The Cheese Industry of Laguna Province by Teodulo Agus

The famous Kesong Puti, a kind of cottage cheese, being sold in Laguna, Philippines turned out to be an endeavor that existed even a century before. Teodulo Agus described the cheese making process on a paper published on October 20, 1919. It found a spot in the Beyer Collection.

The Cheese Industry of Laguna Province by Teodulo Agus

The cheese industry in the Philippines especially among the Tagalog provinces, is entirely different from that of other nation. It is wholly done by hands while in other countries machinery is used.

The regions, provinces or towns where many carabaos could be found are suitable for cheese industry. This kind of business depends wholly upon the milk of the carabaos. Any one who wishes to start this industry he must see to it that there are many carabaos in his surroundings or else he owns many of them. In this way successful business could only be accomplished.

The first thing to be done is the preparation of the materials necessary for the industry namely, square boxes about four or more centimeters in height serving as mold for the cheese; clay pots of some kind or sometimes cans are used instead of pots, where the milk are put for coagulation and where they are smash by hands to a greater extent until they become fine. In connection with these, there should bamboo tubes about four inches in diameter and half a meter long. In these bamboo tubes, the milk are put for the first time. Besides the material mentioned, there should be also hired men, expert enough to milk the carabao.

 In case the one who should make the cheese has no carabaos, he must have some previous contract with the owner of the carabaos. So far as I know, the maker of the cheese must pay the other who owns the carabao twenty pesos or more per chupa which is equivalent to twenty liters. Once all of these are one, then the actual business begins.

The hire man I mentioned above with his bamboo tubes goes every morning thraout [throughout] the year to the place where the carabaos are in order to milk them. The process of milking the carabaos is quite interesting to know. At first the young one about a month or two months old is allowed to suck the udder of the mother for a few minutes. Then the young one is taken off and the milkman took the place. This is done by pressing or squeezing the udder of the carabaos downward in order to let the milk drop into the bamboo tube below. The milkman as we know does the hard work in milking the carabaos especially after he has finished milking all the carabao assigned to him, he carries them in the bamboo tubes to the maker of the cheese. Here he reported all that he collected from the different persons and in turn the maker of cheese records in his book the quantity of milk collected from the different persons so as to have no confusion at the end of the period.

The milk from the bamboo tubes are taken and strain with sinamay cloth. They are poured into the pots or cans and left for a few months. This process constitute the first state of cheese making. Usually the cheese maker at the beginning has already prepared some kind of fermentation artificially made for the purpose. This fermentation is to be renewed once every two or three days for if he fails to do so it will prevent the thickening of the milk if that fermentation is put. And so great cares are to be observed in the preparation of this fermentation. Thus carelessness in-using the fermentation cause the business a failure.

The second state then in cheese making is done with the help of the fermentation. After the milk was strained and put into big clay pots or cans, the fermentation is to be taken and poured enough of them into the milk. Then the pots or cans containing the milk are covered usually of thin board and let the milk coagulate. They are left in that condition for two to three hours at least.

During this time the cheese maker gets a small size bamboo pole of five meters in length and a knife. Then he goes to the banana plantation to gather leaves of the banana. He brings them home and some of them are wither and other serves for other purposes. The wither leaves are used for covering the cheese when are ready for the market. Then he gets the square boxes which serve as mold for the cheese and arrange them in rows usually two rows at a time over a piece of board. Each box consists of twenty or more of these boxes depeending upon the size of the business. He then gets the leaves out then into piece inserting two in each one of the boxes. This putting of leaves prevents the sticking of the coagulated milk into the wooden boxes.

The third stage of cheese making then comes next. The coagulated milk in the pots or cans are divided into pieces. Each piece is then put into another pot where it is smashed with the hands to a greater extent until it becomes fine. Salt is also put into the smashed milk so taste is better. Then the coagulated milk becomes so fine he then gets a cup using it as a standard. Then he gets two or three days full of the smashed milk and put into one or the square box, then he gets some pieces of thin board just enough to fit the top of the boxes. On one side of these square pieces of thin board usually the initial of the maker of the cheese is inscribed so that on every cheese we could see two letters at least. These square piece of board are put over the top of the boxes containing the smashed mik. Sometimes small stones are put over the boxes so as to put some weight over the boxes. In this way the cheese will have the same shape as the boxes themselves. Then the rest of the thickened milk are done in the same manner. When all the smashed milk are put into the boxes he left them in that condition until they are ready for the market.

The next thing to be done is to prepare the banana leaves which are to be used for covering, then the last stage of cheese making follows: That in the cheese are prepared for the market. This is done by taking off from each boxes the preserved cheese one at a time covered them and tied thm. At this time the cheese are now ready for the market.

In case the maker of the cheese has no agents to sell the cheese made, he has to go down himself to sell them. As far as I know this kind of industry has no definite market of its own. And so every owner or maker of the cheese has to do his best to find places to sell them. In my town the local cheese sellers are often seen at the railroad station doing their job. If for some cause there are some cheese left they have to go around the town to sell the cheese.

These already made cheese are used also for making butter which I consider of legal importance, because they are not widely known and consumed. This is the only by-product which is of some importance. This butter making is not so encouraging as the cheese making which give greater money return.

Sighting then the defects in making the cheese as well as in selling them. There are also constant competition among the local makers. This is due for several reasons. In the first place some persons like to monopolize the business by paying high prices for the milk. Others make their cheese bigger than the rest and sell them cheaper than the ordinary prices. This is of course may lead to the failure of the business.

From my point of view these defects in the industry could be remedied by a sort of corporation among the local makers of cheese. In connection with this, they have to build a factory of their own, introduce machinery suitable for making the native cheese by using a single capital for all the business enterprises. By this way the cheese industry in Laguna province especially in the town of Santa Cruz will come propserous and in the near future will encourage other capitalists to invest their money in the business. Thus at the end it still be one of the great sources of revenue for the province and for the welfare of mankind.

Source:

Agus, Teodulo. “The Cheese Industry of Laguna Province.” National Library of the Philippines. Accessed on March 1, 2025. URL: https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/OB01/NLPOBMN0037005247/bs/datejpg.htm