Why choose farm house natural cheeses?
The farm house cheese is produced with artisanal methods using only milk from its own farm. In France, this type of cheese is called “fromage fermier”, which recalls the concept of short food supply chains. In this country, considered the cheese capital of the world, an AOC cheese (DOC in Italy, PDO in Europe) is classified according to the production method and the origin of the milk:
- Fermier: produced with artisanal methods and using only the milk from its own farm;
- Artisanal: produced by a single producer, but with milk from different farms;
- Coopérative: produced in a single dairy with milk from a farmers’ cooperative;
- Industriel: produced with industrial methods with milk supplied by several farmers.
Therefore, buying a farm house cheese means choosing products in favor of the short food supply chains, but to be sure to eat a healthy, ethical and good cheese it is necessary that the cheese is also natural.
Natural cheeses are made from raw milk without additives and other corrective agents such as commercial starter strains.
Raw milk production is that carried out without pasteurization. It is possible because the milk comes from a single farm, respects the rules on animal welfare, is controlled, is healthy and is transformed immediately after its milking. Consequently, it does not need heat treatments to counteract bacterial growth.
Instead, starter strains are the microorganisms responsible for the acidification of the curd, without which it would not be possible to transform the milk into cheese and it could not mature. In addition to this, starter strains are the main ones responsible for the formation of odors and flavors.
Most consumers are unaware that many farm house cheeses use pasteurized milk and commercial starter strains to make the production process easier, faster and standardized, to the detriment of the distinctive characteristics that come from the territory (terroir) in which the milk is produced and processed.
The use of natural starters cultures is a guarantee of unique and inimitable flavors and aromas that come from the territory of origin.
Unfortunately, today the consumer is unable to choose which food supply chain to support because current legislation does not require cheese producers to highlight the use of commercial starter strains on the label.
Producing a natural cheese is very complex, because you have to deal daily with a live process to be controlled and guided, where the lack of experience risks ruining the products and losing them permanently. However, as Ovid said more than two thousand years ago “you do not want what is easy to obtain”.