Końcewo · Craft
Two methods, two rhythms of work. Fresh cheese is made in a single day. The aged one works on itself for two months.
Method 01
Five steps, one day from the milking to the finished cheese.
01 · Milking and preparing the milk
We milk the goats twice a day, by hand. Milk from the morning milking reaches the dairy still at body temperature — that is the key to a fresh cheese. We filter it and cool it to about 30°C.
02 · Culturing and rennet
We add a living bacterial culture — it is what begins to acidify the milk and develop its flavour. After a few dozen minutes we add rennet. The milk starts to set slowly, over about an hour.
03 · Cutting and moulding
Once the curd is ready, we cut it into cubes the size of a walnut. We stir, and wait for the whey to separate. We transfer it to wooden moulds, where the whey drains away.
04 · Salting
Once out of the moulds, we salt the cheese by hand over its whole surface. The salt works in slowly, evenly. No spices, no herbs — a clean taste.
05 · The day it is made
The cheese is ready that same afternoon. We wrap it in paper stamped with the Końcewo mark. It is at its best in the first two or three days — which is why we sell it fresh, straight from the farm.
Method 02
Six steps, about sixty days. The deepest cheeses — from the summer.
01 · Milking and preparation
Exactly as with the fresh cheese.
02 · Culturing
The same gestures, the same rhythm.
03 · Moulding
From this point the two cheeses part ways.
04 · Brine
We submerge the freshly moulded wheels in brine — water with a high concentration of table salt. There they spend from a few to a dozen hours, depending on their size. The brine penetrates the cheese evenly, gives it character, and preserves it.
05 · Ageing in the chamber
After the brine, the wheels move to the ageing chamber — a cellar with steady humidity and a temperature of 10–12°C. They rest on beech shelves. Each day we turn every wheel by hand. The rind develops slowly, the flavour deepens.
06 · Ready after 60 days
Sixty days is the average. Some wheels we sell sooner — while they are still soft and mild. Some age longer, into something sharper. Each has its moment. We wrap them in parchment paper with the stamp — cut in front of you, or the whole wheel.
The cheeses are made only from the milk of goats that graze on our farm. We do not buy milk. We do not blend. The scale of production matches the scale of the herd — a few wheels a day, never more.
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