Candidates for Best Cheesemaker in Brazil 2024

Present at the first stage held at Suck Milk's headquarters in Nova Erechim, Santa Catarina, the candidates made their chosen recipe and promised the result which will be delivered on April 13 in São Paulo. Below, each team and their cheese promise.

Alan Irineu, Ultracheese

Alan, 30, made four small cheeses from semi-cooked pasta. “The pasta will have small mechanical eyes, little acid, with a marked flavor, but without being spicy. We want something slightly sweet and buttery, with a melting texture,” promised the cheesemaker, assisted by Caio Oliveira and Welington da Silva.

Cleiton Wantz, Latpassos

Coming from Três Passos, in Rio Grande do Sul, Cleiton has made a cheese inspired by Swiss recipes for lugs, a single 5 kg piece, using cooked pressed dough technology. “It will not have very large eyes, between 2 and 4 cm, regular. The aromas will be fruity, with a sweet taste reminiscent of macadamia nuts. The texture will be melting in the mouth, falling apart. The rind will be smooth in appearance,” promised the candidate, who was helped by Janthan Eberhardt and Cleberton Wantz.

Diego Perosa, Perosa cheeses

From Iraceminha, Santa Catarina, food engineer Diego, 36, promised a cheese with a natural, rustic bloomy rind. “We want the result to be a slightly acidic paste, lactic at the end, with earthy, buttery and mushroomy notes and aromas, a creamy texture and lots of flavor.”.

He promised to revisit the colonial recipe, but with a softer texture. “It won't be spicy, but softer.” The result was two 2.5 kg cheeses. He teamed up with Rodrigo Grosmam.

Henrique Herbert, Flower of the Earth - Biopark

From Toledo, in Paraná, Henrique, 27, has promised a soft cheese with an intense flavor that he has already named “dusk of the West”. “It's a semi-cooked pressed dough, slightly elastic in texture, but with a firm, closed mass. The flavors will be acidic, fresh, lactic, creamy, matured meat, complex, with a distinctive look.” He was helped by Kennidy de Bortoli, also a cheese maker at Biopark.

Sandra Piovesan, Sítio Esperança

From the town of Barão de Cotegipe, Rio Grande do Sul, veterinarian and rural producer Sandra, 34, makes her own cheeses with milk from her own herd. With her team Martina Sgarbi and Beth Tonel, the promise was of a cheese with a washed rind. They made two cheeses of the same size. “It will be a soft cheese, with aromas of spices, sweetness, no acidity and an elastic, melt-in-your-mouth paste. It will be matured by washing the rind in cachaça aged in amburana barrels, with aromas of cloves and cinnamon, more Indian notes. It's an original cheese, created by the three of us,” said the trio.

Tayllanny Araújo, Tatá's Cabin 

The only contestant from outside the South-Southeast, Tayllanny, known as Tatá, 36, came from São Geraldo do Araguaia-Pará and crossed the country to compete in the contest. She promised a cheese with a closed pasta, a creamy texture, a washed rind and an almond aroma and flavor. “It's going to be soft when you break it, very creamy, the kind that gets your knife dirty,” said she, who represents the Comunidade do Queijo, with the collaboration of Dinha Capanema and Valéria Ramos.