On the slopes of Sardinia, shepherds produce a cheese that in 2009 entered the Guinness World Record Not for some good purpose but on the contrary as the most … dangerous cheese in the world.

It is about casu marzu, a cheese that contains vibrant flourry larvaeaccording to CNN. Specifically, cheese flies, Piophila casei, give birth to their eggs in cheese cracks, usually in the Fiore Sardo, the salty pecorino of the island.

Worms hatch, paving their way into the paste, digest proteins during the process and converting the product into a soft creamy cheese. Then the cheese maker opens the top – which is almost untouched by worms – to remove a spoonful Creamy delicacy.

At this point, the worms inside begin to twist frantically. Some locals rotate the cheese to a centrifugal to join the worms with the cheese. Others prefer it natural. They open their mouths and eat everything. If you are able to overcome the seed part of the process, Marzu is spicy and It has an intense taste reminiscent of Mediterranean meadows with a aftertaste that stays for hours.

Some also say that it is aphrodisiac. Others say that it could be dangerous to human health as worms could survive the bite and create muscle, microderus in the gut, but so far, no such case has been linked to Casu Marzu.

Cheese is forbidden for commercial sale, but the sardines have eaten it, including brine, for centuries.

“Worm attack is the spell and the enjoyment of this cheese,” says Paulo Solina, a gastronomist from Sardinia. Its strong flavors.

“Some shepherds see cheese as a unique personal enjoyment, something that only a few chosen ones can try,” Solina adds.

Archaic cuisine

Giovanni Fancello, a journalist and gastronomist from Sardinia, spent his life researching the local food history. He found Casu Marzu at a time when Sardinia was a province of the Roman Empire.

“Latin was our language and it is in our dialect that we find traces of our archaic cuisine,” says Fancello.

Ten other Italian areas have the variant of worms infected with worms, but Casu Marzu is inherently part of Sardinia’s food culture.

Cheese has many different names, such as casu becciu, casu fattittu, hasu muhidu, formaggio marcio. Each subparagraph of the island has its own way of producing it using different types of milk.

Casu Marzu is usually produced in late Junewhen local sheep’s milk begins to change as the animals enter their breeding season and the grass dries from the heat of the summer. If warm wind blows on the day of cheese, the magic of cheese transformation works even more strongly. Fancello says this is because cheese has a weaker structure, making the job of fly easier. After three months, the delicacy is ready.

Mario Murrocu, 66, keeps Casu Marzu’s traditions alive in his farm, Agriturismo Sa Mandra, near Alghero in the north of Sardinia. He also maintains 300 sheep and hosts visitors to his tratoria, keeping Casu Marzu’s traditions alive. “You know when a form will become a casu marzu,” he says. “You understand it from the unusual spongy texture of the paste,” says Murrocu.

Today, this is not so much to luck and to the ideal conditions that cheese makers now use to ensure as many casu marzu as possible. They have also found a way to use glass jars to maintain cheese, which has traditionally never lasted beyond September for years.

High fines

Although for many the cheese is delicious, the Its legal status is a gray zone.

Casu Marzu is registered as a traditional product of Sardinia and is therefore protected locally. However, has been judged illegal by the Italian government since 1962 due to laws prohibiting the consumption of foods infected with pests.

Those who sell cheese may face high fines reaching the many thousands of euros, but the Sardinians laugh when they ask them about the ban on their favorite cheese.

In recent years, the European Union has begun to study and rejuvenate the concept of grain consumption thanks to the concept of new food, where insects are reared to consume.

Research shows that their consumption could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help relieve climate crisis.