Himalayan Hard Cheese · Chewed Like Gum

Chhurpi

Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The hardest version of this cheese — often called the world's hardest — isn't really eaten so much as chewed: a single block can be softened in the mouth and chewed like gum for up to five hours.

Chhurpi is a yak- or cattle-milk cheese made in two forms: a soft, ricotta-like curd used in soups and momo fillings, and a rock-hard aged block that's pressed, smoked and cut into cubes meant to be sucked and chewed rather than bitten through. Khumbu households and trailside shops sell both versions, with the hard cubes a favorite trekking-trail snack.

Why it's made this way: In high mountain villages where fresh vegetables are scarce for much of the year, chhurpi became the Sherpa region's everyday protein substitute, filling much the same role vegetables would elsewhere.