With over 2,000 cheese in the world, there are plenty that we will most likely never see or taste. And there are definitely some we wouldn’t WANT to try! Here is a collection of some of the more “out there” cheeses.

Donkey Cheese, anyone?

The most expensive cheese in the world is called Pule, and it’s made from the milk of Balkan donkeys in Serbia. It takes about 25 litres of donkey milk to make just one kilogram of Pule cheese, which can cost over $USD1,300 per kilogram!

It’s made on one farm in Serbia and part of the reason it’s so expensive is that donkeys are hard to milk – and you don’t get much from them when you do. A cow gives around 30 litres of milk per day (the best milkers can even give up to 60 litres per day!), but a donkey only gives about 2 litres per day. Also donkeys can’t be machine milked, they have to be hand milked three times each day to get that amount.

You might not think it sounds all that appealing, but Novak Djokovic certainly does – in 2013 he bought the entire world’s supply for his restaurant chain! I imagine that annoyed a few people, not that I think that would have bothered him too much.

Queen Cleopatra is said to have bathed in donkey milk to keep her skin supple and Hippocrates used it to help cure people’s ailments such as liver problems, nosebleeds, poisonings, infectious diseases, the healing of sores, and fevers and more.

So if you are ever in Serbia, with money to burn why wouldn’t you give Pule Cheese a go!

Don’t read about Casu Marzu while you are eating….

This is a cheese that is not for the faint hearted – and is possibly only for the crazy people!

This cheese is from Sardinia and contains maggots that are deliberately introduced to the cheese. It is made from sheep’s milk and starts it’s life as pecorino which seems tame enough. But things take a turn…

When eating Casu Marzu, you have to close your eyes because it is full of maggots that can jump when they have been bothered (as in, someone is trying to eat them). They can jump as high as 15cm so you have to protect your eyes from them.

It is very important that you properly chew and kill the maggots before swallowing. Otherwise they can live in the body and rip holes through the intestines.

It’s illegal to buy or sell Casu Marzu but somehow if you Google you will find prices for it – I’m not sure how that works! It’s supposed to only be made for your own consumption though.

Sounds exciting and definitely living on the edge, but I’m guessing it won’t be on most of our Christmas Platter wish lists!

Look away if you are eating – here is a close up!