Tag: mozzarella

Farmhouse dairy Putnoky-Csicsó Sajtok

Owner: Putnoky-Csicsó Barna
Place: Nyújtód/Lunga

We went to a farmhouse dairy in the village of Nyújtód/Lunga. From the outside, it looked like we had come to a bungalow with a second house, but once we entered the second one, we could see that we had entered a small dairy. It had a rather large stainless-steel tank and another one in copper where Mr. Putnoky-Csicsó Barna was stirring freshly milked cow’s milk.

They have 15 Tyrolean grey cows next to their house.

They make dairy products like
cheese with cumin
cheese with mushrooms
mozzarella with cow’s milk
ricotta cheese
smoked cheese
yogurt
cheese rolls called sajttekercs. A recipe in Hungarian can be found here.
cheese with blackcurrant homemade wine

The last one was not made this year because the summer was too dry.

To make mozzarella cheese, they lay cheese in lukewarm water, knead it, take out pieces and roll them into spheres. Next, they must stay in salt water for 2 weeks.

He let us taste the mozzarella cheese, which was very good. An article about how mozzarella is made at an Italian farm is described here.

During our visit, he was working hard to make cheese because he would sell it at a market on Saturday.
He told my guide that cheese should be served at room temperature and not like I think many people do: eat it straight from the fridge.

There was a storeroom in the basement and an adjacent room.

The cheeses are stored in containers filled with brine, staying there for 3-4 hours per kg. Thus, a heavy cheese must stay longer in brine than a light one.

Next, the cheeses are stored in a cool room on wooden shelves, while turning them upside down daily to expel whey and brushing them with salt water to prevent mould for 2 weeks. Thereafter, the same procedure is repeated every second day for 3 months.

Barna had a tool which he can use to extract a sample of a maturing cheese, smell and taste the sample and then reseal the cheese. He’s also knocking on the cheese, listening to the resulting sound. Interestingly, bakers at a bakery in Sardinia are knocking on their sourdough breads to listen if they have the right consistency.

Occasionally, Barna put a perforated bowl into the milk in the copper container, next he used another bowl to scoop up whey, which had been filtered by the sieve. Finally, he emptied the bowl in a stainless-steel container. Later, he would reheat the whey to make ricotta cheese. That is, the whey is heated twice, and the remaining curd is extracted and used to make the ricotta.

He also filled a glass with whey, and he gave each of us a small cup of it. He emptied the glass, and he told my guide that it was very healthy, and it contains lots of proteins.

He occasionally stirred the milk in the copper container with a harp and gradually small aggregates, called curd, started appearing on the surface. To separate curd and whey, he transferred the whey to another tank.

He holds free courses for those who want to learn about cheesemaking.

He showed us a round shape on which he put a porous cloth. When the curd was ready, he would put it on the cloth which would filter out the whey. In addition, it would give the surface of the cheese an uneven surface.

In 2012, he went to a 6-month course with Hungarian cheesemakers. After 5-6 years of making cheese, he went to Switzerland where he met a group of Swiss cheesemakers, one of whom had been doing it for 40 years. They taught him lots of details he didn’t know about.

He holds events about cheese for kindergartens and schools and he lets kids come to the dairy where they can make strange shapes of the cheese.

He said you can leave whey for 2-3 months; it will turn sour and it’s good for the veins.

10/10/2024
Rustici farm

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I have already been to this farm twice, as described here and here.

Since many activities occur at this farm, it’s necessary to return several times at various times of the year in order to have at least a partial knowledge of the various phases of work and the activities occurring at this farm. This time, it started with watching what happens from when he cows are milked till the milk is turned into various types of cheese. As the other times I’ve been there, the Rustici family have always been very accommodating regarding showing us how they raise their animals, cows and pigs, how they are growing a wide variety of vegetables and how they make cheese.

This time, we could watch the big Friesian cows being milked. Twice a day, at 5 in the morning and 12 hours later, the cows are ready to be milked. First, the cows are queuing in a corridor outside the room where they are going to be milked. Next, a worker opens a door, letting a group of cows enter one side of the room and, when it’s full, another group enters the other side. Finally, the worker closes the door such the other cows just have to wait.

Next, the teats of each cow is washed with a detergent and milking cups are attached to each of them. The milking cups are connected to pumps, which bring the milk to a refrigerated container. At the same time, a computer, with the aid of some sensors, identify each cow and controls the pump in accordance with the capacity of each animal. That is, one cow may require 2 minutes to be milked, while another one may require 3 minutes. Moreover, another sensor measures the activity of each cow’s legs. If they are moving a lot, the cow may be ready for artificial insemination. The computer also records the quantity of milk each cow delivers during its whole life, making it possible to monitor various parameters of the cattle daily over a long time.

The next day we could watch how the milk was turned into dairy products in the farmhouse dairy located a sort distance from the cows. Upon arrival, the dairy workers had already finished making cheese and they were busy producing ricottta meaning recooked in Italian because the milk is cooked twice, the first time for making cheese and the second one for making ricotta. In each case, the milk is heated in a stainless steel container having double walls inside of which tubes let hot water flow freely, heating the remaining whey indirectly to about 38-40°C. We could watch white flakes of curd appearing on the surface of the whey. When there was enough curd on the surface, a dairy worker used a sieve with a handle to lift it up and put it in a perforated plastic basket, letting the remaining whey flow out and letting the ricotta remain.

Next, this procedure was done repeatedly, putting each layer on top of the former one. When one porous basket was full, another one was filled. All the baskets were put on an inclining work table with a hole at the lower end through which the whey could flow through a hose to a container. When the container was full, its contents were pumped into a container on the outside of the building. Next, the whey would be given to the pigs as supplementary feed.

Actually, the dairy workers had started making cheese early in the morning and one of the dairy workers turned perforated plastic cylinders upside down occasionally in order to let the whey escape.

Unbeknown to us, the dairy workers had prepared another container seemingly only containing whey, but in reality containing a large amount of curd below the surface. While one dairy worker was making ricotta, another one took a small amount of curd, formed it into a small ball and compressed it, pressing out the whey. Next, he put a pH sensor inside the ball and when it was 5.0, the curd was ready to be extracted and kneaded. After having pumped out the whey into the container on the outside, he cut loose a large part of the curd with a knife, lifting up on a work table whose surface was curving slightly downwards, having a hole in the centre, and being surrounded by walls of stainless steel. There, the dairy workers started compressing and kneading the curd, getting rid of the whey, which was collected in a container below the table.

Having partially driven out the whey, the blocks of curd were transferred to a big funnel on the top of a machine. After having passed a hole at the base of the funnel, the curd was forced to enter a room where an Archimedean screw was rotating continuously, dividing the curd into small fragments. The dairy workers poured the container with the small fragments into a large bowl, kneading and compressing the fragments before another dairy worker poured water at 90°C on the curd fragments.

Next, he used a wooden tool, looking like an oar, to stir the mixture of hot water and curd into a compact, homogeneous and elastic paste, called pasta filata.

Next, two dairy workers carried the bowl containing the pasta filata to another machine into which they poured the contents of the bowl. There, another Archimedean screw forced the paste to enter a stainless steel roller with holes symmetrically placed across its whole surface. The rotational speed of the Archimedean screw and the roller was set to 14 revolutions per minute in order to make mozzarella shaped like small spheres called bocconcini.

At the same time, water containing some whey, called acqua di governo, where the whey is used to add softness and structure to the mozzarella cheese, was pouring continuously over the roller.

As the roller was rotating, the bocconcini fell down into a small tank containing water with whey, forming small white spheres. Finally, the bocconcini would be packaged together with some of the water in the tank.

Another type of mozzarella called fior di latte is also made at this dairy.

It was a great pleasure to visit this farm, watching able workers do their work seemingly effortless.

19/09/2018
Azienda Biologica Agro-zootecnica “Rustici”

Sono già stato due volte in questa azienda, negli anni scorsi, come descritto qua e qua.

Siccome è un’azienda multifunzionale, è necessario tornare alcune volte nelle diverse stagioni dell’anno per avere almeno una conoscenza parziale delle varie fasi di lavorazione e di tutte le attività connesse all’allevamento del bestiame e alla trasformazione del latte. Come sempre, la famiglia Rustici è stata molto disponibile a mostrarci i diversi allevamenti (mucche e maiali) e a permetterci di assistere alla produzione dei formaggi, della ricotta e delle mozzarelle.

Questa volta abbiamo assistito alle operazioni di mungitura delle mucche di razza frisona e alla trasformazione del latte.

Due volte al giorno, alle 5 e mezzo la mattina e 12 ore dopo, le mucche sono pronte per essere munte.

Le loro mammelle sono piene di latte e hanno veramente bisogno di essere spurgate.
Le mucche vengono introdotte verso la stanza dove sono gli attrezzi per la mungitura. Prima, un operaio apre una porta attraverso la quale le mucche possono passare dall’ambiente esterno alla sala di mungitura, fino ad occupare ciascuna il suo proprio spazio. Ai lati della sala mungitura ci sono due passaggi obbligati che devono essere entrambi occupati da un certo numero di animali, e infatti, l’operaio, dopo avere riempito uno dei due corridoi di mungitura, apre la seconda porta per consentire alle altre mucche di posizionarsi nel secondo corridoio. Dopo di che le porte vengono chiuse e cominciano le operazioni di mungitura.

Dopo la pulizia dei capezzoli con una schiuma detergente, il mungitore vi applica le tazze di mungitura e attraverso una pompa si dà il via alla raccolta del latte che passa, attraverso un filtro, in un contenitore refrigerante. Allo stesso tempo, un computer con qualche sensore identifica ogni mucca e pompa il latte dalla mucca in conformità della capacità di quest’animale. Cioè, una mucca ha bisogno di 2 minuti per essere munta, mentre una altra richiede 3 minuti. Inoltre, un altro sensore misura l’attività delle gambe della mucca. Se si muove molto, sarebbe pronta per l’inseminazione artificiale. Il computer registra anche la quantità di latte di ogni mucca durante la sua vita così che sia possibile vedere i vari parametri nei diversi momenti del giorno.

La mattina successiva abbiamo potuto assistere alla trasformazione del latte, quindi alla produzione dei latticini. L’azienda ha un proprio caseificio.

Quando siamo entrati nel caseificio era in lavorazione la ricotta: dopo aver riscaldato il latte e aver fuscellato il formaggio, si riscalda il siero in un grande contenitore con un doppio fondo atto a contenere l’acqua calda che produce indirettamente il riscaldamento del siero alla temperatura necessaria per produrre la ricotta. I fiocchi di latte stanno apparendo sulla superficie del siero. Quando i fiocchi sono pronti, si usa una paletta bucherellata per prenderli e trasferirli in fuscelle traforate per permettere la continua fuoriuscita del siero contenuto nella ricotta. Le fuscelle vengono sistemate sul carrello di lavoro fino al riempimento del piano e strato dopo strato si trasferisce la ricotta al loro interno. Il carrello è inclinato così che il siero fluisca verso un foro collegato ad un tubo che lo trasferisce nel secchio sottostante. Quando il secchio è pieno, si pompa il siero in un contenitore esterno e verrà utilizzato come integratore alimentare per i maiali. Questo liquido impoverito dalla caseina si chiama “scotta”.

In un altro contenitore c’è la cagliata che, avendo raggiunto il pH richiesto per produrre la mozzarella (il pH deve scendere a 5.10/5.00° per determinare il giusto tasso di acidità), è stata divisa con la “Lira” che è un attrezzo per triturare la cagliata, chiamato così per la sua forma che ricorda quella dello strumento musicale per i suoi fili d’acciaio.

Il casaro prende un pezzo di cagliata e la comprime per ottenere una forma sferica, facendone uscire il siero. Poi si misura la pH della palla e quando questo si avvicina ai 5°, la cagliata può essere estratta e impastata. Contemporaneamente si può usare una pompa per cominciare ad aspirare il siero dal contenitore e pomparlo nella cisterna dove si trova già il sottoprodotto del siero privato dalla ricotta: la scotta.

Quando nel contenitore rimane solo la cagliata, la si taglia in tante porzioni maneggevoli, così da poterle trasferire manualmente sul carrello dal piano concavo e dagli alti bordi contro i quali comprimere con la forza delle braccia e delle mani la cagliata diventata compatta ed elastica. In questo modo, pressandola sui bordi, si fa uscire il siero che viene raccolto nel secchio sotto il carrello.

Comincia così la fase chiamata “asciugatura” che prosegue con l’introduzione della cagliata semi-pressata manualmente dentro una sorta di grande imbuto, il cui collo è attraversato da una vite archimede che avvolgendosi intorno all’impasto conclude la fase dell’asciugatura riducendo la massa della cagliata in frammenti filamentosi che vengono manipolati ulteriormente all’uscita da questo ingranaggio che costituisce la parte interna del macchinario chiamato “Taglia-cagliata”.

Gradualmente, pezzo per pezzo, la cagliata viene ancora pressata a mano e trasferita in un grande mastello dove si versa l’acqua calda a 90° continuando ad amalgamare con un lungo mestolo a forma di remo fino a ottenere un impasto compatto, omogeneo ed elastico, precisamente “filante” e questa si chiama la “pasta filata”.

Finita la fase della filatura, l’amalgama filante viene trasferito nel contenitore superiore di un altro macchinario che ha un’apertura alla sua base. Li, c’è una vite archimedea che forza la pasta ad entrare in un rullo con piccoli fori. Prima si avvia il macchinario, lo si programma così che la vite archimedea faccia 14 giri al minuto per fare mozzarelle sferiche di piccole dimensioni, chiamate bocconcini.

Allo stesso tempo, l’acqua di governo, che si usa per aumentare il gusto delle mozzarelle, fluisce sopra il rullo e c’è anche un contenitore pieno di acqua di governo sotto il rullo. Quando i fori con i bocconcini si avvicinano il contenitore sotto, cadono nell’acqua, formando piccole palle. Alla fine, vengono imballati in bustine di plastica insieme alla cosiddetta “acqua di governo”.

Si fa anche il fior di latte classico che sono mozzarelle più grandi dei bocconcini.

19/09/2018
Transylvanian buffalo company

Web site

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The Transylvanian buffalo company was founded in 2005 acquiring properties abandoned by Germans in Romania who left the country in 1990 after the communist regime was toppled.

Originally, Germans were invited to act as a buffer against invasions from the east in the 1200s by a Hungarian king. Forming seven towns, Siebenburgen, and many villages, the descendants of the first Germans, also called Saxons, stayed in Romania more or less ever since. However, the communists treated them badly and most of them couldn’t get out of Romania quickly enough, leaving their houses and maybe even their belongings behind.

The Saxons were avid buffalo farmers reputedly having as many as 100,000 of them in 1990. However, due to their slow growth, less milk production, heavier bones and having less meat than a dairy cow, their numbers diminished quickly after the Saxons left. Since the local farmers mostly didn’t want to raise buffaloes, the Transylvanian buffalo company could easily buy them from local farmers.

The grown-up buffaloes are taken out to pastures next the premises of the company. There, they can take mud baths covering themselves in mud which works as a sort of sunscreen for them.

When we arrived, two groups of buffaloes were being milked at the same time by milking machines, while a large group of buffaloes were standing outside in an enclosure waiting to be milked.

We also visited the calves which were kept inside in small enclosures, 2-3 calves sharing a “room”. Like all buffaloes, they were very curious, whereas dairy cows mainly ignore visitors.

The company also have 7 bulls in order to make new generations of buffaloes. They have to be kept separate because they will start fighting if they meet. We were told that they wanted to let two male calves grow up together in order to accept each other later in life.

We also visited a small dairy in Rupea apparently owned by a sister company called Transylvanian buffalo products. The English-speaking manager, probably a dairy engineer, lived in the same building as the dairy. Due to limited demand, they only worked 2-4 days a week. In fact, we were told to arrive in the afternoon, but when we arrived, the workers were already cleaning the machines having finished the day’s production. The manager told us that he couldn’t foresee when production would take place even the day before.

The dairy produces mozzarella and feta cheese both of them containing much more fat than corresponding cheeses made from milk from dairy cows.

Buffalo milk products have been well known in Romania and has been highly appreciated. They are perceived as healthy, natural and tasty.

21/06/2012
Trionfi Honorati farm and Piandelmedico dairy
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The farm was started in 1939 by the marquis Antonio Trionfi Honorati who wanted to found a farmhouse dairy using milk from 30 Friesian cows. The farm has been owned by the Trionfi Honorati family ever since, and it is now being managed by the siblings Giulia and Antonio. Giulia is in charge of the farmhouse dairy and the well-stocked farm shop residing in the same building, while Antonio looks after the animals, whose number has grown to more than 300, consisting of both Friesian cows and buffaloes.

The animals
The farm has 190 cows, Dutch Friesian and 150 buffaloes. They are born in a special room and the birth may last up to a day for the cows, while it is very quick affair for the buffaloes.

The calves are staying in separate rooms for 3 months until they are weaned off cow’s milk. They receive milk from their mothers for the first four days because it’s important that the first milk they are drinking are from their mothers in order to reinforce their immune system. Thereafter, they are fed powder milk.

The health of the calves has to be controlled regularly. The young cows have to do 4 shifts from room to room, while the young buffaloes have to do only 3 shifts because they are less in need of controlling their health. The calves of the buffaloes are able to stand upright after only 20 minutes after birth because they are still preserving their wild characteristics.

The first insemination takes place when the cows are about 15-17 months depending on the development of the animal. The cows are always artificially inseminated, while this happens very seldom with the buffaloes. Instead, the farm’s bull called Ciccio is doing this job.

The buffaloes originate from Syria, coming to Italy during the barbaric invasions and found favourable environments in present Puglia and Campania. 70 buffaloes arrived at the farm in April 2004.

The customers are buying the meat of the calves, especially the male ones. The meat of the buffaloes is exceptional and it contains lots of iron and little cholesterol. Naturally, quality of the meat depends on the fodder.

Both maize, soy, oats and hay are grown at the farm and the animals are given a mix of these cereals. The farn has a mill where grinding and mixing of the cereals are carried out.

All the animals live in sheds all year. The owner, Antonio Trionfi, would like to release the animals to a pasture, but, unfortunately, there are people who open the fences surrounding the pasture permitting the animals to escape.

The milking of the cows is automated and the cows are milked twice daily. The Dutch Friesian cows are producing about 20 litres a day, while the buffaloes are producing about 8 litres. The milk of the buffaloes, containing about 8% fat, is not bottled.

Photographing the animals was interesting: the Friesian cows seemingly didn’t care about being photographed, while the buffaloes cared very much. All of them were very curious and even those who were lying down, ruminating, arose and looked at me curiously.

The cheeses
Even though the cheeses are made from the same milk, it’s possible to produce many different types of cheese. The types depend on, among other things:
- temperature
- type of coagulated milk
- salting
- container in order to shape the cheeses
- maturation
- type of cut
About 30 types of products, many of which are not traditional, are made at the dairy. Some of them are listed below:
- buffalo ricotta
- soft cheeses and cacetto
- buffalo yogurt
- buffalo vanilla ice cream
- mozzarella
- robioline
- primosale- sheep’s cheese
- stracchinella
- caciottina, ‘pasta filata’ style cheese with truffles
The farm has also a shop where the public can buy products from the dairy and other products mainly from the Marches. The customers are buying everything which is produced and it seems like the demand is greater than the supply.
06/11/2009