Next time you’re in Sardinia and you’re enjoying a nice bottle of Chianti with some cheese and grapes, you might want to forget this story.

Casu Marzu is a Sardinian cheese with a little something extra. You could say it’s alive. Very alive.

To produce Casu Marzu, cheese makers allow a species of flies to lay eggs inside of it. Once these hatch the the maggots feed on the cheese aiding fermentation.  

The story goes that local Sardinians will tell you the cheese is only okay to eat if the maggots are still moving. Apparently, once the maggots are dead, the Casu Marzu has gone bad.

This is taste-testing at another level.

Caution

The EU has declared Casu Marzu illegal based on hygienic standards. It can cause severe illness or even death if congested.

Source:

Article originally published on ilovecheese.co.uk.