Creativity can also have flavor. That is, at least, the feeling we got when we entered the Fábrica do Queijo, in Olhão, seeing its wide variety of dairy products, made with raw materials from the region.
This company from Olho is committed to the traditions and products of the Algarve, to which it adds a good dose of imagination. “My goal is to take what is tradition, what is normal to do, and innovate. The concept is very simple, but it takes a lot of work», summarized Ana Gancho, the young entrepreneur who started this adventure about a year ago.
Despite not having opened its doors for a long time, Fábrica do Queijo has already got its customers used to having regular news. The most recent are the queijadas, which came out of the oven for the first time in August, a product on which the Algarve company wants to bet. «They are cheeses without refined or yellow sugar. As an alternative, I use agave jelly or coconut sugar», said Ana Gancho, to Sul Informação.
«When I have the possibility, I launch new products. People are always looking for new things and that's what makes the store move. I'm thinking of venturing into honey-based cheesecakes and I've also considered making savory cheesecakes. Other innovations will emerge, always around our cheese», he illustrated.
To reach this point, the zootechnical engineer, born in Olhão and trained at the University of Évora, had to take risks, roll up her sleeves and create her own business. Before that, he learned a lot about the production of cheese and other dairy products in a professional path always linked to the sector.
«I have been in the area for over ten years. After having done an end-of-course internship in Italy, where I worked with goat's milk, I came to the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Algarve [professional internship], where I learned how to make cheese. However, I went to Castro Marim, to work with Jacinto Paulo Matias, where I learned how to make yogurts. Then, I went to São Brás to open the Portal dos Queijos, which is still active», he said.
Later, she was invited to start the project for ANCCRAL – Association of Breeding Goats of the Algarve, which he managed for five years, closely linked to goat milk. “For personal reasons and because I thought I already had the necessary knowledge to take this step, I came to the family in Olhão,” he explained.
That is how Fábrica do Queijo was born, in a store located on Avenida da República, one of the main thoroughfares in Olhão, where Ana Gancho produces different types of cheese and yogurts and where they are sold to the public. And customers have not been lacking, guarantees the businesswoman.
“Olhão is growing, there are more and more resident foreigners and tourism. And, oddly enough, they are much more interested in what is ours, in what is genuine», he said. Ana Gancho's products could no longer be ours, as they use milk from Algarvian breed goats and products purchased locally.
This line, very close to tradition, was drawn right from the start, when the young entrepreneur decided to invest in her own business. “I thought I had to use traditional methods. So I opted for pans, because the space I have available is limited. And I thought I had to do it differently,” he said.
And it was with this philosophy that Ana Gancho created dozens of distinct and innovative products. “We started with fresh cheese and added a wide variety of flavours. Here we always have herb and plain cheese. Then let's change. Today I made it with condensed milk and coconut, with sun-dried tomatoes and basil and with pumpkin jam and walnuts, to sell tomorrow. But it changes, depending on the sweets that appear and the products I have available. It's never the same, there's nothing planned. As a rule, we always have two sweets and one savory. I've even lost count of the different types of cheese I've made here», he said.
However, the businesswoman bet on cured cheeses, also with aromas. In this case, it only bets on savory flavors, «such as spicy, garlic and parsley, olives and garlic, pepper, oregano, curry and seeds, among others».
«Not satisfied, I started making cheese balls and curing them in olive oil, in a partnership with the Santa Catarina mill. We flavor the oil and we already have five different flavors: Italian, with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, Algarve, with bay leaves, oregano and garlic, Spanish, which is spicy, northern, with sage and rosemary, and Alentejo, with olives, pennyroyal and oregano”, he added.
This is a product that has a dual use, since, in addition to the cheese itself, it is possible to reuse the oil in which it is preserved, «to season salads, pasta and make other types of dishes».
Altogether, Ana Gancho estimates that there are already more than 20 different fresh cheese aromas that she has tried, another ten cured and five varieties of cheese in oil, to which is added the grated aroma cheese, which she sells at fairs.
These cheeses are joined by other dairy products, namely yoghurts and, more recently, cream cheese, which also has different flavors, namely «garlic and parsley, garlic and coriander, garlic and chives, olives and tomato and basil».
But Fábrica do Queijo is more than a cheese factory, it is a shop where you can find other typical products, mostly from the Algarve, but also some from the Alentejo, such as jams, wines, preserves, teas, traditional salt and herbs. “At the beginning, we didn't have many of our products. Now, our goal is to have an establishment with only the products we make and those of our closest partners», he said.
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