Chinese cheese, if you please

Rubing

Unlike rushan, which can only be made with cow's milk, rubing can use either cow's or goat's, and the latter is actually more traditional. The word youdbap means "goat's milk" in the Bai dialect.

First, the goat's milk is boiled. After removing it from the heat, a souring agent is added so the milk curdles. The souring agent, known as naiteng, is made from a cultivated vine. Then the milk curdle is heated to speed up the process of division into white curds and yellow whey.

The curds, which look and taste like cottage cheese, can be eaten as a treat by adding sugar.

The curds are scooped up and poured into a cloth which is then tightly pressed to squeeze out the whey. Then the cube of cheese is pressed between two rectangular pieces of wood for several hours to remove the liquid, leaving rubing looking like tofu and ready to eat. It can be enjoyed directly with sugar or spiced salt, or deep-fried as a snack.

Today, rushan and rubing are not only eaten by the Bai people. One can find dishes made of the two cheeses in restaurants that serve Yunnan cuisine.