Cheese Maker
By Alan Drew
12 Feb 2009
Omar the Cheese Man (Taguaqui Falcon Venezuela)
Three in the morning and we were awoken by barking dogs, there was a short period of panic till it was established, it was not robbers but Omar off to milk the cows in the bush. The area as far as the eye can se is covered with low growing spiky bushes and it seems that every thing else out there that grows has spikes then there are the mosquito's and, and?
About ten in the morning I spotted Omar out side one of the sheds, (the cheese shed) I did not get a picture of the inside but you would not want to know how hygienic it was. You know no one die's from eating his cheeses and he sell all he makes.
Our cheese man said it was ok to photograph him. At this stage I will add that when you get to the bowl of curds you cannot se the multitude of creepy crawlies that were to be compressed into the, no doubt a very tasty block of cheese.
Once the curd has been put into mould the egregious cantilever is weighted by human form to expel as much liquid from the curd as possible, then body weight is replaced by a large stone or part of an engine block. Now everything is left to the heat of the day and the weight of the engine block. For how long you may ask, well it was not there in the morning so I think the cheese must be maturing in that Hygienic shed.
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