Cheddar fever: Indian cheesemakers give desi touch to their cheese, win at World Cheese Awards 2022

Mausam Narang is on top of the world. The Mumbai cheesemaker who won big at the World Cheese Awards 2022 with a gold and a silver is joined by Namrata Sundaresan and Anuradha Krishnamoorthy, another Indian cheesemaker duo from Chennai, who won the bronze for their three different cheeses.

While this is a first for Sundaresan, Narang is among the top three for the second time in a row. The Mumbai cheesemaker, who started Eleftheria Cheese seven years ago, had won the silver for her Brunost cheese in 2021, and while she bagged a silver for it again, her cloth-bound cheddar won a gold. She shares, "What made it really special was that the cheese won in the land of cheddar because it originates in Somerset and the awards were held in Wales in the UK. We had happy tears."

A year since her last win, the Mumbaikar has more than one reason to be happy. "Last year, it was shocking when we won the award because the cheese got stuck at customs and we had no hope of it reaching the awards. We have grown a lot since then and wanted to understand if people were still going to appreciate it or was it just beginner's luck. This award helps validate that the flavours are still consistent, and appreciated," she adds.

Chasing cheddar
Interestingly, the Mumbaikar had also been working on the cloth-bound cheddar simultaneously for half a decade while she was enjoying the recognition for the Norwegian-inspired cheese. The fact that the mozzarella and burrata they sold was really popular at the time and became their bread and butter, gave them time to experiment with other things like cheddar. So, after finally being happy with the result from the batch, Narang sent Brunost and Moony for the competition. "The cheddar is an aged cheese and the one I sent was aged for 12 months. "Traditionally, once the cheddar was pressed, they applied lard on it for the cloth to stick on it and it is a way of protecting the cheese. We applied ghee on it, which is from the same farm we get our milk from, since we are a vegetarian cheesemaking company. That is what is unique about this cheddar," she adds.

The gold winner called Moony, which gets its name because of its shape and texture, was a cheese that Eleftheria launched last year. It is made with a traditional farmhouse style technique that is adopted by wrapping the cheddar in a muslin cloth that gives a beautiful rind and deep flavour to the cheese.

However, that is not all that is unique about this cheese because it also has a very complex flavour profile and in fact, it is the ageing that works its magic on the cheese. It is important to note that a lot of things can go wrong during the ageing process which takes place over 12 months. Since the ageing can't be accelerated, one has to wait for a really long time to enjoy the final product and the flavours the cheese gets, a factor that is not only dependent on the ageing but also on the skill of the cheesemaker. It is also the reason why she has been making small batches of only 30-40 wheels till now but now that it has received the rightful recognition, they are going to ramp up production.

So, what does the Moony taste like? "The ageing gives the cheese a very complex, nutty and savoury profile. So, the flavour is very nuanced and when you eat the cheese you get the savouriness, nuttiness and lemony after-effect. It has a lingering finish that makes you want to go back to it," shares Narang.

Interestingly, the Mumbai cheesemaker has always had a very close relationship with cheddar, which goes back to her studying days. "When I was studying in the UK, I would always have a mature hunk of cheddar while I was travelling in Birmingham. I was obsessed with cheese at that point in time," she laughs. The fact that cheddar is quite ubiquitous, she says, and available around the country, made her make something that wasn't run-of-the-mill or being made here just yet.

Eleftheria founder Mausam Narang (left) also won the silver for her Brunost cheese second year in a row. Namrata and Anuradha (right) of Käse Cheese started working on their award-winning cheese in 2018. Photo Courtesy: Mausam Narang/Namrata Sundaresan

Whiff of cheese in Chennai
It was no different for Chennai-based Sundaresan, who started Käse Cheese along with her business partner Anuradha Krishnamoorthy in 2015. While there are quite a few cheesemakers in Tamil Nadu, she has always wanted to take a unique approach to her cheeses by adding an Indian touch to it. It is evident in the fact that the winner is a lavender-infused cheddar, which is only one such attempt among others. Even though she has been around for five years, the cheesemaker says this is the first time she has sent her cheese for the awards and is elated to have won it.

Finding uniqueness in cheddar just like Narang, this win has seen Sundaresan's journey come full circle and one we predict may happen again. She explains, "Cheddar is one of the styles I learned from a 100-year-old cheesemaking institution in Somerset. We make our cheddar in the traditional British style and use cheddar as a base and then infuse them with flavours. Ideally, I like to do it because cheddar dries out very nicely and holds flavours very well. It is buttery and tangy."
After playing around with many types of floral infusions, she settled on lavender because of the uniqueness it has by itself and how it pairs well with different kinds of food and drink; the fact that it is easily available in Kashmir is even more encouraging. She explains, "We played around with a lot of flavours. Having gone to many Christmas markets, we saw that lavender is quite popular and has an interesting flavour. While they infuse it with oil and colour, I haven't come across any that have been infused with seeds or flowers" This, Sundaresan says, is maybe because cheesemakers don't want to risk fungus in the process of ageing. However, the Chennaite didn't mind taking the risk and says they haven't had a problem yet.

For the bronze-winning cheese, she infused lavender seeds and dried flowers and aged it for 6 and 12 months. While Sundaresan makes both, she loves the older one better but was unfortunately not able to send it for the competition because it was out of stock at the time. So, she had to settle with the six-month-old cheddar, and even that got her the prized recognition.

Unlike the Mumbai Moony, the Chennai cheddar is fragrant, herbaceous and intensely floral. In fact, Sundaresan says the flower is known to be used in shortcrust biscuits and even savoury cooking so using them in food is nothing new. So, it is not surprising when she tells us that the lavender-infused cheese has been popular and that it is being used by a Delhi-based restaurant in their pizza. "Rose is great with a red wine, whereas a Lavender is great with a rosé or white wine. Though they are the same cheddar base, the flower makes a huge difference and they come out completely different."

Evolving Indian palate towards cheese
In all these years that both the Indian cheesemakers have been active, the two cheesemakers have seen the acceptance of artisanal cheese grow by leaps and bounds. This, they remind me, is especially at a time when Indians still do not perceive cheese beyond an accompaniment. "Cheese in India is not table cheese. It is not something people would serve on the table to eat in the evening. It is always an accessory and something that will elevate your meal or be used in cooking or with a beverage," shares Sundaresan. Narang iterates, "It is something you would have in your pantry and grate for your grilled cheese sandwich or if you really love it, it would be there on your cheese platter."

Now, that is changing for the better and that can be seen from the number of people who have warmed up to the jasmine-infused or cloth-bound cheddar in both the cities, and even the Brunost. Both of them also believe that their cities have a huge role to play in the process. Sundaresan says contrary to popular belief, people in Chennai know a lot about their food and want to experiment with it. On the other hand, Narang counts her blessings and says she is lucky to be in Mumbai where the audience not only has an advanced palate but also well-travelled, which means that they want to try out new things.

It is evident in the fact that there were initially not many takes for the Brunost because restaurants didn't know what to do with it but ever since the award even that has changed.

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