Ministry of Agriculture researchers yesterday unveiled new cheesemaking techniques for domestic dairy producers to satisfy Taiwan’s growing appetite.
A Taiwan Livestock Research Institute spokesperson told a news conference that its experts have been researching cheesemaking for the past 15 years, allowing Taiwan to produce its own cheddar, bloomy rind and cream cheese.
The institute’s latest breakthrough is in the field of stretch-curd cheeses, a category including mozzarella and caciocavallo, they said, adding that the techniques are being distributed to Taiwanese dairy sector starting the same day.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Institute Director-General Huang Jeng-fang (黃振芳) said that the value and volume of Taiwanese cheese imports have surged 4.7 times and 2.3 times since 2003 respectively, showing rising demand.
Taiwan’s dairy farmers tend to produce a surplus in winter, when demand for milk is at the lowest, resulting in overproduction, he said.
Cheesemaking would help the nation’s dairy industry expand its domestic market and absorb the seasonal surplus that could not be sold otherwise, Huang said, adding that 10 liters of milk makes 1kg of cheese.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Domestic cheesemakers have the advantage of access to domestically sourced milk and the ability to add unique local flavors such as wild mountain pepper to their products, he said.
Associate researcher Yeh Jui-han (葉瑞涵) said the research team, having to start from scratch, used up enough raw milk to fill a swimming pool before making its first-ever successful batch of bloomy rind.
“We needed white mold to make bloomy rinds, but green and black mold that indicate simple moldering were what we got for a long time,” he said.
Adjusting the savory taste was another struggle, he said.
The institute’s subsequent success stories in cheesemaking were built on the knowledge derived from bloomy rinds, he said, adding that the team also went on exchanges to Japan and Italy.
An important aspect of the institute’s work is to produce cheese with lower-cost equipment instead of the large and expensive gear favored by foreign cheesemakers, Yeh said.
The concession is necessary to reduce the entry cost for the small producers that characterize swathes of Taiwanese dairy industry, he said.
Researcher Kuo Chin-yun (郭卿雲) said the lactose is filtered out during the cheesemaking process, allowing those who are lactose intolerant to enjoy cheese without worry.
Ease Biotechnology, one of the corporate partners receiving the technology from the institute, said the government research allows the company to use local milk, instead of imports from Japan.
The company’s collaboration with government researchers has enabled it to make cheese with 100 percent domestic ingredients and the new products are expected to be on the shelves next year, it said.
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