One of the most common questions we get asked at the market? About the cheesemaker. Of course, they also ask us a lot of information about our classic recipes and cheese preparation. But when we go into the latter, everyone wants to know what it’s like to be a cheesemaker.
What he does, what his work involves. But, above all, how to become one. We have the answers because we know one of the great names in this field: our trusted cheesemaker, Enrico Catuzzo, has written the history of raw milk processing. And if you ask him, he is always ready to share some anecdotes from his professional life. Not an easy story, because this is the first point to stress: being a cheesemaker means a lot of passion and sacrifice. But then comes great satisfaction.
The cheesemaker, a sacred figure for cheese
Do you love a caciotta that is easy to cut but tasty on every bite? Would you like cheese platters to go with honey and nuts? Then you’ll love the cheesemaker. A cheesemaker is a professional whose job it is to process milk and turn it into dairy products such as cheese and caciotta.
Just like the ones you find every day on the counter at Cucina di Paola 1985. In fact, we have forged a solid relationship with Enrico Catuzzo, who has been running his dairy business for over 40 years and transforming milk into cheese. It may sound like child’s play. But the reality is quite different.
What does a cheesemaker do to make cheese?
First of all, he gets up every day at 4 o’clock in the morning, not in the afternoon. This is the common practice of any artisan cheesemaker who cares about the goodness of his product, as our Enrico Catuzzo does. We asked him directly. Enrico, why do you have to get up at 4 o’clock every day?
The best milk to work with is raw milk that has rested from the night before. This step is essential to bring out the flavour and properties of raw milk from a single milking, and it must be done early in the morning.
But this is only one of the steps needed to obtain the ideal raw ingredient. In order to make a good cheese, the source of the milk must first be taken care of. That means the animals, which are looked after by the cheesemaker himself: they have to eat well and graze a lot. Enrico Catuzzo reassures everyone:
I am a creature of habit, I have to make sure that there are certain standards and that the welfare of the animals is taken care of without any kind of compromise. So goats and cows only graze and eat hay from certain pastures dedicated to this purpose, so that the land they feed from is reflected in the taste of their milk. We make sure that they always have plenty of space to graze, move around, comfortable and clean cowsheds and we rely on certified feed such as corn, linseed and GMO-free soya.
The result? Quality cheeses because with every bite you take there is something different. Without forgetting that all this attention also allows the cheese to have a large quantity of Omega 3. Good things can sometimes be healthy if they are treated with love and passion.
Tradition and innovation for the cheesemaker
This is what being a cheesemaker means to Enrico Catuzzo: you have to work both with innovation and tradition. Just like the treatment of Baccalà, the work of preparing caciotta and cheeses becomes an operation that must unite two apparently opposing worlds at all costs. That is to say, the need to innovate and the passion for tradition, for what has been and must be preserved.
He knows that it is important to keep in touch with what has been and with his craft as a traditional raw milk artisan.
Enrico (Rico to his friends) still prefers to work by hand in order to manage a series of parameters that make it possible to obtain the best cheese. One example is temperature.
Rico doesn’t go beyond around 45/50 degrees, so that the taste and properties of the milk are maintained. To this he adds a selection of neutral milk enzymes, the appropriate ones according to the result he wants to achieve. And to all this there is his 50 years of experience, an excellent nose and the confidence found in his every gesture, dictated by a life dedicated to the craft of artisanal cheesemaking.
But there is also a need for innovation in methods and procedures, in safety, in the technology that enables him to meet the hygiene criteria needed today to have a quality product.
This is the story of a cheesemaker
And it is a story that is reflected in the quality of our products. We have long chosen to work with Enrico Catuzzo because his tradition is strong and his innovation smart, precise and well-timed. Right where you need it. And you only have to taste one of his cheeses to understand that this is the best way forward.
