Our fifth voyage of discovery leads us to St-Imier in the Bernese Jura, where Agnès Spielhofer-Beroud’s infectious enthusiasm, strong conviction and impressive skill are carving out a promising future for her father Michel’s cheesemaking tradition.
In 1988 Michel Beroud took over the cheese dairy in Rougemont in the Pays-d’Enhaut district in the Canton of Vaud, developing it into a flourishing small business. His raw-milk Tomme Fleurette earned him a reputation beyond the Swiss border. Michel won many awards, proving beyond a doubt that Switzerland is also capable of producing outstanding soft cheeses. Today, his experience serves as a unique source of inspiration for his daughter Agnès. The inspiration is entirely mutual, however, as Michel is an enthusiastic supporter of Agnès’s many new creations and feels that he can also learn a great deal from his daughter.
Agnès purchased the old tinsmithy in the heart of St-Imier right next to the railway station in 2020, converting it into a modern cheese dairy where she has been giving free rein to her creativity since November 2021. The dairy is very functionally equipped, meets modern hygiene standards and has enough spare space to allow a significant increase in production over the next few years.
The processing of raw milk allows, and indeed requires, close cooperation with nature. For Agnès, this is the strongest motivating factor for dispensing with the approach of heating the milk to reduce the natural microbiota.
All the milk used by Agnès comes from mountain farms in the immediate vicinity. She buys both cow’s and goat’s milk from farmer Mikaël Zürcher from Mont-Crosin. As with all the cheese dairies we have visited to date, in St-Imier the raw milk also undergoes a thorough daily inspection. This is mainly done via tried-and-tested practical methods such as reductase and fermentation test. These methods are extremely sensitive, can detect even the smallest changes in the microbiota, and are ideally suited to goat’s and cow’s milk, as confirmed – yet again – by current Agroscope research findings.
What stands out most at the O’lait cheese dairy? Without a doubt, it’s the incredibly frequent and intense use that the cheese artisans make of their senses. It starts with the overnight incubation of a sample of raw milk, and is followed by thorough testing with the nose and palate. Rather than after a specific length of time, rennet is added when the milk is deemed to be ready. This too is determined by smell and taste. This is truly what working with nature means. In Agnès’s case, this is not an empty cliché but lived reality. The time when the coagulum is cut or the cheese curd is ladelled into moulds is also determined by the sensory organs. A great deal of experience is clearly required here, as it is not something one can look up in a primer.
Also striking is the continuous measurement of pH. The aim here is to confirm that fermentation is progressing as aimed for and as suggested by the sensory tests. In some cases, the various cheese varieties differ significantly in their production in terms of e.g. when rennet is added or how firm the coagulum is before cutting. This clearly highlights Agnès’s virtuosic skill in juggling the different factors.
The goat’s milk is sampled after delivery and processed directly. Agnès’s success in producing outstanding fresh goat cheese and soft goat cheeses continues to grow. These products cannot be stored for long periods, however. That’s why it’s important for Agnès to expand the range with a semi-hard cheese in order to better cope with fluctuations in sales and enable the farmers who supply her to put things on a professional footing. However, there is a risk of bacterial spores germinating and cheese bloating during the ripening process. This is somewhat more of an issue with goat’s milk than cow’s milk, since these spores are naturally present in the soil and grazing goats crop the grass much shorter than cows. This means that they also consume more soiled grass, as the closer the grass is to the ground, the greater the degree of soiling. Particularly during wet weather, this can cause more bacterial spores to find their way into the milk. After all, we’ve really had more than our fair share of rain this year so far. Perhaps the new Liebefeld cultures Helv.01 and Contra C1 can remedy this to an extent, as experiments at Agroscope have shown that these cultures are capable of inhibiting the growth of the germinated bacterial spores.
Because she does not want the rinds on her cheeses to be too firm or the microbiota of the rinds to overpower the flavour of the cheeses, Agnès regularly brushes her cheeses by hand with water in which a little salt has been dissolved (video). With this procedure she destroys the mycelium of the lactic mould, thereby preventing the mould from dominating the character of the cheese too strongly. Her cheese creations “Galait” and “Boulait” are the embodiments of this perfected ripening process. “Galette”, however – the little sister of Galait produced from goat’s milk – has such a delicate texture that hand-treatment is ruled out. This results in a much-more-compact bloomy rind on the surface of the cheese.
For a scientist, it is always a great satisfaction to observe when scientific findings are experienced in practice. Last year’s Farmouse and Artisan Cheese & Dairy Producers European Network (FACEnetwork) scientific conference on raw-milk products highlighted the fact that with raw-milk cheeses, food safety and food quality are two sides of the same coin (link). This is exactly what Agnès experiences in her day-to-day life. With her uncompromising striving for top quality, she simultaneously ensures the ability of her cheeses to meet ever-more-stringent food-safety standards.
(A small aside from a personal perspective: Unfortunately, the ever-stricter food-safety standards are not always based solely on scientific considerations. Thus, for example, the limits for coli bacteria in cheese made from heat-treated milk make sense, since coli bacteria cannot survive the heat treatment. If, however, coli bacteria are found in cheese made from heat-treated milk, this is a sign that either the heat treatment was faulty or that hygiene post-heat treatment was inadequate. With raw-milk cheese, however, the detection of coli bacteria is not indicative of inadequate hygiene during manufacture, since coli bacteria may be naturally present in small quantities in even the ‘cleanest’ raw milk. Coli bacteria are environmental microbes the vast majority of whose strains are completely harmless for us humans. The law recognises this. It is a pity that some market participants make demands that go beyond the legal requirements. This can put raw-milk cheese manufacturers at an unfair competitive disadvantage. An interesting talk (link) on this subject was actually given at the above-mentioned conference. Agnès, however, is clear in wanting to meet all the standards with her cheeses, even when these standards exceed the legal requirements.
Wherever possible, the artisan cheeses are wrapped in see-through film. As a sign of transparency, Agnès wants consumers to be able to see and check the cheeses before buying them.
For Agnès, it’s very important for the lactic, creamy and buttery flavours of her cheeses to develop to their full potential, and she is outstandingly successful in achieving this aim. Common to all the sampled cheeses are their marvellous creaminess, delightful melt-in-the-mouth quality and lingering echo on the palate.
In keeping with the season, we decided on a selection of berries for the pairings.
The pairings with the berries have confirmed for us yet again the amazing versatility of cheese in combination with other foods, with new and sometimes surprising discoveries always being possible.
Last modification 18.07.2024
