Food lovers know Gouda cheese was first made in the Netherlands. But for the past twenty years, a group of religious workers has been making and selling their own version of Gouda in the eastern United States. Christopher Cruise has more.
Sister Maria Gonzalo-Garcia checks the curds during the cheese-making process
Every day, thirteen nuns gather for prayer at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Theirs is a simple, Christian life. They praise God and study Catholic teachings. They also follow the Benedictine tradition of combining prayer with work.
Sister Barbara Smickel helped to establish the monastery twenty-five years ago. She says work may not be the most important part of their life, but it is important.
"That we use our bodies and the gifts God has given us of mind and heart and body to support ourselves."
The women support themselves by making cheese on a farm down the hill from the monastery grounds. The cheese-making operation was the idea of the farm's former owner.
On this day, the nuns start the process with a truck full of warmed, pasteurized milk. More than twenty-seven hundred liters are pumped into a huge steel vat. Sister Maria Gonzalo-Garcia adds a starter culture to the container.
This speeds the process of turning milk into cheese. Mechanical equipment beats the mixture. After half an hour, Sister Maria adds what is called a synthetic enzyme. It separates the milk into solids and liquid.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25