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5.5.2023

EN

Official Journal of the European Union
C 160/103

Other sources referring to twaróg wdzony are based on the manufacturing standard and the technical manual.
In an article entitled Twarogi kwasowe przetwórstwo Sour fresh cheeses Production, published in the specialist press Przegld Mleczarski, 2008, the expert Krzysztof Bohdziewicz notes that, in curd cheese production, traditionally the main aim was to extend the shelf life of the cheese, whereas nowadays it is to increase the products nutritional value and commercial attractiveness. Twaróg wdzony within the meaning of the 1983 manufacturing standard is cited as being part of this type of product. The article also refers to the salting of the product and the possible addition of spices.
As regards the procedures described in the manual and the 1983 standard, two types of salting prior to smoking have been permitted over the years: dry salting of the cheese for pressed cheeses and salting by immersion in brine for self-pressed cheeses. Both techniques refer to traditional methods of cheese production 7. The introduction of the method of salting by immersion in brine has improved the quality standards of the product without affecting the characteristics of the final product.
Smoking, in addition to salting and drying, is considered to be one of the oldest methods of preserving food.
Nowadays, when the methods of chilling, freezing, freeze-drying, sterilisation and preservation are widely used to preserve food, the smoking process has lost much of its importance as a means of preserving food, whereas its role as a traditional means of processing prepared foods has been strengthened.
Twaróg wdzony is smoked using wood of deciduous trees. In the commercial production of twaróg wdzony, the smoke is produced in a stack connected by smoke pipes to an appropriate smoking chamber, where the curd cheeses are placed on special racks. New smoking equipment has come into use over the years, including natural smoke generators and beech and alder smoke chips. As a result, the process has become safer, allowing for greater standardisation of the smoking system while preserving the specific characteristics and properties of the product and the traditional method of hot smoking. This is currently the production method used.
In this way, the original character and specific characteristics of the product are preserved, since the curd salting process and hot smoking with wood from deciduous trees have consistently been considered to be fundamental to the unique quality of the product, which is so appreciated by consumers.

7 E. Pijanowski, J. Gawe, Zarys chemii i technologii mleczarskiej, tom III Outline of dairy chemistry and technology, Volume III, PWRiR, Warsaw, 3rd edition, amended in 1986, pp. 117-123.