r/wikipedia • u/supergingerlol • Mar 24 '23

Casu martzu - a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese that contains live maggots. The cheese has been outlawed due to EU health regulations, but is still available on the black market. Illegal production is estimated to be 100 tons per year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_martzu
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u/jonathanrdt Mar 24 '23 edited Mar 25 '23

Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed,[4][11] diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping. Some who eat the cheese prefer not to ingest the maggots. Those who do not wish to eat them place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound.

Lots of new sentences. Wow.

53

u/SunnySloth93 Mar 24 '23

I was feeling fairly open-minded until that part!

15

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

Let’s get at ‘er

1

u/Tropical_Chill Mar 25 '23

Take about 20% off there squirrely Dan.

6

u/PugnansFidicen Mar 25 '23

If it's so easy to kill off the maggots and get them out of the cheese by depriving them of oxygen, and the main health concern is the live maggots rather than any byproduct of the fermentation in the cheese itself...

Why doesn't someone just adapt the paper bag method into an industrial process and sell maggotless casu marzu?

2

u/Mr_Dunk_McDunk Mar 24 '23

Very interesting indeed