Would you like to try the most dangerous cheese in the world?

Cheese is fermented and matured milk, but the process is controlled and achieves the right balance between bacterial activity and delicious cheese flavor. Some traditional approaches to cheesemaking have pushed the boundaries of what is safe for human consumption, and perhaps the most talked about is casu marzu.

Casu marzu is a delicacy originating from Sardinia. It somewhat resembles the consistency of a scrambled egg and is created using maggots that stay alive and jump into the cheese when it is eaten by humans.

The larvae come from the cheese fly Piophile casei. They are quite active, capable of jumping 15 centimeters (6 inches) into the air. It is considered harmful in the food industry, but as a detritivore it can prove very useful in forensic investigations – and as a cheese addict it plays a vital role in the creation of casu marzu .

Also known as cheese skippers or ham skippers (they also like ham), they get their name from their incredible ability to propel themselves through the air as larvae. Where these bouncing larvae become a little dangerous is when it comes to ingesting them – intentionally or not – because, according to the University of Florida, they are often cited as a cause of intestinal myiasis. This nasty condition basically occurs when maggots set up camp in your digestive system.

“Intestinal myiasis occurs when fly eggs or larvae previously deposited in food are ingested and survive in the gastrointestinal tract,” explains the Centers for Disease Control And Prevention. “Some infected patients were asymptomatic; others had abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

For this reason, casu marzu, which contains larvae, is often described as the “most dangerous cheese in the world”, and yet the BBC’s Vivienne Nunis has learned that it is a delicacy enjoyed for thousands of years. years in Sardinia. Nunis certainly wasn’t put off, describing the flavor as: “Very strong, a little tingly.” It’s very good, it’s like parmesan. I didn’t notice the maggots at all.

Typical cheese production requires heating the milk and adding bacterial cultures and enzymes to ferment the dairy, but in casu marzu, the fermentation is assisted by the cheese captains. A wheel of cheese is cut open to give the flies a chance to lay their eggs, and as the larvae emerge, they begin to wriggle inside, fermenting it as they go.

According to Atlas Obscura, casu marzu is made from sheep’s milk – but if live maggots aren’t challenging enough for your palate, maybe you could try introducing the Captain to whale cheese ham?