Kostroma Cheese Tradition

Cheese making came to Kostroma province in the 1870s, when Vladimir Blandov and Nikolai Vereshchagin - the latter a naval officer turned dairy reformer, and brother of the battle painter - set up creameries on Swiss and Dutch models and trained local producers, and the region became one of the main dairy areas in the country. Kostromskoy, a semi-hard cheese in the Gouda family, is named for it. The Soviet industry standardised production, and the trade fell away in the 1990s; it revived after 2014 when import restrictions created a domestic market, and small producers appeared alongside the surviving factories. The cheese museum in the centre runs tastings and covers the history and process. The trading rows by the Volga hold a cheese hall where regional producers sell. Quality across the sector is genuinely mixed, and the domestic industry's rapid growth has produced both good farmhouse cheese and a lot of indifferent factory product.

What you actually see

• The 1870s origin - creameries set up on Swiss and Dutch models by dairy reformers.
• Kostromskoy - the semi-hard cheese named for the region.
• The museum tasting - the process and history explained with samples.
• The cheese hall - regional producers selling in the historic trading rows.

When to go

All year. Two hours. Museum tastings are booked ahead at weekends.

Honest expectations

Quality varies widely between producers and the good farmhouse cheese is not the cheapest. Museum sessions are guided in Russian and timed. The trading rows hall is small. Some stalls sell cheese made elsewhere under regional labels.

Nearby

The Ipatiev monastery and the trading rows are in the same city.