WE BRING EUROPE HOME: Family from Gasca village, backed by EU, makes cheese which is not worse than most famous varieties of the world

Inspired by the delicious food, the Cerneavschii family from the Gisca settlement, Transnistrian region, opened a workshop for the production of artisan cheese.  

Business focused on workmanship and taste

Spouses Feodor and Olga Cerneavscaia returned to the native  settlement in 2011, as they were not able to treat their longing for home and the taste of food was also not like ‘’at home,’’ after nine years of living abroad. Since then, besides the basic work, they kept looking for the idea of family business which they were to edify together jointly. This is how the workshop for the production of artisan cheese appeared. The business benefits from the support of the European Union within the Confidence Building Measures Programme, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).     

Thus, for more than one year, the Saturdays and Sunday have been working days, dedicated to the gastronomic workshop.  

The experience in accountancy was quite helpful in the creation of a business plan, which Olga submitted within the contest launched by the Confidence Building Meassures programme of EU, implemented by UNDP.  

With the programme’s support, Olga benefited from equipment for processing milk worth 15,000 euros. This is how the boiler, mixer, cooling reservoir, the needed shapes and utensils appeared.      

How the good cheese is set going for sale 

For each consignment of cheese, the Cerneavschii spouses buy about 500-550 kg of milk from a small association of farmers of the region. O the day of the cheese’s production, Olga takes care of each phase and everything starts from a calculation, on paper. After the milk is pasteurized, the ingredients are added carefully, at exact time intervals and in a well-established proportion.     

„In our production, we relied only on natural products, as I did not want to make another type of cheese to the dozens existing ones. We have a little authentic and natural cheese on sale; namely for this reason, we use only natural ingredients, natural colorants, which we add in minimal quantities, just for getting the colour of the cheese with which consumers got used,’’ the quoted source also said.       

Olga buys from Italy the other ingredients, such as the natural ferments, lipase, coagulation agents. The Cerneavschii spouses get about 50 kg of artisan cheese from all quantity of milk used.   

There was a long and difficult process starting from the arrangement of the production workshop till the appearance of the cheese. Yet, beginning with January 2024, cheese has been produced 2-3 times per month and it is sold in shops from Tighina (Bender) and recently – in Tiraspol.  

„In our production, we put emphasis on the Italian cheese of the caciotta type. Why is it good? Its maturation period is short; caciotta can be consumed in the first five days after fermentation and as the time passes, its taste is boosting,’’ the producers said.   

The rich and at the same time refined taste quite well combines with diverse ingredients; respectively, they leave much place for creativity and this is what Olga likes very much.  

To make available to clients more types of cheese, Olga continued to experiment. She tested seeds of fenugreek in a small consignment of cheese and the taste coming from this combination was much beyond expectations. The fenugreek seeds gave the cheese the taste of nuts and the first consumers asked Olga to repeat the experience and put to sale the new type of cheese. Now, the hard cheese and the one with paprika flakes are to be launched too.   

With a budget of more than four million dollars, the Confidence Building Measures Programme of the European Union contributes to the consolidation of trust between the residents on both banks of Dniester, through backing joint activities in such sectors as: economic development and creation of decent jobs for women and men; improved topic-related cooperation between the civil society on both banks of the river; community development and support of the social infrastructure at the small scale; promotion of the cultural heritage, etc.  

Correspondent: Lilia Grubii