|S| The making of: 'Mountain cheese'

One 'head' of cheese

The cheese process starts with fresh milk from the cows on the farm. The freshest you can get! Twelve cows are milked twice a day and deliver each on average 7,5 liter. This makes together approximately 90 liters of milk each day. After the milking process, Nodar and Sanata sieve the milk and remove the creamy part on top, which will be used for making butter later on. In the morning they warm the milk from the evening before, with the fresh milk from the morning milking session, until 37 degrees Celsius. In a jar, they add microorganisms to the 90 liters of warmed milk and let it rest for at least one hour. Than the stirring process starts. Stirr gently and let it rest for 5 minutes. The microorganisms causes a reaction and shifts the milk in a solid substance and a liquid byproduct. After these 5 minutes, Sanata pours the liquid yellowish part out of the jar into a bucket. This is used as food for the dogs and chickens. Powerfood, like they say! Repeat 4 or 5 times this stirring process. In a wooden barrel, they softly bring the solid part inside and cover it with a few bags and their 'chanel' bag on top. Fashion cheesemakers! The covering is to protect the future cheese from insects and undesired visitors. The wooden barrel allows the last liquid to escape and the solid part shapes the cheese step by step.

When the last drops are out, one 'head' of cheese is ready! Out of 90 liters milk they make one 'head' of 10 kg cheese. After 4 days, 4 'heads' are ready to cover in their finally plastic bag. Togheter in one bag with lots of salt and one bucket of the yellowish leftover liquid, the 40 kg bags are stocked in the darkest room of the main house.

The last step is selling them on მთის პროდუქტები and using some of the heads for personal use.