I have mentioned before that I work at a local dairy. It's a bit unusual so I thought I would tell you a little about it and what I think is so special about working there. 

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I get to be a part of making a special kind of hard cheese using raw milk. It's made of milk from mountain cows that lives at the edge of our village. I can hear them from our house. It isn't a lot of cows but their milk is very suitable for making cheese. I believe it's around 35 milking cows. There's only one person that makes this cheese, her name is Agnes. We have worked together before in a hotel where we worked mostly in the kitchen. She gave me the oppurtunity to start learning about making cheese so now I work a couple of days a week at this dairy.

Within 6 months the dairy will relocate to our village so I also get to be a part of that. They're about to rebuild what once was a clothing store and a bank into a dairy, a small deli and a coffee shop. It's a couple of companies that are going to cooparate in that building, one company is making a spring roll with local ingredients such as cheese, potatoes and lightly smoked reindeer meat. I have tried it and it tastes fabulous! 

The yoghurt is my favourite to make, it's made from raw milk and it's actually done in a very small scale. We did about 15 litres of yoghurt this monday, it's usually done up to 30 litres at a time. It's all handmade, like you would do in your own home. Only difference is that we use a very small heat cabinet. It's both packaged and then labelled by hand.

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Most of the products are handmade, it's only the vats for making the curd that is anywhere near industrialized equipment. It's up to 300 litres of milk in one milking from the cows so it's really nothing else you can use. The curd is put in cheese molds and put under a certain pressure for about 5 hours to extract all of the whey. 

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The cheese is aged for at least 7 months, but it's usually best after 9 months, one of my favourite jobs is to turn them. That's what I'm doing in the first picture . When the cheese is made it's put in a salt bath before it goes onto shelves. Nothing is used to seal the surface of the cheese. It's turned daily for the first month and then it's turned every week until it has matured enough to get the special taste that is significant to it. We had some cheese that ended up having a different flavour and some cheese just needs to mature for a longer time to be at it's best. To be able to taste and smell the difference is a true craftsmanship. I'm nowhere near to master that skill, but I do feel a difference in the flavours and I learn more and more every day I spend in the dairy. 

I believe that it's the small producers that will make a difference. It's food that's usually made with a lot of pride and great love. I believe the best food comes from small productions and also from our own homes. I'm not afraid of doing things on my own, I've made yoghurt and also halloumi at home. It's knowledge that has changed the way I think and feel about food. It's also lost skills that are reinvented by us that brings us better and healthier options. 

Another reason for telling is to show you how much that can be done with very little. Making hard cheese might not be the first thing to do, even if it can be done. It's only a matter of finding the recipe for it. It might not fall under homesteading at the first apperence, but it actually could inspire someone who want to make a living building up a small business. You do need to have at least a cow if you want to make a dairy product. 

Until next time, be well.
//S