OUR RAW MILK CHEESES WITH MOULD: LET’S FIND OUT MORE
Podere il Casale is a farm located in the heart of the Val d’Orcia, where Ulisse and Sandra have decided to live since 1991. Inside our farm everything revolves around the preservation of nature and the creation of a circular and sustainable economy. Our Raw milk cheeses are the flagship that distinguishes our company. Produced in the dairy of the farm with the milk of our sheep and goats that graze around the farm, our selection of raw milk cheeses allows our guests to be able to taste them naturally, or they can be found in many of the recipes on the menu of our farm to table agricultural restaurant.
Cheese is one of the oldest foods invented by man and our goat and sheep milk cheeses have a more intense, creamy and sweetish flavor compared to those of cows. Our Caprini and Pecorino cheeses are rich in important nutrients, vitamins, proteins and noble fats. It is a food that brings many benefits to our body. Pecorino and goat cheese are rich in calcium and Vitamin D and this helps to keep bones, nerves and muscles strong and healthy, but also to regulate metabolism.
Sheep’s and goat’s milk have a lower amount of lactose than cow’s milk. This translates into a more pronounced digestibility of the basic product; moreover, the greater maturation will also make our cheeses more digestible.
Raw milk cheese is obtained with milk that does not undergo any pasteurization or sterilization process. Its temperature in production never exceeds 40°.
Our special cheeses with mould: let’s find out more
Man has always lived with molds: despite this, it has only been a relatively short time (about a hundred years) that he has learned to manage them. Some French dairy traditions of Northern Italy and France have made mold an essential element of cheese that we have also decided to rediscover here at Podere al Casale. Basically, mold is the encounter between the mood of the cheese and the surrounding environment, a totally natural event which, in the case of our cheeses, is an encounter that gives flavor and vigor to our products. A natural fusion that must be managed and controlled, as it cannot be left free because there is always the risk that bad molds may prevail which bring no benefit to our cheeses.
Our seasonings and mold control
After about ten to fifteen days the mold appears on our cheeses which are properly brushed. Depending on the type of cheese, they are washed with water and salt, or capped with oil or sludge (the bottom of the oil). Our task is therefore to control the development of moulds, especially in fresh cheeses (in fact, mold develops in a humid environment especially in fresh cheeses, where the absence of rind allows cheeses to procreate organisms) by monitoring the different types of mold (already the color of the different organisms is indicative).
Our cheesemakers therefore have the task of taking care of the cheese, as well as the surrounding environment.
Here at Podere il Casale we pay great attention to the environment, in fact we produce everything you find in the dishes of our restaurant. It’s called the Farm to Table philosophy (literally from farm to table) which allows us to bring to the table only seasonal, natural products that reach perfect maturity, without the aid of chemical pesticides harmful to humans and the environment .
We are waiting for you to discover our world in Val d’Orcia!
