Article by Matteo Sau.
Sardinia Post Magazine is a bimonthly that talks about Sardinia and is distributed on the main naval and air transport lines to and from Sardinia.
Below is an excerpt from the magazine that talks about Otto Passi and its translation into English.
Happiness in “Eight steps”
Otto Passi (Eight steps). It is the distance that freshly milked milk travels before starting the transformation process into cheese, but it is also the name that Rita Tolu, together with her brother Luca and her husband Paolo Musu (the first on the left in the photo), wanted to give the their Noragugume dairy. Physical distances are reduced to a minimum, but the same cannot be said for the look towards the future of three entrepreneurs. Their vision, in fact, goes beyond the usual narrative of sheep farming and dairy production in Sardinia, because the company has opened its doors to new technologies and above all to the perfect balance between modernity and ancient knowledge. “We consider tradition a living thing – explains Rita Tolu – and as such it must therefore grow and adapt to the world and its transformation”. There is a feature that distinguishes the cheeses produced by the Otto Passi dairy and it is the use of natural enzymes. «A choice that requires very strict rigor – explains Rita Tolu -, since it is necessary to check that our sheep eat and drink well. With us they have water 24 hours a day and their nutrition, in addition to grazing, includes integration with raw materials produced in our company “. Another fundamental aspect for having a natural processing is hygiene: “Not using industrial fermenters means obsessively controlling the origin of our milk and cleanliness”. With these strict principles, in 2019 began the experience of three young people who came from different professional worlds, but with a family tradition of breeding and pastoralism. There comes a time, however, when you have to climb over the wall of the past and contextualize it in a modern production, even at the cost of having to review your entire history: “What parents transmit is important, but it is no longer enough – says Tolu. -, training is needed as well as technology because the world has no borders. We participate in numerous research projects, now we are working on milk graft and whey, what for flour is the mother yeast. It is our biodiversity, our DNA ». Rita, Luca and Paolo wanted to play a difficult game, but in the end the eight steps are also the ones that separate them from their happiness.