Tag: dairy

Goat cheese and holistic grazing

‘Knark, knark, knark’. If you listen carefully, this is the sound of dandelions having their heads chopped off by eager goats.

A fresh piece of land has just been released for the goats. For the last eight weeks the land has rested giving way to new vegetation. This rotation of grassland is also called holistic grazing.

One Sunday morning, I visited Copenhagen Goat Milk, one of the newest farmstead dairies in Denmark.

‘My goats and holistic grazing are two of my favourite subjects,’ says Claus Christoffersen.

In 2017, Claus and Summer bought a house in the countryside with 13 ha / 32 ac. This is also the home for their two children who now are seven and fifteen. This morning we are sitting in the courtyard with the most beautiful and deliciously arranged cheese board with bread. For a moment I feel time has paused. Pure idyll!

Hard work

But it’s also pretty obvious that the dream about goats and dairy doesn’t come easy. Claus used to work as an accountant and this has taught him to gather and process information. Indeed the ability to acquire new material has proven vital when you decide to make cheese. With a background in the military and from elite cycling he knows how to opmitise things. As well as – at least this is what I believe – how to set a goal and fight to obtain it.

No doubt, it’s hard work to keep track of 130 goats, 100 hens, a dairy and recently also a farm outlet. And yet, a day still counts 24 hours.

Goats are cultural heritage

You need to start from the beginning, also when you want to create your own flock of goats. The breed is Danish landrace (‘dansk landrace’) which is currently on the UN list of endangered animal species. Right now there are 3-400 goats in Denmark. In the beginning, Claus and Summer bought a few goats here and another few goats there and now they have started to breed on their own animals. Right now they have four male goats, 48 milking goats and 78 baby goats.

This type of goat fits to the Danish climate, they loose their wool in the summer and can handle winter and snow with their winter fur. At Copenhagen Goat Milk, they goats decide themselves whether they want to be in or out. The less stress, the better milk quality.

Baby goats and their mothers

It’s quite rare these days that you see a dairy cow/sheep/goat together with their kids. But here they spend the day together and the nights apart. After the morning milking, they graze together again. The goats give of course less milk but this is how they have decided to do it until the kids are three-four months old.

Before every goat had its own name but this year there are too many…

What is holistic grazing?

When we talk about grazing, it is obvious that Claus has more at heart. He uses the tecnique called holistic grazing which means that you continously change the grazing area leaving some parts to rest.

The goats are only allowed to a new area after six to eight weeks of rest. This allows topsoil to come which again holds on the water. Roots get longer and new leaves grow. Actually, more CO2 is contained. The goats get a new fresh area every day which means more milk and higher quality.

Claus moves the poles a bit every day and invites the goats to fresh grass and dandelions. In return, the goats munch in concentrated silence.

Dandelion improves digestion, Claus tells. He likes diversity in the weeds on the fields.

Grass and ruminants is a match made in heaven!

Claus Christoffersen

Weeds, grass and branches is a treat for goats.

Habits and character

Goats are curious and fun animals. They watch us closely until one is brave enough to come over to pinch my hand and clothes.

Claus explains that they go the same place every time they are about to be milked which is every morning.

Swallows fly around inside the stable. They eat flies and thus help Claus to avoid insecticides.

This is not so easy. Finally, milk comes out, even though it points in all directions.

How to learn to make cheese

The original entrance of the house and a bedroom is now turned into a small dairy.

Summer was born in Thailand and nobody would have thought her future career was to be a cheese master. Nonetheless, here she is: Making cheeses and yoghurt in her own farmstead dairy. She learned by reading, talking to others and above all watching Youtube videos.

Gently she pours the curd into the moulds.

To test, observe and learn. Summer has now acheived her own expression.

The cheeses

Look at this amazingly beatiful cheese board:

Small round snack cheeses in oil and herbs are in the bowl. Followed by beautiful fresh cheeses decorated with thyme/chives/lavender & dandelion. Behind a moulded chèvre with two different ages.

Would you like to taste?

Right now you have to be in Denmark to taste the cheeses. Visit the farm outlet (find the address and opening hours on facebook. You may also find their cheeses at local markets and restaurants. At the farm, apart from cheese you can buy icecream and soap.

Dairy to the left and outlet to the right.

On their list of future projects they have organic and raw milk cheeses and I can’t wait to follow them along their future road. Good luck!!!

28. June 2019
The significance of wooden shelves

The more you dig into the amazing cheese universe, the more nerdy details and complexities you meet.

Take for instance the shelves on which the cheeses mature. Have you ever thought about which material the shelf is made of? And why this is worth giving a thought?

Shelves made of wood

Originally, cheeses matured on wooden shelves as wood was all around. In some cases today, the wooden shelf has actually become part of the AOP-designation. Take for instance mont d’or AOP: This seasonal cheese must mature on spruce boards (as well as having a spruce belt around and is finally placed in a spruce box). The tannins contribute to the taste and character of the cheese (which actually is no different from wine maturing in oak barrels).

The wooden boards are washed between each production but you cannot sterilize wood as it is a porous material. Remains of cheese culture from former cheeses will always be present and passed on to the next cheese residing on the shelf. And thus the wooden shelf plays a roll in the maturing process.

These wooden boards are drying outside a farm dairy in the French Alps.

Once I met the tomme cheeses below in an Alpine dairy in France. When the cheese is ‘newly born’ (as to the left) they are placed in the cellar together with the elderly and grey cheeses (to the right). This is how the mould is spreading to the newcomers which aren’t sprayed or washed to get the mould. It is already in the room!

Symbiosis of moisture and wood

I need to mention another detail. Wood absorbs the excess moisture in the room and in the cheese – but it can also pass on moisture to the cheese in case it gets too dry. This moisture exchange does play a role in defining the texture and taste of the cheese. When a cheese matures, moisture dissappears – in a controlled way. When the cheese lies on wood, the wood absorbs the excess moisture and helps the cheese to form a rind. If a moist cheese is soaking in liquid it will instead create the perfect conditions for unwanted microorganisms. On the other hand, if the room is too dry, the cheese will absorb the moist from the wood and thereby prevent it from drying out. As simple as that!

Affinage of Danish cheeses

Some years ago, it was decided due to hygiene factors to ban the use of wooden shelves in the maturing of parmigiano reggiano. But soon the cheese masters discovered that the cheeses didn’t develop the same taste and soul as before. The result? Wooden boards are back.

Not all types of cheese mature on wood. Some mould cheeses or washed cheeses lie on shelves of plastic, stainless steel or on a layer of paper or cloth. It all depends on what the cheese needs in order to bloom as much as possible.

22. January 2019