Casu Marzu
Ovis aries · Cheese
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Casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian sheep's-milk cheese deliberately ripened past ordinary fermentation into a soft, weeping paste by the larvae of the cheese fly, Piophila casei. Its name means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian; the maggots break the fat down into a pungent, ammoniac, intensely spreadable cream that many islanders prize as a delicacy while food-safety law across the European Union bans its sale.
Picking a good onedrag
Larvae at work, paste firm in placesLarvae dead in the wheel, or stray mould
ReadySoft and aliveCover it: larvae leap up to 15 cm. Swallowed alive they may survive the gut and cause nausea or vomiting. Some clear them first in a sealed paper bag.
The larvaeThousands alive, leaping when the wheel is disturbed
The pasteSoft and spreadable right through, weeping lagrima