Chennai
It all started with a vacation, reminisced Namrata. “I did a cheese-making course in Coonoor last year. While I was trying my hand at it, I would often dream of opening my own bed and breakfast joint, which sold quaint cheese varieties,” recalled this young woman, who has been running her own strategy consulting firm for the last decade.
However, little did she know that her dreams would soon turn to reality. “My friend Anuradha Krishnamoorthy, who runs Can Do, has been working with persons with disability, empowering them with skill training and employment. One day, we were talking about cheese making, when we decided to do something together.
We ran a month-long trial in May to sort out the challenges associated with making cheese – like access to pure and pasteurised milk, cultures etc. The cheese turns out different in our conditions. So we had to decide if we had to follow the same techniques or experiment. I was very happy with the results, especially as we make it without preservatives,” she said, adding that operations started from Anuradha’s terrace space, which doubled up as their cheese making unit.
The cheese makers, who are persons with disability, craft each cheese by hand. Namrata pointed out that most of them are enamoured with the process of making cheese. “We have been working with visually and hearing impaired persons. I train them by demonstrating the process and watch them while they try their hand at it.
Anuradha is always around, to help communicate. Our core team has three girls and we are looking forward to employing more persons with disability soon. What I noticed was they enjoyed the process of cheese making, which is quite different from cooking or baking. This is a creative process and someone who is doing it for the first time is fascinated,” she laughed.
Currently, Namrata and her cheese makers churn out varieties like Halloumi, mozzarella, cream cheese, ricotta, quark and European style cottage cheese apart from Burrata and Scamorza. “We also had tasting sessions where we used cheese in different desserts, dips and savoury creations. We have a range of panna cotta, cheesecakes and also feta and leek tart, hasselback potatoes among other dishes.
Right now, we only do delivery based on order – for cheese as well as desserts – through Facebook. The cheese is priced at anywhere between Rs. 200 to 300 for 200 grams,” concluded this entrepreneur.
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