At the makers market this February, we feature cheese makers Namrata Sundaresan and Anuradha Krishnamoorthy of Käse, Chennai. Together they handle the complete operationz sat sharing their personal favourite picks – Namrata and Anuradha , are clearly hands on folks who love working with cheese.
How did you get into cheese making?
I learnt cheese making on a holiday at Coonoor, at Acres Wild – a farm stay run by filmmaker, author Mansoor Khan and his wife Tina. Back in Chennai I was having a chat with my friend Anuradha who runs a BPO that works with differently-abled people and we decided to train a small group on cheese making. The pilot phase was very encouraging and we decided to launch an artisan brand of cheese, without any additives. We decided that we wanted a ‘Clean’ product made from A2 milk.
Food has been an area of interest and I have always wanted to work in this space – and artisan cheese making fits beautifully 🙂
How challenging is the cheese making process in Chennai.
Given our weather, cheese making, especially maturing of cheese is a challenge. We tackle that with a series of techniques that a best suited to the weather. For example though we would start with making a cheddar style, the end result would be a cheese with a very different flavour profile. The other challenge was sourcing our key raw material – milk from grass fed animals, no antibiotics… but in the last year we have worked on identifying and now have more than one such source.
Do you have a specialty cheese?
Yes! A couple of them actually. The artisan blocks of aged cheese all have a unique rind, charred mint, ash of leeks, a middle eastern spice mix, a Cajun spice mix (we make our spice rubs in-house) Our most popular in this category is the Ode to Chennai, a cheddar style cheese with crusted with a spicy milagai podi ( a coarse powder mixture of ground dry spices that typically contains dried chilis, urad (bean), chickpea, and sesame seeds. Tamilians traditionally use this as a condiment in their main course). In the fresh cheese category our Ruby feta and pickled feta are extremely popular. The ruby feta is fresh feta blushed with beetroot and infused with roast garlic. The pickled feta is brined feta preserved in olive oil, paprika, garlic and thyme.
What are the few pointers you want to share with someone new to artisanal cheese?
I think it’s important to understand basic techniques but not be restricted by them.
How were things in your start up phase, compared to today – production, reach, patronage.
It’s been over year and it’s now that the transition is happening, we recently rolled out retail in partnership with two premium stores. Production is more streamlined and planned not so much on demand. We continue to actively engage with our customers though through a series of tasting events both free and paid customised one.
What are your displaying at the By Hand, From The Heart.
Käse, will be bringing a range of new products – freshly made Buffalo Mozarella, Burrata, Fondue Mix, Ricotta Salata. We have different product categories, fresh cheese/ aged & mature cheese/ dessert cheese/ desserts/ salads/ dips n relishes – we will have some products from each category.
Meet the Maker @
By Hand From The Heart Makers Market 23rd Edition
Friday – Saturday
16th & 17th February, 2018
10:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m
Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, (old Adyar Gate Hotel)
132, T.T.K Road, Alwarpet, Chennai – 600018, India.
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