clay pot and left on the fireplace at a temperature around 40 or 45 degrees Celsius for about 2 hours so as to curd. The mass was then poured into a wooden strainer where the curd drained off. Cream and salt were added before it was formed into onion-shaped lumps, flat at the bottom and pointed at the top, with tiny warty bumps. The lumps were partially dried on mountain sorrel leaves and then decorated with ornaments, carved reliefs made using a wooden stick or strip called the pisava (‘writing’). The carved lumps were put on a shelf above the hearth where they were left to smoke using beech firewood.
The pisava (‘writing’) wooden tools are some 20 cm long and up to 2.5 cm wide strips of linden, maple, beech, larch or hazel wood engraved with various ornaments. The herdsmen historically made them while their cattle was grazing, and so each had its own distinctive pattern.
The number of Trnič cheese lumps produced in the Velika Planina alp was traditionally always even, since in the folklore one pair of identically ornate lumps actually represented the woman's breasts. According to popular narrative, the herdsmen would gift a Trnič lump to their wives and girlfriends as present and proof of fidelity and affection, or as a promise of marriage in the autumn when the grazing season ends. The herdsmen kept one of the pair and presented the other to their beloved. This folklore is quite well established, though by the second half of the 20^th century the shepherds were predominantly retired farmers, gradually substituted by women. Some researchers propose the cheese pairs might have had other ritual dimensions as well.
Trnič cheese, especially undecorated which was called also kepa (‘lump’), spárjenc, or səšíuc (‘dry cheese’), was also used for nutritional purposes, naturally. It was often stored for wintertime, to be usually eaten – crushed on the chopping block – by children; standalone or soaked in milk to make it softer and more palatable. According to some testimonies it was also eaten in a soup, or grated onto other dishes. Seasoned and smoked cheeses were given to mowers and reapers.
Although herdsmen in the Velika Planina alp gradually stopped producing Trnič cheese already at the start of the 20^th century, the knowledge has been preserved due to the endeavours and enthusiasm of a few dedicated individuals. Nowadays, Trnič cheese manufacture is even being reintroduced by some farmers as a supplementary dairy activity. Its production is promoted by tourism and heritage institutions as a souvenir from the Kamnik region and as part of the local cuisine. Fresh Trnič cheese has a milder flavour, which turns sharper with ripening. It is used in the restaurants’ culinary offer grated and sprinkled on risotto, porridge, pasta, soups and salads (e.g. Trnič cheese with polenta and dandelion, spinach spoon dumplings with Trnič cheese), as an additive in the preparation of meat and fish dishes (e.g. fried lamb chops with Trnič cheese, dough pockets with Kamnik sausage and Trnič) or independently as a starter or dessert (in the form of thin slices with the addition of honey, pepper, olive or pumpkin seed oil), even chocolate and ice cream with Trnič cheese, and some street food interpretations.
Trnič cheese, once a herdsman's gift and promise of marriage, thus became a distinctive tourist souvenir and a part not only of local, but also of regional (and eventually also national) cuisine; hence it plays a significant role in the awareness, identifications and representations of the Kamnik region's inhabitants.

HISTORICAL-ANALYTICAL NOTES

As among the other Alpine peoples, the oral tradition of the captured “wild man” is present in Slovenia as well, stirring the question when and where the inhabitants of the Eastern Alps learned cheesemaking. The Slovene term for cheese – sir (etymologically from Proto Indo-European *suHro, meaning ‛wet’, ‘sour’) indicates that the Slavic inhabitants of the Eastern Alps only knew how to make soft cheese from sour milk. Conversely, the manufacture of sweet cheese (with the addition of rennet) in the area was already pursued by the Romans in Antiquity, and by monasteries in the early Middle Ages. The economy in the Alps changed at the end of the Middle Ages; horses, sheep and goats were slowly being replaced by cattle, and butter became an important dairy product. Non-fat sour cheese was being produced more often than the fatty sour sheep cheese and the Velika Planina alp is an example of that adaptation; hence, in the 19^th century in the Velika Planina alp, small lumps of sour cheese were being made – either kepe or trnič cheeses (proved by the engraved wooden sticks from that period), alongside also soft, non-shaped sour cheese called mohant according to the report of Janez Mesar. The attempt of introducing sweet cheese manufacture within the framework of cheesemaking associations – following the examples from other parts of the Carniola region – was not successful. Herders continued with individual production of sour cheeses in the 20^th century, when it was gradually abandoned. However, the knowledge has been preserved due to the enthusiasm of some individuals, and was recently owing to some safeguarding and enhancement measures of heritage institutions and tourism industry also reintroduced into the awareness of the local inhabitants and visitors.

LEARNING AND TRANSMISSION

In the past, till the second half of the 19^th century, transmission of the dairying knowledge was carried out from father to son and mother to daughter via learning-by-doing.
Following the decline of Trnič cheese production in the second half of the 20^th century, the knowledge and practice was safeguarded only by certain individuals. Rezka Mali from Godič had learned its production from Zefka Humar, a shepherd in the Gojška Planina, and transferred it to Helena and Sonja Kropivšek, Tatjana Koželj, Andrea Pečar, and to some other shepherds in the Velika Planina alp. They manufacture Trnič cheese and present their knowledge to interested publics at workshops organised by local tourism, heritage and development institutions at the Preskar Hut Museum in the Velika Planina and in other locations. The agritourism farm Pr’ Gabršk in Češnjice is arranging its own premises for the workshops of Trnič cheesemaking.
In 2011 a public round table on Trnič cheese was organised by the Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia (Razvojni center Srca Slovenije) and the Municipality of Kamnik, for Trnič cheese producers, members of the Velika Planina Alp Agricultural Community and other actors interested in cultural heritage. The basis for the Trnič collective trademark was agreed upon its conclusion. The Kamnik Tourism, Sport and Culture Agency (Zavod za turizem, šport in kulturo Kamnik) organizes culinary workshops for chefs and cooks, based on the archival sources and innovation in line with the Development Strategy of Slovenia’s Gastronomy (2006).

COMMUNITY

PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS

Valorisation of the Velika Planina shepherds’ heritage, mostly architecture but also the interior and equipment of the huts as well as cheesemaking vessels and utensils, started already in 1934 when Vlasto Kopač, a mountaineer and architect, spent a summer season in the alp and became one of the first tenants of the herder’s hut. In 1964, when the cable car from Kamniška Bistrica to the Velika Planina was constructed and intensified development of tourism began, Vlasto Kopač elaborated the urban plan and the protection regime of the Velika Planina, thus safeguarding the shepherds' settlement from the arbitrary construction of holiday facilities. Vlasto Kopač also endorsed the work of some local shepherds, e.g. Andrej Preskar in his traditional oval hut with the open hearth and Zefka Humar in making the Trnič cheese and the wooden sticks for its ornamentation. Tourism development and the 20^th anniversary of liberation in 1965 also triggered the establishment of the Shepherds' Festival (Pastirski praznik), an event with performances by folk-pop and folklore groups that became an annual mainstay.
Tone Cevc, ethnologist at the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology, devoted a great part of his research work to the study of the Velika Planina alp – from the history and contemporary state of mountain pasture and development of the shepherds’ huts to dairying, which resulted in three supplemented editions of an extensive monograph, numerous scientific and popular articles, and in a multimedia website (http://odmev.zrc-sazu.si/planina/).
The enhancement actions contributing to the viability and visibility of Trnič cheese began only at the outset of the 21^st century, when the municipality and tourist information centre together with Iva Šubelj Kramar in the framework of the project Safeguarding of the Shepherds' Heritage in the Velika Planina (Ohranjanje pastirske dediščine na Veliki planini), demonstrated Trnič cheesemaking at the Preskar Hut Museum. Cheesemaking was presented by Rezka Mali, a long-time shepherd in the Gojška and Velika Planina alps, who was awarded at the assessment of local dishes titled Specialties from the Slovenian Farms (Dobrote s slovenskih kmetij) organised by the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Art & Craft Slovenia seal by the Chamber of Crafts and Small Business of Slovenia. Iva Šubelj Kramar also established the Food Protection Headquarters in Palovče and Velika Planina (Štab za zaščito hrane na območju Palovč in Velike planine) aimed at safeguarding the old traditional knowledge, flavours and foodways. The endeavours resulted in the invitation to the Terra Madre event, organised by Slow Food in 2006, where Rezka Mali demonstrated the making of Trnič cheese.
Trnič cheese was recognised as an element of the Slovenian culinary heritage in the Development Strategy of Slovenia’s Gastronomy (2006), the fundamental and guiding document for the promotion and development of Slovenia’s gastronomy. Hence, it was inserted in the selection of local souvenirs and traditional local dishes by the Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia (Razvojni center Srca Slovenije) and Kamnik Tourism, Sports and Culture Agency (Zavod za turizem, šport in kulturo Kamnik) in the framework of different developmental projects (e.g. Listen to the Voices of the Villages) and publications (e.g. Taste Kamnik and Taste Kamnik Recipes). Trnič cheese is also valorised and promoted at several events: the yearly Trnič Cheese Day taking place on the last Sunday in July or the first in August in the Velika Planina alp; and at the Trnič Festival, a promotional culinary event with three recognised Slovenian chefs that took place in Kamnik in 2014.
The Velika Planina heritage is also presented in the Kamnik Museum, especially in the collection of Vlasto Kopač.

PROTECTIVE MEASURES

The Velika Planina alp was evidenced in the Slovenian Register of Immovable Heritage already in the 1960’, whereas the Preskar Hut was declared a cultural monument of local importance in 2005.
In 2011 Trnič cheese was awarded the regional certificate Quality Guarantee by the Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia (Razvojni center Srca Slovenije).
In 2014 the unit Making Trnič Cheese and Wooden Markers was registered as intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
The same year, the Trnič trademark was registered at the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office by the Kamnik Tourism and Sports Agency (Zavod za turizem in šport v občini Kamnik), promoted under the slogan Trnič na vsako mizo ("Trnič on every table!").

 

• Available in:
• ITA
• ENG

Related Intangible Heritage

Alpine dairying
Preparing maslovnik
Preparing maslovnik

To learn more

Web Sites

• Coordinator for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Register of the Intangible Heritage
  
• Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia, Trnič Cheese
  
• Kamnik Museum, Velika PLanina Ethnological Collection of Vlasto Kopač
  
• Kamnik Tourism, Sport and Culture Agency, Trnič Hard Cheese
  
• Republic of Slovenia Ministry of Culture, Register of the Intangible culturale Heritage
  
• Republic of Slovenia Ministry of Culture, Slovenian Register of Immovable Heritage, Velika Planina
  
• Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, Marks, Trnič Velika planina
  
• Velika planina, Herdsmen’s Settlement
  
• Velika Planina, Institute of Slovenian Ethnology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
  

Bibliography

• Ložar Rajko
  Narodopisje Slovencev 1 - Ljudska hrana
  Klas 1944
  
• Renčelj Stanko
  Siri nekdaj in zdaj
  ČZD Kmečki glas 1995
  
• Pevc Anton
  Sirarstvo
  Zadružna zveza 1926
  
• Cevc Tone
  Človek v Alpah: Desetletje (1996–2006) raziskav o navzočnosti človeka v slovenskih Alpah [Man in the Alps: a decade (1996–2006) of research on man's presence in the Slovenian Alps]
  Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU 2006
  
• Grafenauer Ivan
  Slovenski etnograf - Zveza slovenskih ljudskih pripovedk z retijskimi [Connection of Slovene folk tales with Rhetian]
  Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti 1958
  
• Novak Vilko
  Volkskunde im Ostalpenraum: Alpes Oreientales - Die Stellung des Alpwesens in Slovenien zwischen dem germanischen und romanischen Raume [The position of the alpine husbandry in Slovenia between the Germanic and Romanic space]
  Steierish Volkskundemuseums 1961
  
• Ledinek Lozej Špela
  Traditional Food in the Central Europe: History and Changes - Dairying in the Alpine Pastures in Slovenia
  Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences 2013
  
• Cevc Tone
  Velika planina: Življenje, delo in izročilo pastirjev 
[Velika Planina: Life, Work and Traditions of Herders]
  Državna založba Slovenije 1972
  
• Cevc Tone
  Velika planina: Življenje, delo in izročilo pastirjev: Druga dopolnjena izdaja [Velika Planina: Life, Work and Traditions of Herders: 2nd edition]
  Državna založba Slovenije 1987
  
• Cevc Tone
  Traditiones - Kontinuiteta pašne tradicije v planinah v Kamniških Alpah [Continuity of Pasture Tradition in the Alps of the Kamnik Alps]
  Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU 2003
  
• Cevc Tone
  Traditiones - Sirarjenje v planinah v Kamniško-Savinjskih Alpah v luči arheoloških najdb in zgodovinskih virov [Cheesemaking in the Kamnik and the Savinja dairy mountains in the light of archaeological finds and historical sources]
  Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU 2004
  
• Mesar Janez
  Novice - Popis sedanjega gospodarstva na nekaterih Kranjskih planinah [Record of the current economy in some Carniolan alps]
  J. Blaznik 1875
  
• Ocvirk Mojca, Klobčar Marija, Petek Mojca
  Okusi Kamnika [Taste Kamnik]
  Zavod za turizem in šport v občini Kamnik 2014
  
• Ocvirk Mojca, Schnabl Luka
  Taste Kamnik Recipes
  Kamnik Tourism and Sports Agency 2016
  
• Klobčar Marija, Kopač Vlasto
  Kamniški zbornik - Dediščina Velike planine in ustvarjalna obzorja arhitekta Vlasta Kopača [The Heritage of Velika Planina and the Creative Imagination of Architect Vlasto Kopač]
  Občina Kamnik 2006
  
• Klobčar Marija
  Na poti v Kamnik
[On the Way to Kamnik]
  Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU 2016
  

Material resources

The Velika Planina alp (entry no. 140) is registered as a cultural landscape; the Preskar hut (entry no. 12033) situated in the alp are additionally inventoried as architectural heritage in the Slovenian Register of Immovable Heritage. The Preskar hut is the only preserved oval hut with an open fireplace, used for dairying and the drying of Trnič cheese. It displays furnishings, herders' equipment and dairying utensils, among other also some examples of the engraved wooden sticks (pisava) for stamping the cheese lumps. The collection of 486 material objects from the Velika Planina alp, belonging to Vlasto Kopač, architect, mountaineer, illustrator, publicist and person responsible for the preservation of the Velika Planina alpine settlement, is held by the Kamnik Museum. Photographic and blueprint documentation of Tone Cevc, ethnologist who dedicated most of his research work to the study of the Velika Planina alp, is held by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ Institute of Slovenian Ethnology.

Produced by

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Institute of Slovenian Ethnology - Miha Peče

Scientific Advisor

Ledinek Lozej, Špela

Release Date

07-MAY-2019 (Miha Peče )

Last update

12-NOV-2019 (Špela Ledinek Lozej )

Tweet

---

From Community

 Tell us about it