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We do not tend to think of Stichelton and Brie as chic, but that is the power of the influencer, activist and Clara Diez fashion plate. His cheese cheese factory made from Madrid, Formaje, has collected a world audience for its beautifully stylized interiors and elegant displays. Earth tiles line the store walls, which is located in a street in Almagro in the center of the city, and dark wooden shelves on the cheese wheel. In the center, a long granite counter is stacked like a mountain range with towers and districts of all shapes and sizes, with washed and natural bark, certain molded molded, pure and creamy yellow.
For all design details, Diez has retained a farm atmosphere in space. The temperature is maintained at around 12 ° C and 80% humidity levels to create an optimal environment for cheese. Below, there is a room where tastings and education lessons take place, including how to correctly cut each variety to best taste the different textures. “The creation of cheese is a very humble activity,” explains Diez. “It always happens in the countryside, on farms, near animals, so we want to keep this feeling in the shop. It is not a museum, but a place that invites the customer to connect with the cheese. ”
Diez has been working with cheese for over 10 years. She entered the trade while studying media communication at the university, when a family friend implored her to be part of her new business selling craft varieties from across the country. “There have always been small producers and handicraft manufacturers, but at that time, there was no movement of craft cheese in Spain, everything was very new and small. I started working with these producers and to establish close relationships with the cheeses themselves. ” It was with her husband, Adrián Pellejo, that she opened Officially In 2020. The idea was to bring the best cheeses in the world to Spanish customers. “Those who represent best practices for making craft cheeses of our time,” explains Pellejo.
Today, traditional principles stimulate supply to Formaje, where they promote old methods compared to industrialists. “We want to keep the processes that belong to all different spaces and territories, and we want to bring the client the biggest selection,” explains Diez. This includes the less known variety supply of small manufacturers, like Leason, a blue cheese made in galicia with milk from jersey cows in the open air, produced by three childhood friends. It also includes the search for the best versions of the classics: Gouda at a small baccalaureate (€ 9.50 for 250 g) manufactured in the Netherlands by Betty and Martin Koster, who have developed their own recipes to counter the mass industrialization of variety; Camembert (€ 12 each) of Normandy manufactured by Patrick and Francine Mercier, who use the milk of their herd of 90 Norman cows; and Cheddar (€ 14.70 for 250 g) from Todd and Maugan Trentthowan in Somerset. “There are only three producers in England who make cheddar using the original recipe, and this is the cheddar we offer,” explains Diez.
COLSTON BASSET STILTON, 12 € for 250g
Xiros, € 9.50 for 250g
Morbier DOP, € 8.95 for 250g
Macherero Dop, € 10.50 for 250g
Alongside cheese, Formaje has a conservation of complementary products such as Santa Teresa Quince Paste de Ávila, pan of Crystal Crackers de Seville and Wine such as Cantayano de la Seca and Sílice by manufacturer Fredi Torres – “things that people generally sought when they prepare a table of cheese,” she said.
The emphasis on localized production and in small lots is part of Diez's activism. She wants to educate consumers about how their decisions can have an impact on the environment. “I am very interested in regenerative agriculture and methodology which pays attention to the way different aspects affect the landscape – temperature, different seasons, soil and the way in which animals interact with it, in a way that is good for soil and animals.” Diez gives the example of one of its older producers who refuses to use industrial soap and bleach to clean the tools it uses to make cheese, as they can be too aggressive for the process. “Cheese is one of the most complex food In terms of taste, and it is essential to maintain native bacteriology of natural environments. »»
The primordial ambition of Formaje is to prove that the creation of cheese is not an old -fashioned and cold practice. “We want to create a new language so that the public begins to perceive cheese as a noble and high product, full of elegance and beauty,” explains Pellejo.
