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Darguiais cheese house

srinink namai darguiuose

If you ever have a walk through Darguiai (read Dar-goo-jay)


by midday, theres a chance you meet a small horde of goats on the
road. Intrigued you would stop to let them cross the street and you
would smile noticing the unicorned younglings. The thorough big
hairy dog would be there on some side to prevent any facetious jump
and all the noisy group would be followed by a peaceful keeper who
would hello you by a gentle nod. Later, youll learn that youve just
met Valdas.

As the whole group slowly flows away, youll spot this yellow
sign just in front of a green hence saying srinink namai which
means cheese house in Lithuanian but that meaning, youll find it
out quite easily. Well, now that you are here, why wouldnt you get
closer? See that house and lovely woody terrace on your left? Well,
lets get in. As you come nearer, you can hear several people outside
on the terrace, around a table, joyfully chatting and... eating?
Climbing the one or two steps, youll notice that they indeed have
some bread and French cheese on boards you know its French
because of the big posters behind the visitors showing France, covered by cheeses.
Hey, now youre sure this is all about cheese, why not trying to know a bit more about it? Youll get
started on saying with an awful accent but generous heart a strong and clumsy Laba diena! People will look
up, a bit startled, and then seeing your traveller face and old backpack answer back a warm Laba diena!
Then youll have a nice and easy-going chat with some visitors where youll understand they are here today
because its Jonines ie public holiday and because they heard about the place and were curious to have a
glance and why not, among other delicacies, try some raclette! Raclette you say? Isnt it cow cheese?

To answer your question you would enter the house and be welcomed by the incredible, tireless, skilful
Ilona who, while doing one of her numerous activities (cutting and weighing cheese, presenting prepared
ones in the glass-ancient wardrobe-fridge to visitors, watching out for the homemade bread, serving tables
and that list does endlessly), would confirm: yes, here we do make and sale not only goat but also cow
cheeses. As we only have goat milk within the farm, cow milk is bought from neighbours. Oh, fine! would
you say still opening big eyes, observing the place. Whats that? would you add because Ilona would have

pushed some things in your direction. This is some gira with some homemade bread, goat cheese and
honey. Enjoy! After many thanks you would eat and surely, all that food and drink will be much enjoyable.

Later on, while you would be giving some help with picking and clearing salad from the little garden
behind the guesthouse, some unusual sound and movement would catch your attention and you would raise
your head. Hey! The goats are getting back home for a lazy nap after a wonderful grass feast! And here is the
keeper who will come and shake your hand. Hey, welcome. Lets have a coffee, shall we? This way we can
chat a little about the project were leading here. Yes, sure, allons-y!
In the tiny but lovely house, just nearby the guesthouse and the pen, Valdas and you would sit on the
terrace around a nice coffee (and cheese). Well, you probably noticed its a really small place here. We only
have thirty goats but we feel like its the right number. We didnt
always have only goats, some time ago we had cows also. But we do
prefer goats and they need less pastureland, which is good because
we dont have much. You see, our project is always on the move,
always evolving, improving; since we began weve always been
trying new things.
Actually, put it simply we want to live doing what we love:
turn milk into cheese. Because, well. We do love cheese. Very
much. Are you familiar with the making process? No? So were we at the beginning but we learned a lot in
France, especially with a guy named Jean-Jacques. Well, making cheese is complicated in the sense that you
have a lot of things that can alter your cheese, just like temperatures,
air movements, oxygen, acidity or humidity. From the right quantity
of each among other settings depends the taste and texture and
well, at the end, the sale success, would it be here in the guesthouse
or on the market. And because we sell, we also have economic
questions to answer: on one hand, making fresh cheese from goats
milk is quite fast and you dont have much loss from the initial
product mass, but it quickly deteriorates; on the other hand, storage
of mature and dry cheese is easier and you can keep them unsold for
a long time but you have to use a large quantity of milk for only a few cheeses. Hey, I guess its even better if
we show you. Would you like to pay a visit?. No need to say you would smile a big smile and gladly accept
the offer. If it doesnt disturb you too much of course you would add. Well, this is a written document. So
I guess thats OK but usually we have a very tight scheduled and showing around only for a few days is
difficult for us. Consider yourself lucky!.
Oh, God. You would.

Some goats, hard work, patience and a lot of love... Heres your cheese!
1. Lets start with the beginning. Milking!

In summer, goats are milked twice a day: in the morning and in the evening, and five by five. Unwell
goats, if any, are milked separately. While connecting udders with the milking machine and help starting
milking process, Rasa Valdas enthusiastic companion and partner explains that its been difficult to find
equipment for such a small farming, and its also hard to find veterinaries that know goats very well, because
in the country theres much more cows than goats, so theres no real specialist. But they manage anyway.

Milking is also an occasion to check if any tick has bitten goats during pasture.
Regularly, a consultant comes to observe
and make recommendations for a better farm organization.
2. There you have your milk. Now, time to let it curdle.
Curdling is turning milk from a liquid to a solid state. For that, youll have to heat the milk to the right
temperature and then add or bacterium to create acidity or rennet, an enzyme produced in calfs
stomach, which will accelerate the coagulation process. All parameters (temperature, acidity,
quantity of rennet...) depend on what type of cheese youre aiming to make.
At some precise point, your milk will be solid enough and youll put it out of the fire. After you cut
curdled milk to obtain more or less big curds, youll
have to remove the whey neighbours pigs are
found of this delicious drink.
3. Moulding curlded milk
Here in the srinink namai, moulding and
draining represent a same step which takes place in a
room with a constant temperature. More or less big
curds would be put in cheesing tins a little bit tilted
so that unnecessary whey will dry out.
In the picture here below, Rasa is preparing JeanJacques, which are square and relatively dry cheeses.

These metal grids are awfully heavy! But much better than plastic ones.
The day after, youll have to turn over the cheese in the tin or the tin itself.
4. OK, drying and shaping: done. Time to salt our precious cheeses!
Another day after moulding, its now time to put the cheeses out of their pans and to salt them. Here
again, salting the right quantity is a precious knowledge you earn after many, many tries. And its quite the
same for ash! Sometimes, making cheeses look very much like juggling. Anyway, its time for us to wash all
the tins so that we can make MORE CHEESES MWAHAHA. Sorry.
5. Hey they look good now. The fresh cheeses I mean.
Yes. For dry cheeses youll have to wait quite a little longer.
Matured cheeses are stocked in a cellar and regularly salted to
create the rind. Patience is always rewarded.
Well, here it is! Just taste, pack, sell and if any, eat the remainder.
And if youre not satisfied by the taste, well. Keep on and try again!
June 2015, by a random but grateful traveller

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