The milk is collected during the night in a tanker. It arrives at the dairy in the morning and processing begins immediately.
The stages:
- Preheating the milk
We use two types of milk to produce our cheeses: raw milk and pasteurised milk. The milk arrives at the production site in a raw state and is stored in refrigerated tanks in order to avoid the development germs and in order to keep it in optimal condition.
Raw milk:
The milk is brought up to temperature for a few minutes in order to encourage the development of good bacteria, which are essential for the production of cheese.
Pasteurised milk:
The pasteurisation process consists of heating the milk to a temperature of 72°C for 15 seconds.
- Ripening
This stage consists of producing the lactic acids. A starter culture is added to the milk and it is left to rest for 2-3 hours. The bacteria that have already developed will produce lactic acids. These acids will interact with the enzymes during the following stage (coagulation) to give the milk a solid consistency.
- Coagulation
The following stage consists of coagulating the milk. It is poured into tanks and a small quantity of rennet is added (a natural enzyme extracted from the stomachs of calves). It reacts with the lactic acids and causes the milk to coagulate. This enables us to obtain the curds. The curds are then left in the tanks for 20 hours, the time necessary for the lactic character of our cheeses.