Craft cheese making: local Ukrainian brands of cheese

Across various regions of Ukraine, many small farms specialize in cheese-making. They produce unique dairy products, offering a wide range of artisanal cheeses made from cow, goat, and even buffalo milk.

Mostly, farmers locate their home-based production in ecologically clean areas of the country and operate using European technologies, adhering to necessary standards.

We have gathered a list of the top ten most interesting artisanal cheesemakers and compared their product range and cheese prices.

1. Dooobra Ferma

Ivky Village, Bohuslavsky District, Kyiv Region

A family-run goat farm with a small cheese factory. Located in an ecologically clean area and equipped with a modern technological line. The assortment includes dairy products from goat and cow milk, hard and young cheeses, and herbal teas. "Dooobra Ferma" products can be found in supermarkets or ordered for delivery.

Prices: semi-hard cheese "Rannkovyi" from cow milk — 187.50 UAH for 250 g, semi-hard cheese "Yangol" from goat milk — 249 UAH (250 g), hard aged cheese "Limited Edition" from cow milk — 273 UAH (250 g).

2. Stanislavska Syrowarnia

Ivano-Frankivsk

A family business whose founder approaches cheese-making creatively. The shop's assortment includes 22 types of cheeses and 11 dairy products: sheep, cow, goat cheeses of different tastes and textures, fermented products, pudding yogurts, butter, and more. At last year’s World Cheese Awards, "Stanislavska Syrowarnia" won a Super Gold award for their "Cheese Pouch," made using the Italian Scamorza technique.

Prices: cheese "Chorna Rada" with cuttlefish ink — 137.5 UAH for 250 g, semi-hard cheese "Cybulka" with garlic aroma — 100 UAH (250 g), soft cheese "Lisovychok" with white mold — 142 UAH (250 g).

3. Staryi Porytsk

Staryi Porytsk Village, Volodymyr District, Volyn Region

A family farm engaged in the organic production of dairy, fermented products, and grains. The products are certified under the BioSwiss organic standard. They use a closed production cycle — from field to table. They specialize in producing brine soft cheeses such as suluguni, halloumi, bryndza; hard cheeses gouda, cheddar, and their own cheeses made according to special recipes. 

Prices: gouda with fenugreek — 189 UAH for 300 g, brine suluguni — 105 UAH for 250 g, "Staropyrytsky" hard cheese — 189 UAH for 300 g, Volynska bryndza — 98 UAH (250 g).

4. ‘Honest Cheese’

Lviv

‘Honest Cheese’ is a modern family artisanal cheese factory that has been making cheese for three generations. They produce young brine cow cheeses: stracciatella, burrata, mozzarella, ricotta, halloumi, and the traditional Alpine cheese "Raclette."

The farm operates under the HACCP food safety system, using a closed production cycle. Thus, the cheese-making process can be traced from the diet and conditions of cow maintenance to the delivery of the product to the consumer.

5. O’BEREG

Sumy

The O’BEREG cheese factory produces young and aged cheeses from the world's most famous cheese-making traditions: Dutch, English, Swiss, and Italian. The assortment includes gouda, cheddar, maasdam, ricotta, Lancashire, Irish blue, brie, and more, including milk, fermented products, and butter.

Prices: Cheddar cheese "UPA" 45 UAH per 100 g, "Hlukhivska Brama" cheese 45 UAH per 100 g, red gouda — 78 UAH for 200 g, gouda with olives and tomatoes — 72 UAH (200 g), cheddar with port wine — 45 UAH (per 100 g). 

6. "Hlechok"

Velyka Orilka, Kharkiv Region

The "Hlechok" farm produces natural handmade goat cheese. The milk comes from their own goats, of which there are over 450 on the farm.

The assortment includes hard and soft goat cheeses: for example, "Dry Jack" cheese aged for two months, whose rind is rubbed with coffee, cocoa, pepper, and olive oil (247 UAH for 250 g); "Raclette" cheese — a sweet and piquant cheese with a delicate and buttery texture (198 UAH for 225 g); tasting sets of goat cheese (480 UAH for 3 types of cheese).

7. ‘Lelyakivska Cheese Factory’

Keibalivka Village, Pyriatyn District, Poltava Region

The "Lelyakivska Cheese Factory" is located in an authentic area of Poltava between the villages of Keibalivka and Lelyaky, in the Uday River valley near the "Pyriatyn" National Reserve Park.

The cheese factory operates based on a dairy farm and uses extra-class milk from pedigree cows. It uses a closed production cycle (from field to cheese). The assortment includes classic semi-hard cheeses with various spices and ingredients, soft cheeses, cream cheeses, and dairy and fermented products.

Prices: aged semi-hard gouda — 42 UAH per 100 g, semi-hard gouda with sun-dried tomatoes and olives — 42 UAH per 100 g, soft Adygei cheese — 27 UAH per 100 g.

8. ‘Pumpkin Paradise’

Mylchytsi Village, Horodok District, Lviv Region

The story of the family cheese factory began long before craft cheeses appeared on supermarket shelves. A couple from Lviv started their own business in a small apartment, turning their dream into reality. 

The masters of "Pumpkin Paradise" create many unique cheeses that are not found in other stores. For example, "Hoverla" cheese with an intense flavor and aged for over 4 months (180 UAH for 200 g); cow’s fermented cheese "Verde" with walnuts and Provencal herbs; cow's cheese "Hodz" with garlic and black pepper (75 UAH for 125 g); cow's cheese with a natural rind "Svitanok" (140 UAH for 200 g).

9. Carpathian Buffalo

Vynohradiv, Zakarpattia Region

The largest farm in Ukraine engaged in the preservation and restoration of Carpathian buffalo in Zakarpattia — an authentic breed of animal. The farm currently rears nearly 100 Carpathian buffalo.

Buffalo milk is unique in its composition, containing A2 beta-casein, which is easier and healthier to digest than cow’s milk, which contains A1 beta-casein. 

Various types of cheese are produced from the unique buffalo milk on the farm: halloumi, cream cheeses, braided cheese, salty "budz" cheese with Italian herbs, mozzarella, as well as butter, fermented products, and even condensed milk with sugar. Tours and tastings are also available.

Prices: cream cheese "Spicy" in olive oil — 225 UAH for 250 g, buffalo milk grill cheese halloumi with mint 155 UAH for 200 g, "budz" with Italian herbs 180 UAH for 200 g, buffalo butter — 215 UAH for 100 g.

10. "Tyrsinik"

Ivano-Frankivsk Region

"Tyrsinik" is a Hutsul artisanal cheese factory that emerged after the start of the full-scale invasion, producing traditional cheese budz, vurda, bryndza, and crafting cheese horses in Ivano-Frankivsk.

An exceptional cheese is "Edelweiss," smoked on beech wood, which takes the form of a flat cylindrical block with floral embossing.

The main advantage of the farm is that the cheeses are made in the traditional way, at home, from whole cow milk from free-range mountain cows. The milk is heated over a stove fire, and for bryndza, eco-friendly packaging layers are used.

A natural rennet enzyme is used as a coagulant instead of synthetic powder.

Prices: salty budz 40 UAH per 100 g, vurda 40 UAH per 100 g, cheese balls 320 UAH per 0.5 l, melted cheese 40 UAH per 100 g.