Casa Orzáez: the Sevillian cheese factory that innovates without giving up its roots
Maria Orzaez , the mother of the Casa Orzáez clan, she decided to turn her life around in 2001 and left Seville city to move, along with her three children, to a house near Castilblanco de los Streams , a town in the Sevillian Sierra Norte in which the dehesa coexists with the extensive cattle ranching in a purely rural environment 40 kilometers from the city.
Curious by nature and a lover of dairy products, María saw the opportunity to do things her way with that precious milk —extensive farming is not so common— and in 2003 she went to the French Provence, at the Center Fromager de Carmejane , to learn to make cheese. In Andalusia, most of the milk was exported and Orzáez wondered at what point had she lost the know-how of food processing in her land.
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The challenges, in addition to the fact of undertaking from scratch in the rural world as a woman, were not few, and they had to fight to obtain the first health registration in Spain to make soft cheeses from raw milk with less than 60 days. “We encountered many difficulties at the regulatory level because there was no tradition of making soft cheeses in Spain , and make them from raw milk and with ferments of the milk itself It was already a little crazy, ”says Orzáez. European regulations finally opened the door for them to produce the artisanal cheeses and that's where it all started: its first sales came thanks to organic markets and restaurants, the trust of the Hacienda Benazuza in 2005 it was key to start distributing its cheeses and to stabilize economically.
...to these full shelves of Seville
YOUR CHEESES
María Orzáez began the adventure alone , but the coincidence with a Spanish production company in France with difficulties very similar to hers, made her organize with other fellow cheesemakers and founded the Spanish Network of Field and Artisan Cheese Factory with producers who valued the territory and the product as she did. The goal was, and still is, to unite many small productions to have more strength.
His way of producing is artisanal. “ We make with raw milk because it is such an exceptional raw material We believe that pasteurizing it or subjecting it to aggressive techniques that destroy microbiology is counterproductive”, explains Claudia Ortiz, daughter of María and part of the project.
Casa Orzáez production kitchen
Her greatest hits? “We vary according to the season. But there are some that are our emblem: the Caprí de Algae that come directly from the bay of San Fernando in Cádiz , a totally Andalusian stamp. Later, the Castilblanco Capri 60 which is a format of about 60 grams, very small, has a natural rind and is our original cheese, the first cheese we make. And I can't leave him Castriel washed with natural chamomile from Sanlúcar de Barrameda , of Fernando Angle , a small producer from there…”, says Claudia.
The innovative and local concept constantly merge in Mare Nostrum , the name of the cheese factory that they have in the field and the brand of the cheeses that can be bought directly on the web, along with other products that they sell in the store, and baskets that they have created for picnics with natural wines.
Capris d'argent with natural rind and refined with lavender
CASA ORZÁEZ: FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The matriarch had already started her adventure with cheeses when her three children, Eugenia, Claudia and Pablo They went to study in Barcelona. After a few years there, the three of them were very clear that their train was returning to Seville and that they really wanted to start a project in their city that would transfer the final customer all that they lived in the field.
With training in Communication and in the kitchen , and above all, with a great family attachment, they did not think about it and gradually returned to their hometown to found Casa Orzáez, something that came driven by the desire to share the food feasts that were organized at home every Sunday.
“Casa Orzáez is a meeting place between small producers and the final consumer Claudia begins. Founded in 2016, in a Sevillian neighborhood, they sought to create a space to publicize their way of understanding food, to sell both their cheeses and cheeses from other Spanish dairies that shared their philosophy and other local seasonal products.
A family business based in the Sevillian countryside
They constantly talk about territory, about origin. “ Raw milk is a true reflection of the territory from which it comes, so cheese is too . That's where the wealth is" Claudia points out to me to explain why they have cheeses from other parts of Spain.
They are determined that we know what we eat, in transmit honesty and coherence from the moment the product leaves the field until it reaches the table . And that is why they set up that initial food store that evolved almost simultaneously into a food house. His speciality? Breakfasts and snacks.
A NEW CONCEPT IN SEVILLE
“We knew it was difficult, but precisely because that connection that we have so strong with our roots and with our territory , we wanted it to be Seville”, says Claudia when she talks about the beginnings.
"That connection that we have so strong with our roots and with our territory..."
They decided to bet on the neighborhood because they did not want to focus only on tourists. They always wanted to connect with the Sevillian client and they were excited that it was understood that what they wanted to do was to value their territory for their people. It was a success because the pandemic cut short international visits and now their regulars are Sevillians, whom they call by name, who are already getting used to the concepts of fermentation, slow food and crafts . Claudia speaks of “opening the market”, of “ something that did not exist ”. And they have already done workshops on kombucha and tastings , in addition to experimenting with constant menu changes that depend "on what's available". Just like in your home pantry.
The success of Casa Orzáez came from the hand of its breakfasts
Its success came from the hand of the breakfasts . Claudia herself tells how in Andalusia there is a long tradition of having breakfast outside and that was the perfect way to convince people of the benefits of the products offered in her store. They began to offer toast and from there they launched with salads and other appetizers that complemented the cheese boards . The “If you try it and see how good it suits you, it will be easier for you to cook it at home. At all levels it was to provide people with that desire, that knowledge, that inspiration…”.
THE FUTURE OF THE PROJECT
The family wants to continue growing while maintaining its authenticity, establishing visits to the cheese factory in Castilblanco, and do fermented workshops and tastings.
In addition, for about a year, Pablo, the cook brother, has launched a line of natural canned vegetables that are promoting . They make tomato sauces in the traditional style and promote the use and temporality because each time they ferment with the product they have. Eugenia is the pastry specialist.
Eugenia is the pastry specialist
Claudia transmits that passion of being involved in a business that is much more, in a family project about a philosophy of life that they have taken to all areas and a coherence that is difficult to find on many occasions. “ We feed on what we put in the store, our showcase is us ”, she concludes.
Locality and innovation go hand in hand and demonstrate, once again, that when you work with passion and purpose you have come a long way. Betting on one's own and embracing those outsiders who share a way of doing things is the only way. That everything is also delicious is the icing on the cake.
The Sevillian kilometer zero