Pag - The cheese Gligora wins three gold medals at the World Championship

The Croatian island of Pag is a tourist destination widely known primarily for its famous beach Zrče near Novalja proclaimed by international media as the Croatian Ibiza. However, it is less known that this island produces excellent cheeses. Recognition has come from the World Championships held in Birmingham, where a panel of 200 experts from around the world, awarded gold medals in three categories to Pag`s cheese making family Gligora: sheep milk cheeses, hard cheeses and new cheeses.

The cheese of the Gligora family from Kolan on the island of Pag, which has been described by Croatian cheese experts as an iconic product over a long period of time, won the gold medals competing among around 2600 cheeses from Europe, USA, Asia, Africa, Australia and other countries. Members of the jury described it as a home-made cheese with an excellent balance of flavors in which they could taste the aromatic herbs from the island of Pag.The Gligora family has been producing cheeses for 15 years, and apart from the Pag cheese they produce the cheeses Žigljen, Kolan, Kozlar, Figurica, young Trappist and others.

The particularity of Pag cheese is its hardness and salinity, and specific aroma and flavor given to it by essential oils of aromatic herbs. Although the secret of the flavor will never be completely revealed, according to many, it lies in the combination of the domestic breed of sheep, meadows which are rich with aromatic plants and winds which blow sea salt onto them. The sheep in Pag are bred on hilly areas that are exposed to salt due to frequent strong winds. It is this salt, sage and immortelle that give the cheese its recognizable flavor.

The island of Pag is one of the largest and most developed islands on the Adriatic, full of bays, coves, beaches and capes. The bay of Pag is encircled by 20 kilometers of pebble beaches.


Source: CNTB