The production manager at Vale da Estrela Dairy is an experienced technician and explains how and when the quality of a cheese is perceived. Anabel Fraga also tells us that the “secret” of cheesemakers is not just having cold hands, it is also making cheese with heart and soul.

What is traditional about cheese production?

The way it is made keeping the tradition of dozens of years ago. Our cheese is made only with bordaleira sheep’s milk, salt and thistle (a natural enzyme with clotting power). The tradition continues!

We use utensils suited to our times to ensure hygiene and food safety. The curd is worked on the francela and placed in the molds with the cheesemaker’s hands using the same methods as our great-grandmothers.

How do you know when the cheese will be of good quality?

Initially and when receiving the milk, from the smell it is immediately apparent whether or not we have milk with more or less quality. After five to six days of making the cheese, it is observed and when it is verified that it is remarming (releasing greasy and yellowish moisture) and presents a soft appearance to the touch of the cheesemaker’s hands. With these characteristics, everything suggests that we will have a good result at the end of maturation.

What is the secret of cheesemakers?

I’ve always heard from older people that to make good cheese, cheesemakers had to have cold hands!

But the secret in my opinion is to do it with heart and soul.

What motivates you in this role?

What really motivates me is to see that the result of the final product is to have a cheese of quality and excellence.

You can also present the consumer with a cheese with unique Vale da Estrela characteristics at your table at a dinner with family and friends.

Above all, to make you understand the difference between a PDO Serra da Estrela cheese, with the ingredients and artisanal process I mentioned, and a sheep cheese from Serra. In our country, consumers are not well informed in this regard.

What can you say to motivate young people to take part in the production of an artisanal cheese factory?

First of all, to make it clear that what was said about cheesemakers is in no way present in our artisanal cheese dairy, where we have a team with an average age of 40 years. Making cheese is almost like making a cake at home, after unmoulding it we look at and like what we have in front of us. The same thing happens with cheese, the more we do it, the more we want to do it when we see the result after it has been squeezed and removed from the mold.

Working in an artisanal cheese factory is not a monotonous job because, from the reception of the milk to the dispatch of the cheese, there are several stages. In addition, it is very gratifying and with a high self-esteem when we enter a store and see our cheeses for sale and we think they have passed through our hands.

The greatest reward that can be received in such an artisanal process is to receive the praise of different people.