New cooperative set up to market cheeselets better

Gozitan sheep and goat farmers have joined forces to form the Gozo Cheeselet Producers' Cooperative in a bid to improve the marketing and competitiveness of their products.

Carmen Formosa, an accountant who is coordinating the cooperative, said there were obvious advantages to being united, among them bulk buying and providing a vital link between various government departments and farmers.

"So far, we have 23 farmers in the cooperative and we are sure that more will join when they realise the benefits of presenting a united front," she said.

The industry is particularly strong in Gozo, which is known for the quality of its cheeselets.

Joseph Micallef, president of the Gozo Cheeselet Cooperative, said a lot of effort went into making gbejniet, as they are known in Maltese.

"In Gozo, many farmers have a few sheep which are part and parcel of farming. If you have land, it pays to have sheep because they can graze in your fields, helping to maintain the richness of the land while also providing milk for cheeselets," Mr Micallef said.

But above all, most farmers keep animals because of their love for them.

"A farm is empty without them. Their bleating fills the air. It's nice to have them around. We do our best to keep them in good health and inspectors, with the aid of the Department of Veterinary Services in Gozo, take blood samples and immunise them regularly. We eat cheeslets ourselves and it is in our interests too to produce good quality products consistently," he said.

Sheep are milked twice daily. A good sheep might produce a litre of milk a day. Sheep's milk is preferred in cheeselet making, due to the higher butter fat content of the milk which ensures that the final product is more tasty. It also keeps better.

In the summer months, when cheeselets are consumed most, especially the dried ones which are peppered, the sheep are not milked as they will have lambs. Cheese is therefore made in the spring and preserved using vinegar, the basic ingredient of all naturally preserved foodstuffs.

"Cheeselet production is a rather seasonal market which fluctuates a lot," Mr Micallef said.

"We sell the fresh cheeselets we produce on a daily basis. A proportion is always retained to be dried out. With good winds, especially the north west, a cheeselet dries in just three days. But cheeslets that are meant to be preserved as pepper cheeselets, are left to dry for up to a month before being immersed in vinegar and coated with freshly ground pepper," Mr Micallef said.

Cheeselets are dried in specially made ventilated structures, which are left on the highest part of the farmer's home to enable the air to flow freely. The structures are covered in wire mesh which lets air in but keeps insects out. Gozitan houses have such structures, called qannic, on the roof.

Perhaps the fact that a cheeselet has to stay in one place for so long may have given rise to the expression qiesek gbejna (you're like a cheeselet), which is a Maltese expression for someone who is lethargic!

It is not easy to determine if some of the notions cheeselet producers have are old wives tales, but they believe that the cheeselets dry best in Zebbug "because the air is cleaner there, as the north west wind hits Zebbug first," Mr Micallef said.

Ms Formosa says there is a lot of scope to help and promote the cooperative as farmers preserved the countryside.

"They maintain and build the rubble walls and through their efforts increase the richness of the land.

"The income from the sale of cheeselets is important to them. We have to do our best to preserve this traditional product and promote it. The market can be explored in a much better way. Safeguarding our farmers causes a domino effect, reducing land erosion, improving our landscape and making Gozo a much greener place.

"Gozitan life is deeply rooted in agriculture and our cooperative aims to safeguard this aspect of Gozitan agriculture," she said.