TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - If you are a fan of cheese, you really should try out the black and white cheese made by Ayu Utami Linggih, the owner of 'Rosalie Cheese' that is sold on rosaliecheese.itrademarket.com. Alternatively, you may want to taste the cheese made by Trie’s Cheese that is also available for online order via triescheese.bizweb.co.id.
Trie’s Cheese, which is owned by Tri Haryanto, is specialized in making mozzarella cheese. Tri jumped into the cheese business out of simple reasons : because cheese are expensive in Indonesia and because he loves cheese.
“They also taste different from the ones I had eaten in the countries of origin,” said Tri when met at Trie’s Cheese kitchen in Sentul, West Java, on Friday.
Five years ago, the 46-year-old man decided to quit his job as a human resource manager at a coal mining company to start his quest for the right cheese formula. He had done 42 experiments before finally settling the formula for his cheese.
“It was stressful experience finding the formula,” Tri recalled.
With the help from his wife, Kus Dwi Harini, and one employee, Tri made the cheese, pack them in 250-gram packets and sell them in their house.
“Some ordered via the social media or phone, and some others came to our house,” said Tri who sells the cheese for Rp27,500 per piece.
Tri has also tried to make dry cheese such as cheddar and edam, but customers prefer the wet cheese like mozzarella.
Differently, Ayu Utami’s specialty is the cheese covered with white molds and coconut ash. According to Ayu, this cheese rooted from France, named Valencay cheese. the original version is made out of goat milk and covered with charcoal powder but Ayu’s version is made from cow milk.
“The function of the ash is to reduce acidity and to repel strong scent of white mold,” said the graduate from the University of Queensland, Australia.
In addition to the black and white, Rosalie Cheese also sells other types of cheese such as haloumi, tefa, bocconcini and mozzarella. Among the types of cheese, said Ayu, haloumi is the one mostly liked by Indonesian tongue. Haloumi’s texture and flavor is similar to beef. Vegetarians are often eat it as replacement of the beef.
Ayu claimed that her cheese use no additives including preservatives and colorant. Therefore, the cheese has the color of yellowish-white instead of bright yellow. The cheese, which is made from milk produced in Depok, West Java, is sold for Rp47,500 to Rp50,000 per 200 grams.
DIANING SARI, CHETA NILAWATY, HERU TRIYONO
