At Rita de Cássia’s lonely farm, in a bucolic region of Minas Gerais, one comes to ask. There are no license plates, no GPS signal. But the cheese she produces with her hands is now in the mouths of many, after being enshrined in an international competition in France.
Its “Garrafão” cheese is one of 57 Brazilians who, in September, won a medal at the biannual “Mondial du Fromage” in Tours, placing the country on the podium of the best in the world, only behind France.
“What do your cows eat so that the cheese tastes so good?”, asked, astonished, the French colleagues, according to the Brazilian representative, Débora de Carvalho.
The pleasant mountainous region where Cássia’s farm is located, in the south of Minas, a state with a historical cheese-making tradition, provides some answers.
In this land, discovered 300 years ago by gold hunters, cheese has been made since an Italian shoemaker, Paschoal Poppa, arrived in the early 20th century in the village of Alagoa –today a municipality with around 2,650 inhabitants– with a recipe for parmesan.
There are currently 135 producers, a drop in the ocean of the estimated 35,000 that the state is home to, but several of them have been awarded in the latest editions of “Mondial du Fromage” and in the alleys of Alagoa, several miniature reproductions of the Eiffel Tower are welcome. coming to an incipient gastronomic tourism.
The awards in France “changed our lives”, says Dirce Martins, who dedicates 39 years to the profession. “Nobody came here. They paid the price they wanted. Now, we always have visitors”, he explains in a small space with wooden shelves, where the “Fumacê” cheese is cured.
Her cows graze at an altitude of 1,500 meters, in wild lands of great microbiotic richness and, together with her husband and son, she manages to produce a maximum of 60 daily units of her smoked cheese, which has earned medals since 2017.
Cassia, who works with her husband, Marcos, produces 15 kilos of cheese a day with her 15 dairy cows, called France, Spain, Denmark. “These are easy, elegant and feminine names”, says this 32-year-old entrepreneur.
“It’s hard work: from Monday to Monday, from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. With sun, rain, even pregnant”, says the training teacher, who is expecting her second child. “And the competition is great,” he adds, while showing how the couple is even occupied with artificial insemination of cows.
Cassia learned the trade from her father-in-law. “It became my passion. Cheese is practically a living being”, he comments.
Merchants from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro arrive at their farm, located in a remote valley, along a rocky road to buy their cheese for R$45 a unit, which allows them to prosper. They owe a lot to their silver medal in France: “It gave us a lot of visibility”, he admits.
“An award represents an appreciation of up to 20% for a French cheese. In Brazil, it is 300%, 400%”, illustrates Carvalho, director of SerTãoBras, an association that promotes artisanal cheeses.
But the international fame collides with Brazilian legislation, inspired by the strict rules on animal products in the United States. A cheese must “comply with 900 conditions” to be sold throughout the country and it is very difficult to export, Carvalho guarantees. Hence, most products in the region only have a municipal marketing authorization.
“We pressured the government to legalize artisanal cheese at the federal level”, explains Carvalho.
In Brazil, “it is unthinkable to have a license for a cheese like Cabrales from Spain, matured in natural caves”, adds Juliana Jensen, Coordinator of Research and Development for Cruzília cheeses, which maintain artisanal production, despite working. as an industry.
His “Santo Casamenteiro”, a blue with cream cheese, apricot and walnuts, and the shape of a wedding cake, was awarded a “super gold” in France. With more than 90 products, the company increased its production by 30% in three years.
With the awards, “Brazilians began to look at what’s inside their homes. Let’s appreciate it, get to know our flavors, our traditions”, he concludes.
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I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
