The most expensive cheese in the world is Pule cheese, a type of Serbian cheese consisting of donkey milk. The reason it is so expensive is because it is a scarce delicacy. Only about 100 jennies (female donkeys) produce the milk (just 300 millimetres per day) for making Pule cheese and it takes 25 litres (6.6 gallons) of milk to create one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of Pule cheese.
Since centuries, pule cheese has been an artisan or farmstead cheese. In general such cheeses are often more complex in taste and variety. Skilled specialty cheese makers produce the specialty cheese by hand. But some years ago, its elaboration was even more difficult.
In the 1880's, there was a young teenage girl named Anna. She used to carry two heavy pails filled with donkey milk suspended from a shoulder yoke on her. That milk was obtained by her father by milking the donkeys he had on his farm. Anna brought the milk daily to the artisan workshops where her mother, brothers and sisters made cheese.
Anna and her family put the milk in copper boilers, added rennet, drained the water the curd contained, collected the mass of coagulated milk that had formed, molded it... a whole process that Anna already hated. She couldn't believe that day by day she had to do that job.
Anna had been a perky, peppy kid with a cute face, fine features and slender build that she still had. But since her childhood ended, her parents put her to work with her older siblings in the family Pule cheese factory, one of the most important in the country, and Anna became very unhappy. If she saw a chance to escape from there, she would take it.
One day, Anna was resting in the middle of the road to bring the donkey milk to her mother when a strange man appeared. He was a well dressed roly-poly old man who was watching her earlier.
"I see that those pails are very heavy, let me help you, miss" Before Anna could answer him, the man took the shoulder yoke without much difficulty, despite his advanced age.
Anna did not deny the help and pointed the way to the cheese-making workshop. When they reached the doors of the workshop, the man put the pails on the floor.
"Do you have to carry those pails full of milk every day?", asked the older man.
"Yes. I'm sick of doing this job every day. I hated school too, but at least there I had friends to have fun with," Anna answered somewhat annoyed.
“Not the scholar type, eh? You don’t get any pleasure by going to school?”, grinned the man.
“No way. It’s boring and the teachers are nothing but a bunch of witches who always scold.”
“Really? And what might your name be, miss?”
“Anna.”
“Hmm, Anna. Would you believe me if I told you that there is a place where a girl like you can be a free girl all the time? There’s no job, no school, no parents, no police! A place where girls can run free and do as they please until their heart is content!”
“You gonna kill me and send me to heaven?”, Anna asked jokingly and at the same time worrying.
“No, no, no, I speak of Pleasure Island, dear girl! Have you never heard of it? It is a land where girls just like you can play, eat, and drink anything you want! You can stay up as late as you like, do anything you desire, there are no rules!”
“That does sound like a swell joint, but c’mon, I couldn’t pay to go to a place like that.” Anna was about to turn her back on him when she said that.
“Pay? Who said anything about paying? It’s all free, miss Anna! Free food, free fun and shelter, and you stay for as long as you can!”
“And you’re for real about all that?”
“Of course. I have a coach that departs tonight at midnight, ready to take you and dozens of other girls to Pleasure Island. You seem like the type of girl who is just right for a place like this…. Think about it, miss Anna. The coach will be waiting at the northern border of the woods. I hope you can join us. My coach is nearly full, but I believe I have room for one more."
“I’ll be there.” Anna said happily.
“Very well then, we shall see you just before midnight!”
Then, the man disappeared. Anna started jumping and dancing with excitement. So much so that she accidentally kicked her bucket throwing all the milk on the ground, however Anna didn't care.
“Have fun making your stupid cheese. I’m outta here for good!” Anna told herself excitedly.