July 15, Making cheese with an artisan.

On Friday morning we had a quick breakfast at the hostel and then took a metro train to the stop where we were to meet the farmer who would take us to his farm and teach us to make cheese. 

Marco picked us up and drove us to his farm about 15 minutes away.

He took us past the fields where he grows rice and told us a little bit about his farm. 

 Marco took us into his cheese production room where he had a giant vat of freshly heated raw milk waiting.  He showed us how to break the solids gently into curds the size of a walnut and then we stir, stir, stirred while he heated it to 45 degrees celsius. 

 

Once the desired temperature had been reached we poured it into moulds which would catch the curds and let the whey drain away. 

 

After collecting all of the curds Marco strained the whey and returned it to the pot. He added citric acid and reheated the whey until additional solids formed which would become fresh ricotta. 

 

 

While the cheese set Marco gave us a tour of the farm and showed us the cow barn where there were adorable baby cows. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked some fresh vegetables from the garden and went back to check on the cheese and make lunch. 

 

We made tadziki with just picked cucumbers and the farm's fresh yogurt. Marco made saffron risotto and served us several types of his cheese, including some of the fresh cheese we had just made. 

 

 

After making cheese we rushed over to the bus station to say a quick hello and goodbye to Julian, a young man that we had become aquainted with at the couchsurfing camp. 

 

We then went back to the hostel and rested a little before heading out to meet up with the Milan couchsurfing group to watch the sunset from the top of Mt Stella, an artificial hill with panoramic views. 

 

 

 

 

By the time we got back it was well after midnight....💤💤💤