Cheese wheels for real connoisseurs. Made by hand. Meike Jaschok is the cheesemaker at the Bornwiesenhof. She shows how one of the most popular foods is made. A centuries-old craftsmanship. These are the tools she needs for her craft. Measuring cups, hoses, nets. The dairy master will use them to make semi-hard cheese. One of the tools is not used in any other profession. This is the harp - the cheesemaker's instrument. We use it to cut the milk into slices and then into cubes. Then we have to make sure that we stir these cubes evenly. And for that we need these rascals. With this we help a little that it can be stirred evenly. It all starts here on the pasture. The Red Holsteins were not trimmed for the highest possible milk yield, but for quality. From spring to autumn they stand outside in the areas that belong to the Bornwiesenhof. It is located in the Schwollbachtal on the edge of the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park. (Birds chirping) When it comes to the raw material for cheese production , it doesn't matter which animal it comes from. At the Bornwiesenhof, the cheese dairy team works exclusively with cow's milk. But of course it can also be made with goat's milk, sheep's milk or buffalo milk. 600 liters fit into the vat. Meike Jaschok and cheese maker Rassul Nazarov do not process raw milk. The first step: pasteurize! Milk pasteurization is a heating process in which the milk is heated to 63 degrees for half an hour. And it serves to kill 98 percent of all germs. Germs and dirt are an absolute no-go in cheese production. All tools are disinfected in an acid bath before production and then additionally cleaned. You need the measuring cup first. Rassul uses it to draw off a liter of milk. They will immediately stir the lactic acid bacteria in it. The so-called cultures are the be-all and end-all for the production of cheese: a light-colored, fine-grained powder. You get that culture from traders. These are so-called direct starters that you put directly into the milk. And these dealers, in turn, get this culture from a handful of culture manufacturers around the world who specialize in it. We can already see that almost nothing is swimming up here. Well, we actually saw these yellow-orange-white globules dissipate. And that's what we want. Good yes? - Yes. In order for the lactic acid bacteria to work optimally, the milk in the vat needs a very specific temperature: 32 degrees. Filling in the cultures is called "vaccinating" in the cheesemaker's jargon. In here is our milk now. It's nice and warm, a little over 30 degrees. There are very, very many bacteria that have dissolved and are really hungry. And now they're pouncing on the lactose. The lactose that's in here, in the milk, is the food for all the bacteria, and we bring the milk to the so-called pre-pour temperature. This is an optimal culture for these bacteria. And now they come into this milk in large quantities and immediately start to feed and multiply. And that is exactly what we want. Without lactic acid bacteria there would be no yoghurt, buttermilk or cheese. They sour the milk. But that takes a while. The second important ingredient in cheese making: the rennet. Meike Jaschok doses exactly - because not every cheese needs the same amount of rennet. She measures 120 milliliters for her semi-hard cheese. They are diluted with a liter of water. So I'm going to pour this in here now. Then I pour back a little bit. We use the traditional calf rennet here. In the calf's stomach, it is used to digest the milk. And then the milk is thickened with the rennet, and this allows the calf to separate the water in the milk from the important nutrients that are in it. Namely fat, protein, sugar and minerals. And we take advantage of that when making cheese, so we use that ferment too. And this ferment causes the protein to form a solid structure, a lattice structure, in which the water is enclosed, i.e. a jelly. And this jelly is so solid that we can then process it and make cheese. The agitator is not needed when coagulating. The so-called jelly needs rest. Curdling takes between 30 minutes and several hours - depending on the type of cheese. Every work step is logged. If the worst comes to the worst, the company must prove that it has fulfilled its duty of care. This is also very good for us, because we can really understand it. If something is not quite as usual, you look, there was a change of food or something. Come in, Marie, let's go. Yup! A feed change at the "milk producers". There are 40 at the Bornwiesenhof. The herd of cows has existed since 1954 and essentially goes back to two cows that came from the Münsterland as part of a group of four and founded the herd. The udders and teats are cleaned with milk wool to prevent dirt from getting into the milk. The milking parlor is the realm of Andreas Jaschok - master farmer with roots in Lower Saxony. Before he attaches the milking cylinder, he pre-milks by hand and checks whether the glandular tissue is in order. Both my wife and I were lucky that we used to work part-time in Switzerland. And we took a few things with us from old cheesemakers there. And then of course we always dealt with it. Because that is existential for the farm here. Andreas and his wife use the milk almost exclusively to make cheese. (Sucking noise, constant pumping noise) Twice a day, every morning and every evening, there's supplies for the cheese dairy. The animals belong to the Red and White breed. When keeping the animals, they pay attention to details that serve the quality of the end product. (Even pumping sound) The milk from the horned cows is more digestible for people. And ... The hay feeding also makes a big difference. There are more omega-3 fatty acids in milk when fed on hay. So, it's absolutely an important thing. (pumping noise) (mooing ) The feed: hay - and in winter a small portion of concentrated feed. In dry years, when the weather throws a spanner in the works for the farmers, they buy in hay and concentrates from the region. Otherwise, they collect everything the cows eat from the land around the farm. They do not feed the so-called silage. It's simply safer when we feed hay than when we feed silage as an alternative, for example. With silage feeding, it is quite possible that after three weeks in the cheese cellar , the finished cheese will crack and puff up and change its taste. And that's why for us grass and hay are the main food of the cows. (mooing) Has the milk thickened in the meantime? Meike Jaschok does a first test. Yes, you can already see a little that the milk is a bit thicker. So, you can see that it's already curdled a bit. Yes, can you see it that way? And if I go under here now, it's a bit thick. Can you see that well? But it's not smooth yet or anything. But we can already see that the milk has changed. But it's not solid enough for us to cut yet. That means you need a little more patience. Mmm, good. It is also important that it is closed again and stays warm. We've seen the lab work, but it's not tight enough yet. 20 minutes later it's time. So, you can already see very well what kind of shift we have here. You can see the drops on it. And now we're going to do another cutting test. And here we have... This is going a bit off the edge, yes. But it's still very soft. So, I'll - we're getting started, aren't we? - but will cut very carefully. The cheese harp is now used. It's a little tighter underneath. Yes, well, it was high time downstairs too. This is where the cutting of the jelly into broken grains begins. So now I have to go over here. Exactly. And I'm slicing the curd with this harp now. First of all slices, in this direction... I notice how it's a bit firmer further down. The harp has to go all the way down. So that these cuts are really there down to the bottom. So now we have ... sliced once. Now it's like this, now we're going to cut in that direction. So now I have to do that quickly. There are different cheese harps. This one cuts the so-called fracture vertically. The harp Rassul uses cuts the break horizontally. By cutting, we divide the fraction into... a certain size. And this size of the curd decides afterwards whether we have a soft cheese, a semi-hard cheese or a hard cheese. The smaller the curd grains, the harder the cheese will be afterwards. For Meike Jaschok, making cheese is more than just a job to earn money. I've always been interested in food. My mother cooked very well and my grandmother still made a lot herself. And I find it totally exciting when you have a basic remedy like milk, what you do as a person to steer it in one direction or the other. Every time we prepare a yoghurt, for example, in the evening, with the milk, and the next morning you come into the cheese dairy, open the lid and it smells like yoghurt, everything worked out - I'm happy about it every time. I think it's a small miracle what's happening in the cheese kettle. Well! So now we've cut the jelly into the fracture. And we can already see how much whey escapes from all over the surface. And as the whey comes up, the curd goes down and is actually already assembling - if we don't stir now. This is now our next step. can you fix it The thermometer over, right. Then we'll help a little, make things a little faster. But not too fast, because: We don't want to destroy the curds, we just want to move them in the whey. The whey starts to come out. In all directions, from every broken grain. And so that this happens evenly, throughout the dough, it is important that these broken grains keep moving. Well, they should be able to swim in the curd and release whey in all directions. And if we make a soft cheese now , we cut it the size of a walnut, if we make a hard cheese, i.e. a ... mountain cheese, then we cut it the size of a grain of rice. And today, we're making semi-hard cheese, we'll cut it the size of a pea or a cherry stone. (The machine whirrs softly.) Well, semi-hard cheese is actually a group of cheeses. That doesn't mean you can buy this cheese sliced. It's a group of cheeses that contain Gouda or Tilsiter, for example. And it ranges between soft cheeses, such as Romadur and Camembert, and hard cheeses, such as mountain cheese or Edam. (Bubbling) The whey needs to get out of the vat now. Rassul does this using an ancient technique. The young man comes from Tajikistan and learned the cheese-making trade in his homeland. For Meike Jaschok, he is the most important support in the company. The two work together in the cheese dairy six days a week. We took out the whey, lactose is swimming in the whey, that's the food for the lactic acid bacteria, and we want the lactic acid bacteria to develop a little more slowly now. And that's how you do it, if you just want a mild cheese, that you wash the curd, i.e. take out the whey and add warm water. Meike Jaschok processes milk into over 30 different dairy products and cheese delicacies. Like this semi-hard cheese that will be sold as a Hunsrück loaf in a few weeks. But the idea for this did not arise here. I met my husband in Switzerland on a small farm in the Emmental . And then we decided that we would look for a farm together, and it really didn't matter to us where. And here in the Hunsrück an opportunity arose because people were being sought for a farm. A Demeter farm. The Red Pieds find healthy fodder in the areas that are mostly arranged around the farm . Selling the milk would not be an option for us, nor is it an option for most people these days. And if you then bring the processing to the yard, then you get, yes, there is added value, and you can basically still sell this service. So it is better to live off cheese than milk. By April at the latest, the cows are out on the pasture every day. The farm includes 103 hectares of land. The most remote corner is less than two kilometers away from the barn in Wilzenberg-Hußweiler. (Birds chirping) Meanwhile, the cheese curd is so far that Meike Jaschok can skim it off. The cheese makers used to do this with a linen cloth. Today they use a net made of plastic. The curd is pressed. In shapes resembling buckets. With the difference: they have many small holes through which the remaining whey can escape. The hernia still contains a lot of liquid - it has to come out now. The cheese master has to estimate when the curd has reached the right consistency for filling. Now tact is required. There is an optimum and ... there you are always a bit topsy-turvy. Because every cheese is different. If it has been here in the warmth for a longer period of time, then the fracture is a bit firmer. It's like in life: With some things you just have to be patient and with others you have to make quick decisions and act quickly. The cheese is separated in the molds with plastic plates. This is how the loaves are made. They are turned and put back into the mold. On top of that, there are buckets filled with water that exert pressure and ensure that the cheeses release as much whey as possible. Exactly, it is important that the top one comes down. Therefore, Rasul now puts it next to it. And it's already turned by turning it, now it only goes back and forth once, and then it's now on the other side. Where it used to be on top is below, and the cheese that used to be on bottom is now on top. And that's happening more than once now. Well, after half an hour, after an hour, after two, after four and after eight he comes into the cellar. Eight hours later. The cheese wheels leave the production facility. Down there, the semi-hard cheese will be processed further over the next few days and weeks. (birds chirping) The next morning. There is an everyday ritual at the Bornwiesenhof: breakfast together. Meike and Andreas Jaschok with the helpers who give them a hand in the stable and on the field. Of course, the homemade products are also on the table. Yes, what kind of education do I have? (she laughs) I've never ever studied. I'm a housekeeper and housekeeper. I then did a two-year part-time cheesemaking course at the association for artisanal milk processing. And then two years ago I did the dairy foreman at the milk school in Wangen. The Jaschoks employ ten people. The team from the cheese dairy does not sit at the breakfast table. Today, no semi-hard cheese is produced there, but something completely different: yoghurt. Strictly speaking, yoghurt is not cheese at all, but a dairy product. No rennet is needed for its production, just very special lactic acid bacteria. This is a thermophilic culture, i.e. a warmth-loving culture. And we need them for the yoghurt. And this heat-loving culture that works between ... 48 and 40 degrees. Yoghurt comes from Bulgaria or is made everywhere in southern countries. And in these countries it is simply the case that these bacteria can multiply because they have the right temperatures. And here we have to heat properly. Well, yoghurt, without heating the milk and keeping it warm, we can't do that. We can't make yoghurt at room temperature. Over 40 degrees. Water pipes run in the walls of the vat, which can cool or heat the milk. Meike Jaschok uses a thermophilic culture here, while she used a so-called mesophilic culture to produce the semi-hard cheese. With yoghurt we don't need any rennet at all. So, yogurt is still a small miracle for me. We have milk, and only with culture and with the right temperature and time can we get a product where the milk is completely curdled. (Hiss) But the yoghurt isn't thick yet. The milk matures in the cup. The cultures need a whopping six to ten hours to convert the lactose into lactic acid. Only then does it get its firm consistency. More hands are needed to produce yoghurt than to produce semi-hard cheese. The team in the cheese dairy has to keep up, because the yoghurt is one of the Bornwiesenhof's hits. Also digestible for people who are sensitive to industrially manufactured products. It doesn't go in the refrigerator, but in the warming cabinet. We'll heat it up a little bit more so that we have around 42 or 44 degrees. And after six hours we will check. And it takes between six and eight hours for the yoghurt to set. Then you can see a tiny bit of whey on top and that the milk is no longer liquid. Salt. We're back to sliced cheese. It comes out of the mold for the next production step. Before the cheese loaves can be salted, a small operation is necessary: the edges have to go. He cuts off the edge because we sometimes have small overhangs here due to the shapes. And these overhangs don't go away, they stay there. And if we then take care of the cheese, then we can't get into these holes. And mold can then settle in these holes, for example. Cheese can be salted in two ways: "dry salting," where it is rubbed with salt, and "salt bath," where it is immersed in brine. Meike Jaschok chooses variant one. The salt gives the cheese a large part of its flavor - and it acts as a natural preservative. We have a key figure that has resulted from our experience, which is 250 grams of salt per 100 liters of milk. And this amount is then weighed, well, we had 600 liters of milk here, that is... 250 liters - how many kilos of salt did you provide us with? 1.5 kilos. - One and a half kilos of salt. And this quantity should then be enough for all cheeses. The salt also has an antiseptic effect, fighting microbes and bacteria. After salting, the loaves go back into the molds. The whole cheese is actually bathed in salt water with whey. The salt pulls a little more water out of the cheese, but at the same time the salt also soaks into the cheese. Above, in the cheese dairy, production is already underway again: Flammkäse. They have been perfecting the recipe for over ten years - and don't want to reveal it. In any case, it tastes similar to halloumi. It has found its place on the swivel grills of the region. The Flammkäse is refined with various spice mixtures. A dash of oil is added at the end. Ten years ago, customers didn't really know what to do with grilled cheese. But in the meantime it has established itself as a vegetarian alternative in the barbecue-crazy Hunsrück. Farm convenience food. A convenient, because ready-made meal. This is one of our specialties, the Flammkäse for roasting and grilling. We once received the innovation prize for it, and it's a cheese that you can fry in a pan. Hot cheese from the Hunsrück. Or on a tray, on the grill, crispy in a few minutes. Supposedly - unlike halloumi - it shouldn't squeak when chewed. Every production day ends like this: with cleaning, cleaning, scrubbing. Hygiene is the be-all and end-all in milk processing. Without cleanliness and hygiene, we cannot direct the milk to where we want it. And that's why it's very, very important that the materials are clean, that we're clean, our aprons, our hands... the hair is gone, so that it can't fall into anything or be touched. Exactly. Through the cleanliness we determine which bacteria we put into the milk when we vaccinate, very specific bacteria that we also want to have. When it comes to cheese making, there are good bacteria - the ones in the lactic acid cultures - and bad bacteria that are harmful. Back in the cellar with the sliced cheese. The next day, Rassul takes the salted loaves out of the molds. This marks the final phase of cheese production. Before it goes into the ripening room, it is turned a few more times and then the cheese is stored on racks at a very specific temperature. Here he is drying off. Milk flows into the vat again, again 600 liters. But today they don't make semi-hard cheese. For semi-hard cheese, we need 120 milliliters of rennet for 600 liters of milk. And with cream cheese and quark, we need 18 milliliters of rennet for 600 liters of milk - a fraction of that. The milk for the semi-hard cheese is solid within 45 minutes. The milk to exhaust the curd has now taken 19 hours. And then I would just start cutting here. Not as fine as with semi-hard cheese, but only very coarse. (Sound of metal on metal) The cheese harp is not used this time. When scooping, the cheesemaker uses a Schuffe. The so-called curd is much larger than that of semi-hard cheese. I want it to go down by itself if possible and not be broken too much. Here, too, one can easily see what a different fraction this is. This is not to be compared with curd cheese. While the cream cheese is still draining , the lactic acid bacteria are working at full speed and ensure a certain degree of after-ripening. The cream cheese has its name because it is ready to eat immediately after production and no longer has to mature. Compared to other cheeses, cream cheese also has the highest water content in the fat-free cheese mass. It is over 70 percent. This is also the reason for its fresh taste and rather short shelf life after opening. The cream cheese is also lightly salted. Many manufacturers add preservatives, additives, and thickeners. All things that you don't want in the cream cheese at the Bornwiesenhof. After salting, the molds are turned. And then the cream cheese goes in the fridge. Work on the semi-hard cheese continues in the cellar. The loaves now go into the ripening room. He will now lie here for five to eight weeks and be cared for until then. Good things take time. These loaves have been stored on the shelves for a long time. They have all been treated again before ripening. So I have a liter of water and 50 grams of salt. And then stir a little. And that's where some of that mother liquor comes in. This is a mother liquor from Brevibacterium linens, the so-called red smear culture. There are 200 milliliters of red smear culture in one liter of water. It must have a temperature of 20 degrees. The red smear has almost no effect on the aroma. It brings a bright orange color to the loaf. But their decisive advantage is another: it's the case that we cheese, when it's ready - here we have a somewhat younger one - that the cheese is simply exposed to the air, a little unprotected. And we always have a lot of bacteria in the air, including yeast and mold, for example, which like cheese very much, just as we like it, and which would then settle on it. And as a Demeter farm, we do n't use mold inhibitors, any chemicals that make the bark unedible. We care for the bark with natural means, and that really means care. So, regularly pick up the cheese, wipe the surface with this salt water, with this mother culture in here. This is how we practically apply this bacterium to the surface of the cheese. This bacterium then settles and ... yes, colonizes the entire surface and acts like a protective culture. Because where the bacterium is, it forms a nice, even surface, and it's also a bit damp. It also smells very good. Mold and such really have no chance of landing there. What is the cream cheese doing? It was in the fridge for about 30 hours. It solidified there and is now being processed further. Interns from all over the world have always been working on the farm. They currently come from Tajikistan and neighboring France. Here they can get a taste of practical farming and the processes of milk refinement. They are currently refining cream cheese with herbs and then putting it in oil. (Quiet conversation) A cup of "Cleopatra" costs four euros. For many years, the Jaschoks opened a farm shop for two hours on two afternoons a week. But that didn't quite work. In 2013 they decided to set up a cheese hut. It was a big step for the family to offer their products there without any staff. This is our trust-based cheese factory. So there is a fridge with all our products, with prices on it. There's a table to put the products on and a pad to do the math, and then it's thrown into the cash register. On the farm in the Birkenfelder Land not only cheese is made, but also cheese is taught. She offers workshops in the house on the Schwollbach, which Meike Jaschok bought a few years ago . Great that you are here. I welcome you to our farm cheese school. We're going to make soft cheese today. Meike Jaschok sees it as part of her job to explain to other people why it is worth making cheese yourself. There are usually eight to ten course participants here, in Corona times there are only two. Now let's carefully cut in here. Yes, look, that's a bit tight, right. You now cut the milk into slices. First here and then on the other side. Making soft cheese works just as well here on a small scale as it does over there in the cheese dairy. Cut the jelly and use it to make curds... then skim. The little ones are good for practice. The hearts are more difficult. So, turn ... form away, cheese in the other hand ... cheese in, shake a little smooth, and wonderful. DIY! Make a cheese in four hours. The result is impressive. The participants see and taste the other cheeses of the house as a reward. More than five weeks have passed at the Bornwiesenhof. Our semi-hard cheese is now mature. Before it goes on sale, however, there is still some final work to be done. First, Meike Jaschok removes the bark. The bark has to go here. Because we sell the cheese wrapped up afterwards. And if we were to shrink-wrap the cheese with that rind, it wouldn't be very good. Because we have a bacterium here, that is, Brevibacterium linens, and if we took the air out of the Brevibacterium linens, it would suffocate, we would get real goo in the bag, and that would also have a negative effect on the taste of the cheese. So, man, so - great cheese! Excellent! It's such a nice consistency. Yes. - Great! About 60 kilograms of cheese were made from 600 liters of milk. The 15 loaves each weigh between three and four kilos. Pieces of cheese are sold in stores weighing 200 grams each. Halved, quartered, divided into eighths, sixteenths. The cheese is packaged in individual portions because many stores want to offer it as so-called self-service goods: in the self-service range. Goods are delivered once a week. And shipped to distributors and resellers. Finally, the pieces of cheese are packed airtight. You don't lose weight by depriving yourself of air. They can then be kept for six to eight weeks and the aroma is retained. The customers will be happy about that, after all the handmade semi-hard cheese has its price. A kilo costs 29 euros. Our cheeses are distributed here within a radius of about 140 kilometers, most of them. On the one hand, we actually have supermarkets from the regional brands, we also have a lot of individual retailers or farm shops, small butchers and, for example , recently a lot of farm shops that have vending machines. Well, who then offer our ready-packaged cheeses in the vending machine. Well then: Bon appetit with a sliced cheese that has matured in peace! Does craftsmanship fascinate you as much as it does us? Then subscribe to the channel now and don't miss an episode. SWR 2021