Gemma Urgell: This year we have counted five renowned Catalan cheese factories that have closed

Vilafranca del PenedèsI interview Gemma Urgell and Jordi Bertran at Xerigots' headquarters, in Vilafranca del Penedès, who this year celebrate fifteen years since they started as cheese maturers. There they show me the cellars where the cheeses mature, which are as Catalan as those from other countries around the world. Especially impressive is the quantity of Mahón cheeses they have, all neatly aligned. Xerigots works for the hospitality sector, for four hundred restaurants, to whom they serve cheeses for a thousand and one dishes, savory, sweet. They prepare them just as requested so they can be served. As we walk through the cellars, they tell me that artisan cheese is in crisis. And with this question I begin.

Why is artisan cheese in crisis?

— The model is in crisis because producers have to invest more money than they earn. It is a crisis that starts from the beginning. Artisanal cheese dairies are smaller, all the work revolves around a single person, they produce a small volume of cheeses and the costs are high. And moreover, it is slave labor, because if they have livestock, they don't rest any day and they still have to go to fairs, which are on weekends, to sell them. For it to be economically worthwhile, they would have to set a high selling price for the cheese.

The cheesemakers I know have a passion for their work. And I have had the feeling over these years that we were living through a great boom in Catalan cheese.

— This year, several Catalan cheese shops have closed, with only about five well-known ones shutting down. We can say there's aboom when it comes to cheese shops that produce a small volume and sell it all to local businesses. When they want to scale up, they have to produce more, and all the costs then become more expensive.

What does the work you do at your company as tuners consist of?

— We sell cheeses at their ripening point to the hospitality sector. For each restaurant it is a different service. There are those that are groups, where two hundred professionals work, and every week they want exactly the same cheeses. There are other restaurants that want a different service: if they run out, they agree to explain to the client that they will put another one on them.

Would you say that the consumption of Catalan cheese is growing?

— Catalan cheese dairies are making very good, high-level, and quality cheeses, but it is a difficult world because management is complicated. The five cheese dairies we know that have closed have done so because the numbers didn't add up, because they lacked people to go with the flock, because they lacked structure. We have a romantic idea of making cheese, and it is certainly beautiful, but in the long run, when you don't have a single day off, and you also compete in the market with French cheeses, which are very competitive in price, it is difficult. There are good quality artisan French cheeses that are competitive in price; we are not referring to industrial ones.

You have Catalan cheeses and offer them in restaurants.

— Yes, along with others from other countries. It is the way restaurants can lower the final bill. If restaurants only served Catalan cheeses, the final bill they would have to ask the diner for would be very high.

Do restaurants value having cheeses on the menu?

— When we started fifteen years ago, we set out to increase cheese consumption in Catalonia. We told ourselves that simply selling in stores wouldn't be enough; cheeses had to enter restaurants in all formats: in recipes, as appetizers, as desserts. We have worked hard; we have stood by restaurateurs to make their job of serving cheese easier.

And how have you done it?

— We have found that it is not easy for the restaurateur to serve the whole piece of cheese. For example, in the cellars you have seen that we have Maó cheeses, which we are maturing. When we believe they are ready to be served, we will not send them the whole piece, but we will chop them into small pieces. We do the same with all the other cheeses: we cut them, and prepare them so that they can be put on a cart, for example. We also run courses and provide advice to restaurants to explain how they should care for and preserve them. And together we have also created recipes. This September we are publishing a book in which we explain all the recipes we have created over these fifteen years.

What does it mean to be a cheese ager?

— It means serving it at the optimal point of consumption. We tell the restaurateur that they don't need to buy a lot from us, buy just what you need, and we will bring it to you already prepared to serve. If they buy a lot from us, then they will have to buy it greener and ripen it themselves.

Work with cheeses of all types and from everywhere.

— Yes, and I must say that in Catalonia we have such a large and varied range that we could make a whole cartload just of Catalan cheeses. We would have great diversity, and among us all we must ensure that it continues, that it is maintained. We must help producers so that their businesses are viable. I also tell you that there is a true saying: “To live from the rural world, you must be from the rural world,” which means you must know its workings well from the inside, because if you come from the city, everything seems idyllic. Living in the countryside is hard, and we must defend these people who do it, so that they maintain the territory, the herds. If there are herds, we will have milk to make cheeses and there will be no fires.

And regarding Catalan blue cheese, is it having a good moment?

— I think it's a good time for artisan cheese in general, and not so much for a specific one, like blue cheese. There is a lot of general knowledge about cheeses; there is knowledge and a desire to taste them.

We are living the cheesecake moment too.

— Yes, but the success of dairy products has not yet arrived.

And when will it arrive?

— When large supermarkets, whoever they may be, have wider displays of cheeses, industrial, international, artisanal, of all types. They ask us if we are afraid that supermarkets will sell them, and we believe not, because it will spread everywhere. Consumption will grow, and then artisanal cheeses will have a much larger market niche.

Why?

— Because people will realize that the artisan cheese they buy is much better than the industrial one from the supermarket. In France, what we describe happens. In supermarkets there is a wide range of cheeses, people know more and can distinguish them. Since we started fifteen years ago, the trend has been to move in this direction. Perhaps we will never reach France's level, but we are already seeing more variety in supermarkets, more markets with cheese stalls.

With the restaurants you work with, how many offer dessert carts?

— We work for four hundred restaurants, of which twenty-five have carts, and five are always Catalan. We also work for restaurants outside of Catalonia, and we do the same, we provide them with Catalan cheeses.

If I ask you what is the most emblematic cheese from our land, what would you say? Just as Spain has Manchego, in Catalonia, what would it be?

— El Serrat or the Garrotxa. They are our icons. El Serrat can be sheep's or cow's; the Garrotxa is goat's. A Serrat is a pressed paste cheese. The Garrotxa will soon have the IGP underway, which was announced years ago but has not yet been implemented. We believe that the cheese that excites is El Serrat.

To pair them, jams or dried fruit?

— Jam, no, it crushes all the flavors. If you eat cheeses with jams, you won't need to eat a coulant afterwards, but, on the other hand, with quince, yes, and it especially depends on the moment: for a snack it's fine. If it's in the middle of a meal, it's better to combine them with dried fruit or seasonal fruit or, above all, with lettuce leaves. In France, salads are: on the one hand, lettuce on a plate, and cheese on another. Cheeses with fresh foods go very well. With grapes, too. And it's not because of the song, but rather because grapes with cheese are a very good pairing.