AITO Cheddar

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Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know that I have become a real Finland fan in recent years. It all started with the Green Week in Berlin – the Finnish community’s presence at the fair simply had a special flair.

In contrast to the majority of countries that present themselves at this event, the Finns – especially those from the Mikkeli region – came with a real sympathy initiative. In the end, this was the reason for the surge of contributions on Finnish products with which I was convinced there from a culinary point of view.

In autumn 2020, I took the opportunity to visit Finland with my wife and child. On the one hand, we wanted to visit the Finnish companies at their sites, and on the other hand, we wanted to get to know the country itself. I can only recommend everyone to visit Finland – the people there are all super friendly, life is clearly more characterised by nature and this is also reflected in many Finnish products – especially food.

This short article is about the small and fine company JUKOLAN JUUSTO, which has set new standards with its Finnish Cheddar. As is so often the case, it was chance that led us to this small cheese factory and we were all the more delighted with the open-hearted welcome.

A big thank you goes to Markku Liias, the founder, managing director and master cheesemaker of Juustola ja myymälä – it’s great that you took the time to tell me a little about you, your innovative company and your delicious products despite the current situation!

The idea for Markku’s own Finnish cheddar production germinated back in 2013, when he visited Canada – specifically the beautiful town of Armstrong, in British Columbia. Here he met the traditional company The Village Cheese Company – from Markku’s point of view they produce one of the best cheddars ever, and of course according to traditional craftsmanship.

Markku visited Armstrong three times before he decided to start his own cheddar production in Finland. Until then, there were no cheddar producers in Finland. The fact that his brother and his Thai wife Khun Gung have their own dairy farm is of course an essential fact for JUKOLAN JUUSTO.

The farm has around 1000 dairy cows – so the AITO production will certainly not run out of this high-quality raw material so quickly. A special quality feature – Markku always uses the milk from the morning of the same day for his cheddar. The milk is never more than two hours old – this works so well because the dairy farm is only four kilometres away from our production facility. As is often the case in Finland, Khun Gung’s compatriots, i.e., employees from Thailand, are always at work here.

The company headquarters, i.e., production and factory outlet, are located directly at the Valtatie (4) / E75 – whereby JUKOLAN JUUSTO shares the premises with Karolünan Kahvimylly coffee, which is known for its excellent quality (an article will follow here) – truly a culinary symbiosis!

Very important for those of you who are lactose intolerant – the AITO cheddars are consistently lactose-free and not homogenised! I particularly like to use this type of cheese in salads and for gratinating – for example with stuffed sweet potato halves…

The cheddar goes by the name AITO – which is the Finnish word for “real”, and it is. The cheddar that Markku and his team is producing is something very special – all-natural and unflavoured.

JUKOLAN JUUSTO started its cheddar production in 2014 and received its first award in 2016. Since then, many of the different AITO cheddar varieties have won awards.

In 2018, for example, there was an award for a truly Finnish product – cheddar with fresh pine shoots. The processing of pine shoots in Finland is, so to speak, the guarantee for success with the countrymen – you have that with many products there.

In 2019, there was also an award for AITO’s GIN Cheddar. For the GIN Cheddar, Markku uses the high-quality Finnish Napue Gin without exception. This gin is known far beyond the borders of Finland and it also won an award in 2018.

A very special Finnish treat, however, is the beer cheddar – JUKOLAN JUUSTO makes this variety exclusively for two restaurants, based on Finnish beer – beer cheddar is of course also available in England, but this one is flavoured with the delicious local Sahti beer – unique.

New is the cheddar variety with chilli, this variation is now very well known in Finland and especially popular with young people. Another variety that is particularly popular in Finland is the one with black pepper. JUKOLAN JUUSTO also won an award for the best cheddar in 2017.

The many prizes and awards are not surprising, because everything here is still made with love and by hand. With AITO, JUKOLAN JUUSTO now has more than a handful of cheddar varieties in its range – despite this, there is always the possibility of producing limited cheddar varieties by order.

On request, AITO can, for example, produce great limited “editions” with red wine, whisky or even beer – there are hardly any culinary limits to the imagination here.

Besides the classics “Vintage” & Finnjävel, the varieties red wine, garlic, GIN, pimento and chilli are absolute hits! The current AITO Cheddar portfolio from JUKOLAN JUUSTO includes the varieties Originaali (matured for 3 months) and Vintage (matured for 1.5 years) – this Cheddar is somewhat firmer, has already developed a good amount of calcium and has a very fine aroma.

Incidentally, the Vintage Cheddar is the same as the Finnjävel variety. Finnjävel means Finnish devil – in other words, the Finnish devil’s cheddar! This cheddar is very well known. In the beginning, JUKOLAN JUUSTO only produced it for the Finnish restaurant of the same name – now this variety has also become part of the cheesemaker’s portfolio.

Then there is the variation with red wine (matured for 1 year) – this has a very pleasant red wine note – and not to forget the variety with garlic – fresh garlic is used in it – really very tasty.

From Markku’s point of view, what has been on the rise lately are already sliced varieties of cheddar.

It’s a good choice for restaurants, but especially for burger vendors. Finnish restaurants make a point of working with local products, and not just since Corona.

 

This includes shredded cheddar for pizzerias or JUKOLAN JUUSTO‘s own development – the cheddar grilli, sausages that already contain 10% cheddar. When it comes to Cheddar, JUKOLAN JUUSTO are the only ones on the spot who offer the desired products!

Of course, I didn’t miss the opportunity to visit the AITO cheddar production facility for you. Behind the scenes, one thing is especially important in cheese production – hygiene – which is why we wear appropriate clothing (hair protection, gloves, gowns and shoe covers).

In addition, we disinfected our shoe covers in the lock before entering the production rooms – then we were ready to visit the “sacred halls” of Finnish cheese production.

The production process begins with the milk being delivered – the milk tank has been built outside the building – so the delivery does not interfere with the production processes in any way. As soon as the milk is delivered to the production via the pipes, it is pasteurised directly – nothing more is “done” to the milk in order not to harm this high-quality raw material.

The stainless-steel tank into which the pasteurised milk then flows holds a good 3000 kilos. Here, the milk is provided with the ingredients needed for Cheddar production. Then it goes into a large, open stainless-steel tank for a good three hours – in this tank, the raw cheddar mass is moved manually to obtain the fine texture for which AITO Cheddar is known.

After this, the cheddar is freed of excess water overnight using two-cylinder presses and shaped into the desired form. At the beginning, the blocks weigh approx. 36 kg – this contains approx. 20 kg of Cheddar mass, of which approx. 18.5 KG remains until the next morning.

In the morning, the pressed cheese loaves are vacuum packed and go into storage. Cheddar production is hard work – 7000kg have to be “moved” here every day – all by hand.

A special sustainability feature at JUKOLAN JUUSTO, the surplus whey-water mixture goes back to the dairy farm – mainly to feed calves.

Of course, the site also offers several resting and maturing rooms – the cheddar from the previous day’s production usually stays there from three months to one and a half years – In total, around 27 tonnes of cheddar are currently stored at AITO.

Due to Corona, we were unfortunately unable to visit the dairy farm this time, which was a great pity. But we are already looking forward to doing this again for you as soon as the situation returns to normal.

Here is a YouTube clip from our visit of JUKOLAN JUUSTO – as this was published on my wife & daughter’s YouTube channel, Thai and English are spoken here. Therefore, I have provided subtitles for you – feel free to give feedback there what you think of this offer, thank you!

VIDEO-LINK

I think you’ve got the urge to try out AITO Cheddar for yourselves. There are a handful of suppliers on the net where you can get the cheese – if you can’t find one, feel free to JUKOLAN JUUSTO. Markku is a really great guy and quite present on social media, so don’t be afraid to ask directly – and of course don’t forget to say hello from Foodadvisor!

Do you like Foodadvisor? Then follow me on Google Maps too…this has only recently become possible and I would be delighted to meet you there – thank you in advance!

LINKS regarding this blog-post

JUKOLAN JUUSTO

The Village Cheese Company

Note: In the same building as Jukolan Juusto is also the fabled Karoliinan Coffee for its high quality & delicious cakes, pies and sweet treats, last but not least here is a YouTube clip of our visit there.