If a product becomes a symbol of a place, it is because it carries the colours, tastes, sounds and history of the place. It is the sound that is the major characteristic of squeaking chees – a cheese that “squeaks” and whose name comes from the onomatopoeic verb “to squeak”, because one can feel slight squeaking when chewing a piece of this cheese. The cheese, which is made of raw sheep or cow milk, can be consumed immediately after the curdling procedure. Following a drying period which can take up to two months, depending on the relative humidity and wind, it turns into its dry variety.

Dry cheese is then soaked in a mixture of olive and sunflower oil and is let to age for at least three months. Following its aging period, the cheese is reborn and gets a simple name “cheese from oil”. In this form, it is considered a local specialty and served with a good quality dried ham and one of numerous Herzegovinian wines. Manually processed according to the practice passed down from one generation to another the squeaking cheese represents the specialty of southern Herzegovina, and can be bought directly from the manufacturers or at wonderful local markets.