Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Cudin.
Andrea, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I moved to the U.S. from my native Italy in 2012. I have a background of philosophical studies, and while I was struggling to find the right occupation for me here, I also started making cheese at home, since I could not find the flavors I grew up with. I went back to Italy a few times to work in a creamery and perfect the recipes. Then, together with my wife Jillian, in 2016 we have finally been able to open our creamery out of Moulton. We are based in a small dairy farm, owned by several generations of a family of Czech descendants. Technically speaking, we make a farmstead cheese then.
Our creamery also would not exist w/o the farmers of the 4E dairy. They have offered us the space for the creamery and they provide us with milk of the best quality. They milk a herd of 300 Jersey cows and they hold a raw milk permit. Small scale operation and guarantee of the purity of the milk are the beginning of a great cheese.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The biggest challenge that every local food business has to face is the difficulty of competing with food corporations and their low prices.
The practical struggle our creamery has to face on a daily basis, is making an alpine style cheese in this part of Texas. In fact, it means a constant fight with a climate that is so different from the original environment where our cheese has its roots. Our aging room has been a work in progress ever since we started: our goal is recreating a cool temperature / high humidity environment throughout the year (like what you may find in an alm up in the mountains), but during summer that has proven being particularly difficult.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lira Rossa Artisan Cheese story. Tell us more about the business.
We are the typical small creamery of Friuli the easternmost region of northern Italy. Only, relocated in Texas. We make a variety of cheese, some of which are absolutely unique in the U.S., like the Formadi Frant, which is made by recombining our cheeses together, while adding some cream and juniper berries.
All our recipes are based on a century old tradition, adapted in many ways to Texas. We have jersey cow milk (while in Friuli cows are of a different breed). Our smoked ricotta, another unique product we offer, is smoked here with pecan wood, while back in Italy it is common practice to do it with beech wood.
We are also known for our mozzarella. We make small batches, caring only of reaching the highest quality and freshness for the product, which is only sold within 1 or 2 days from production. We are the only creamery doing this in Texas, but it is common practice in small creameries throughout Italy. Therefore we only make few mozzarellas a week, available only at the farmer’s market of Urban Harvest Eastside.
We are proud of being able of focusing on quality. That is made possible by the fact that customers at the market have the greatest attention for the quality of the product, rather than the lowest price.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has been a key element of our business. There has been a moment in which my wife and I doubted that we were going to be able to actually have our own creamery. In fact, not only building or renting a facility requires expenses that were challenging for a business at its start. Also, we had the additional costs of transport the milk and disposing of the whey, all of this with a lot of very strict regulation involved. We did not know how to finance it, nor we could figure out all the rules that were supposed to be followed.
Then, we met the farmers, extraordinary people with an outstanding milk. And they were already familiar with the entire regulation regarding handling and processing of milk. They built the creamery for us, in exchange for using their milk exclusively. All of this done the ol’ Texas way, just with a handshake.
We met them through my wife’s uncle, who claimed to know a source of good milk. He was right, indeed.
Contact Info:
- Address: 784 Co Rd 251, Moulton, TX 77975
- Website: www.lirarossa.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lira_rossa/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lirarossacheese/
Image Credit:
Marino Moro (Picture andrea.jpg)
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