The world’s most dangerous cheese, Casu marzu, which is also known as “the maggot cheese,” is found on an Italian island.
According to CNN, the most dangerous cheese is a traditional cheese of an Italian island named Sardinia, which sits in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Between the white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, rugged hills and mountains, shepherds make a special cheese, casu maru.
The unique yet scary cheese has been officially recognised as the world's most dangerous cheese in 2009 after it was in the Guinness Book of World Records.
It is called the most dangerous cheese in the world because it is a maggot-infested cheese. Tiny flies called cheese skipper flies lay their eggs in its cracks. These eggs later hatched, the maggots made their way through the paste, adding protein to it and making it a soft, creamy cheese.
To serve the cheese, the cheesemonger cracks open the almost untouched-by-maggots top and scoops out the creamy cheese.
Paolo Solinas, a Sardinian gastronome, said, “The maggot infestation is the spell and delight of this cheese. Some shepherds see the cheese as a unique personal pleasure, something that just a few elect can try.”
Giovanni Fancello, a Sardinian journalist and gastronome, revealed that foodies and chefs from all over the world, including Gordon Ramsay, often come in search of the cheese. “They ask us: ‘How do you make casu marzu?’ It’s part of our history. We are the sons of this food. It’s the result of chance, of magic and supernatural events.”
Notably, although casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian product, the Italian government has banned it since 1962.
