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MelemHomemade goat cheese from Baraći
The Tošić family, Baraći, Mrkonjić Grad
In the village of Baraći near Mrkonjić Grad, the Tošić family keep goats and make homemade goat cheese. All of it happens in one place — from the grazing and the milking to the cheese that ends up on the table. Nothing is bought in and nothing travels far.
The milk is drawn in the morning and the cheese is made from whatever the goats give that day. That closeness, between the meadow, the animal and the person, is the only secret this cheese has.
Where the taste comes from
This cheese is made to a meadow, not to a recipe.
Baraći sits in the hill country of Bosanska Krajina, among meadows, pasture and clean air. The goats here are not fed out of a sack — they graze whatever the meadow has that month, grass and wild herbs, and that carries into the milk, and out of the milk into the cheese.
Which is why the taste is not the same in spring as in autumn, and why two batches rarely match. At a large producer that would be a fault. At a small one it is the only honest answer to the question of where the cheese came from.
The year on the farm
The farm does not work at one pace all year, so the cheese does not come out the same all year either.
Spring
The grazing starts. The goats go out onto new growth and there is more milk by the day.
Summer
The most pasture, the most milk, the most cheese. The easiest season to arrange a larger quantity.
Autumn
The meadow draws back, and the taste shifts with it. The same cheese, a different character.
Winter
Quieter work. The herd is kept through, and the coming year is planned.
Goat cheese from Baraći
Goat cheese has a character that sets it apart from cow's cheese straight away. The taste is fresher and more pronounced, faintly sharp, with the note that gives a pasture away. Young cheese is soft, creamy and mild; matured cheese is fuller and stronger. Both have their place on the table — it depends whether you want the gentler one or the bigger one.
The cheese is made in small quantities and by the household method, with no industrial additives. So every batch turns out a little different: it depends on the season, the grazing and the milk. That is the mark of a genuinely homemade cheese, rather than of a product that looks and tastes identical every time.
How it is made
Five steps, one morning, and nothing added but salt.
1
Milking
The day begins with the goats. The cheese is made from whatever is milked that morning, so how much there is depends on the herd and on the season.
2
Setting
The milk is set. From that moment it is no longer liquid — it begins to separate into curd and whey.
3
Draining
The curd is lifted out and left to drain. The whey runs off, and what stays behind is cheese in the making.
4
Salting
It is salted. That is the only thing this cheese ever has added to it.
5
Resting
Young cheese is ready quickly and is best fresh. Given time, the taste deepens and the cheese turns fuller and sharper.
Fresh goat milk
Besides the cheese, the family sell fresh goat milk. The taste is milder and a little sweeter than cow's milk, and it is used fresh, for cooking, or as the base for cheese and other things made at home.
The milk comes from goats grazing outdoors, and it has neither a long journey nor a long shelf behind it. It is drawn and it reaches the buyer quickly, the way milk from a farm has always been used. Which is why it is worth taking fresh and using within a few days.
What it goes with, and how to keep it
Young cheese
With fresh bread, honey and walnuts, in a salad, or simply with olive oil and a little pepper.
Pecka honeyMatured cheese
With a glass of wine or homemade rakija. It grates and bakes well too.
Homemade rakijaWith beer
Salty, fresh cheese against a cloudy unfiltered beer — each gives the other what it is short of.
Varcar
Keeping it
- In the fridge, wrapped or in a closed container.
- Young cheese is best as fresh as possible — take what you will eat.
- Like a stronger flavour? Leave it a few days and the taste will deepen.
The craft and the farm
Melem is a young farm and the family say so openly — they are still learning, still bringing the cheese and the milk towards what they want them to be. The goats are calm and used to people, and how an animal is kept shows in what comes off it.
What makes this kind of craft worth something is exactly that it is small. Every goat is known, every batch of cheese is followed, and nothing is done in a hurry or at scale. Cheese like this does not come out of a machine; it comes out of daily work and attention.
Why buy direct from the producer
When you buy from the family, you know exactly where what you are eating came from. You see the goats, you see the farm, and you talk to the people who made it. The money goes to whoever did the work, with nobody in between, and the cheese is fresh because it has not spent days on a shelf.
Buying from small producers is also how this kind of craft survives. Every customer who comes back helps the farm grow. That is the point of the neighbourhood around Pecka: that what is made here finds its buyer here.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I buy homemade goat cheese near Mrkonjić Grad?
From the Tošić family at their farm in Baraći, by arrangement. You can also taste it at Visitor centar Pecka.
How is homemade goat cheese made?
The milk is set, the curd is lifted out and drained, salted, and left to rest. No industrial additives and small quantities, so every batch comes out a little different.
How do you keep goat cheese?
In the fridge, wrapped or in a closed container. Young cheese is best as fresh as possible; leave it a few days and the taste deepens.
What does goat cheese go with?
Young cheese with fresh bread, honey and walnuts, or in a salad. Matured cheese with a glass of wine or homemade rakija — it grates and bakes well too.
How is goat cheese different from cow's cheese?
The taste is fresher and more pronounced, faintly sharp. Young cheese is soft and mild; matured cheese is fuller and stronger.
Do they sell goat milk as well?
Yes, fresh goat milk, by arrangement with the family. It is worth taking fresh and using within a few days.
Getting hold of the cheese and the milk
The cheese and the milk are collected direct from the farm in Baraći, by arrangement. It is best to get in touch beforehand, especially if you need a larger quantity or a particular kind of cheese.
No contact for them? Get in touch with us at the centre and we will put you in touch with the household. We keep part of what they make here, so you can taste the cheese before you decide.
- What they make
- Homemade goat cheese and fresh goat milk.
- Where to taste it
- At Visitor centar Pecka
- At the family's farm in Baraći, by arrangement
- Contact
- Enquiries go through the centre — get in touch and we will connect you with the household.Get in touch
Melem citizens' association, Baraći, Mrkonjić Grad municipality.
At the centre, and the rest of the neighbourhood
When Visitor centar Pecka has guests, the family get a table to lay their goods out on. So you can meet the cheese and the milk from Baraći without going out to the farm at all.
Alongside the goat cheese on that same table you will usually find the beer, the juice, the honey and the rakija from the neighbourhood, so a single tasting tells the story of a whole area rather than of one farm.