How we make our viVie cacioricotta
Making cacioricotta is not straightforward. The heating of the goat’s milk creates a very specific curd, resulting in an exceptional and healthy cheese.
Milk
At De Zuivelarij, every product is made using milk from a single farm. It’s our way of shortening the supply chain. Our cacioricotta is made with goat’s milk from goat farm Klaverlochtning in Lede.
Heating
Cacioricotta is made with heated milk, which is quite unusual. The heating process also incorporates the ricotta whey proteins into the cheese.
After heating and then cooling the milk, various cheese cultures and rennet are added.
After about an hour, a soft, flan-like texture forms. This is what we will call curd from now on.
Curd
The curd that forms during the coagulation process at viVie is very delicate and fragile, so we handle it with great care. We seperate the curd from the whey using a fine-mesh net and fill the cheese molds.
About 80% of the milk proteins are casein, while the remaining 20% are whey proteins. Most cheeses are made almost entirely from casein proteins. There are very few cheeses that contain both casein and whey proteins in a single cheese.
Shaping
The soft curd is now in the cheese molds, but that’s not the final step. Each individual cheese is still flipped in the mold. Every piece of viVie passes through human hands nine times before it’s packed!
Fermentation
ViVie’s curd doesn’t bind together very easily. However, this binding process is important because it helps the curd lose enough moisture. After being placed in the molds, the cheese spends about five hours in the sauna. The bacteria in viVie love the sauna, and during this time, the cheeses ferment, developing a delicious, aromatic flavour.
Brining
The cheeses that have fermented now go into a brine bath. From sauna temperature to a cold brine bath, it must be quite a shock! But apparently, it’s good for them.
Drying
The viVie is already delicious, but still very soft and delicate. In Italy, cacioricotta is eaten both fresh and very dried.
We dry our viVie at a (secret) temperature, for a (secret) amount of time, and at a (secret) humidity level. By the end of the drying process, viVie has lost about 25% of its moisture.
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