While we were in San Gerardo de Rivas, we stumbled upon a most pleasant surprise. We had walked down to the closest little town, Canaan, and came across a most interesting sign.
Swiss cheese? In Costa Rica?
We followed the gravel driveway up to a little house, where we were directed to go around to the side of the house. There we were greeted by a young man named Steven. He showed us around to where they aged their cheeses, it smelled quite sharp and pungent.
Then he gave us samples of their different selections of cheese. They were delicious! Fresh mozzarella, aged parmesan, two types of goat, habanero, gouda, and cheddar. They were all their own unique recipes!
We asked how they got started and he told us the story:
20 years ago his father was looking for a more profitable way to sell his milk. He had quite the successful dairy farm, but the company in the big city near them wouldn't pay much for the milk. He decided to start making his milk into the typical Costa Rican queso fresco to sell.
However, this wasn't very profitable either as queso fresco producers are in abundance since it is a daily staple in the country. At some point, Steven’s father had joined an organization that was helping teach rural farmers how to run successful dairy farms. Here he met a friend who told him about this Swiss fellow who wanted to teach Costa Rican’s how to make European cheeses. This greatly excited Steven’s dad, and before long, the said Swiss man came to their farm and gave them a 3 day workshop on how to make different cheeses.
“It was difficult at first,” said Steven. “All we had to go off of was three days of instructions and we had to figure out all the aging processes and troubleshooting out on our own. And then nobody liked our cheese, it was too strong for Costa Ricans who have only ever eaten the mild queso fresco”
Fortunately, their cheese was a hit with the large expat community that lives nearby. They were able to make a living selling their cheese to them, and over time Steven's family kept modifying and developing the recipes given to them to work for the Costa Rican environment and palette, so that now all their recipes are uniquely their own.
“We’ve made the cheese a bit more mild to appeal to Tico’s, and now we have both foreign and national clients that come regularly. We also supply to quite a few restaurants. We don't sell in any stores because we don’t need to, during the high tourist season here, we have to close sometimes because we completely sell out!”
We asked Steven what he thought about how the local economy is being impacted by the number of expats moving to the area.
“We have a lot of neighbors who have sold the majority of their land, keeping just their houses and a back yard for themselves,” he replied “it’s pretty sad, but how are they supposed to say no to an offer of over a million USD for their land? They can sell it, keep their homes, and live off that money for the rest of their lives.”
“Not too long ago, we actually had a guy come and offer 3 million USD for our farm…We couldn't sleep for a week, we didnt know what to do. Finally we came to a conclusion, we love what we do! Why would we sell? We would only want to buy another farm and start this all over again.”
Steven smiled. He, his mother, and father have been running their cheese business for over twenty years and they love it! They found a way to use their cows’ milk profitably, and a way of life better than 3 million dollars.
“I love cheese,” Steven said, grinning, “My dad and I especially love to eat the aged cheeses, because their flavors are always unique.”
Steven laughed and said “Then my mom yells that we’re eating the profits!”
Here's a link to their website if you would like to learn more about Steven and his family:
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