Something for dog lovers

It's nothing unusual that dogs are very popular pets in Poland. But there are only five breeds that originate from Poland. One of them is Polish Tatra Sheepdog, known also as 'Owczarek Podhalanski' and the 'Polish Mountain Sheepdog'. In other countries, like USA, the Polish Tatra Sheepdog is considered as a rare breed. It comes from Podhale, in the Tatra Mountain area of Poland and its live goal is to protect livestock :) It's an ideal dog for this task, cause Tatra Sheepdogs are great protection dogs and also good companion. They are 'family' dogs. They are not attackers, they rather move threats away, but, however, they may become aggresive when something bad is happening to "their" family. They have very loud bark and they look awesome! Have a look:

This dog lives in Tatra Mountains in Chochołowska Valley, near Zakopane

What on earth is 'Oscypek'???

'Oscypek', pronounced something like 'Oh-stzee-peck', is traditional Polish smoked cheese, made of salted sheep milk. It is produced especially in Tatra Mountains in the very south of Poland. In 2007 'Oscypek' became a protected trade name under the EU's Protected Designation of Origin geographical indication. There are some strict regulations which you have to follow if you want to produce delicious 'oscypek', for example:

• cow milk can be mixed with sheep milk, but there musn't be more cow milk than 40% of all the milk used
• cheese can be produced only from May to September and sold until the end of October
• 'oscypek' should weigh between 60 and 80 dag and be 17 - 23 cm long...

 ... otherwise, it isn't 'oscypek' :) Some sellers don't obey those rules and sell their products under the name 'scypek'. If you'd like to buy an original 'oscypek' you have to have your eyes wide open :)
To buy the best 'oscypek' you have to visit southern areas of Poland (which are stunningly beautiful!), for example: Zakopane (amazing town under the highest mountains in Poland), Kraków (very popular city, which used to be a capital of Poland many, many years ago), Nowy Targ (a place where every week a big market takes place) or Bukowina Tatrzańska.

Traditional 'oscypek'
source of the photo

Many kinds of smoked cheese are sold on Krupówki, famous market street in Zakopane
source of the photo