Manchego

Actually, kashkaval’s a bit rank. It’s like Edam that’s been left out of the fridge a couple of weeks. We only really use it for cooking or filing down the goats’ hooves. And they say 'say kashkaval' when they want you to smile for a photograph.

Cireneh is better. It’s more like feta. In the shops they sell it made with milk from cows, goats, sheep or our local breed of buffalo, and each comes salted or unsalted. So Bulgarians think they have eight different types but it’s all pretty similar. Food and drink here are absolutely wonderful but the cheese and the beer (that wishy washy fizzy yellow stuff they have everywhere outside of Britain, Ireland and northern Europe) let them down. Bulgarian yoghurt is the best in the world and even the scientists will tell you that.

I only said kashkaval in that short verse because it fits better than cireneh.

Your Tesco kashkaval is Polish and the fact that they sell it in a tub makes me think it’s more like cireneh. I think kashkaval is a generic word for cheese in Slavik languages so it probably includes many things between here and there. It might be worth a try though when they have some in. I’ve been to Poland a couple of times and their food is also gorgeous but probably not as healthy as ours and it’s a graveyard for vegetarians.