The term “tuner” has long been a widespread term in Europe and especially in France(affineur), but lately it is something we hear more and more in Spain, and the passion for well-made products and treated with all the love in the world is increasingly widespread in the world of gastronomy, and the world of cheese is no exception.
And that is what the work of the master cheese tuner is based on, on the personalized pampering of the cheeses, attending to their constant needs and treating each one of them as the unique piece they really are. In fact the term comes from the ancient alchemists and their refinement of materials.
Each cheese has certain needs during its ripening process, even within the same type of cheese, and it is the job of the refiner to detect these needs through daily observation and apply the necessary processes so that the cheese can reach its optimum point, and when it really reaches that point it is time to take it out of the ripening chambers and destine it for consumption.
The processes usually applied by the refineries are, for example, the turning of the cheeses so that they reach the greatest possible uniformity, the brushing of the cheeses, the brushing of the cheeses where different materials are applied for the best maturation of the cheeses, the control of the temperature and humidity of the cheeses, and once the optimum point is reached, the type of packaging and wrapping in which the cheese should be placed.
In the case of La Antigua de Fuentesaúco, the processes we apply under the control of our master cheese maturer are the turning and brushing of the cheeses, the application of olive oil on the rind of the cheeses so that they have a better hydration, the exact control of temperature and humidity in our ripening chambers and the choice of the best wrapping for our cheeses, such as the special wrapping designed for our cheese cake “Caprichos de la Pastora” that allows a better transpiration of the cheese and thus a better conservation.
There are other more industrial treatments that the refiner can apply to the cheese during its maturation, such as the use of plastics and antifungals, but in artisan cheese factories such as La Antigua de Fuentesaúco, this process, like the rest of the ones we apply, is completely natural and always with natural methods.
The work of the tuner is more of an art than a science and that is why nowadays tuners are considered as the true architects of making a cheese really special, and Spanish tuners have an increasingly recognized reputation in the world of international cheese, for a reason…
