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| Map of Mongolia (Source: geology.com) |
During my training with Academie MONS, I discovered the network of MONS alumni reached as far as Mongolia, a landlocked country bordered by two giant states, China to the south and Russia to the north. With a population of around 3 million and a surface area of 1.5 million sq km, Mongolia is the most sparsely populated sovereign state in the world. About 45% of its population lives in Ulaanbaatar, one of the coldest capitals in the world. The country’s landscape is mountainous in the north and west, and dry and arid conditions from the Gobi Desert dominate the south. It is therefore not surprising that there exists very little arable land. A nation deriving from Genghis Khan’s early 13th Century Mongol Empire, today about 30% of its population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Market economy came late to Mongolia, which only obtained its independence from China in 1921, but fell under control by the Soviet Union in subsequent years. Mongolia eventually underwent its own democratic revolutionary process in 1990, leading to a multi-party government and transition to market economy.
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| Yanzi Wang and her daughter Mao Mao |
My curiosity about this alumnus hailing from Mongolia steered me to contact her via Sue Sturman, Academie MONS’s Anglophone Director. What I then learnt from Yanzi Wang and her husband Mike Morrow was a very inspiring story of vision, passion, survival and persistence.
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| Tumurkhuyag Urtnasan |
It all started in 2014 when Mike was introduced to Tumurkhuyag Urtnasan, the doyen of Mongolia’s artisan cheesemaking industry and the maker of Mongolia’s most famous cheese Khustai Gouda. Tumurkhuyag has been making cheese in a remote atelier since 1995, working alone most of the year on a mountain steppe about 80 kilometres southwest of Ulaanbaatar. One important lesson in Mongolian artisan cheesemaking that Mike learnt from the cheese guru is that it needs to be practised where the animals pasture during the 100 days of summer when the mother animals are in full lactation and their young are strong enough not to require all the milk produced, thus creating a milk surplus.
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| Khustai Gouda |
The American-Chinese couple began their year-long research into the socio-economic aspects of herding communities with the objective of identifying a feasible business model. Herder families principally derive their income from selling cashmere combed from goats in spring and selling meat and hides in the fall. During the hundred days of summer, herder incomes are low and labour is in surplus. If they could sell surplus milk for money, this would provide useful summer income and money for children’s education. By selling excess milk, the productivity of animals would be increased and herders would be encouraged to avoid overstocking and to better manage pasture conditions to improve quality and quantity of milk. This would not only improve animal husbandry practice but also help sustain the environment.
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| Mongolian ladies milking goats |
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| Mongol Alatau Nomadic Pastoral Cheese Cow |
Thus, Mongolian Artisanal Cheesemakers Union (MACU) was conceived in 2016, based on a networked socio-ecological entrepreneurship model. Yanzi and Mike soon realised that self-funding the business could take a long time to realise their goals and they could accelerate it by inviting a third party for capital contribution and sound business advice. Arvintsogt Ragchaa, one of the founders of Newcom Group, one of Mongolia’s most reputable business conglomerates, joined MACU as a Director in August 2017.
MACU currently has three subsidiaries, including its White Mountain Cheesemaking Plant built to international standards, and a cheese ripening facility. MACU plays multiple roles. It primarily sources investors and herders who are interested to become shareholders of cheesemaking plants. The estimated capital outlay for each cheesemaking facility is around USD 100,000-150,000, depending on location and capacity. Given the geographic spread of “sums” (districts) in Mongolia, each cheesemaking plant has different shareholders. Each MACU cheesemaking facility is committed to purchasing the milk from around 50 herders in each community at Mongolian Tugrik MNT 500 per litre (approx. USD 0.18 per litre), on the assumption that each family supplies 40 litres of milk on a daily basis during the hundred days. The price paid for milk will depend on quality of milk and animal breed. (In Mongolia, cheese can be made from the milk of cows, yaks, khainag (hybrid between cow and yak), goats, sheep and camels.) MACU’s management and technical personnel is committed to providing installation consultation, technical support and staff training to enable the cheesemaking plant to be suitably equipped and staffed to produce cheese to international standards and develop and create its own range of cheese products. MACU is committed to purchasing the freshly made cheeses, ripening them, marketing and selling them during the first five years of operation, at an agreed price. The cheeses will be sold either under the MACU brand or an independent brand. Where requested, MACU can also undertake to be the turnkey project manager and act as the initial plant manager for an arm’s length fee.
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| White Mountain Cheesemaking Plant |
MACU’s vision is to build a network of 100 plants by 2024, with total production capacity of 1,000 tons of cheese per year (roughly 1 million kg per year). When fully operational, the plants are envisaged to employ about 500-750 people and provide summer income of USD 800 per family to about 5,000 families.
With this new source of summer income, children will have the opportunity to be educated when previously this potential income did not exist. Locals will be trained to become skilled workers and cheesemakers at each plant. MACU hopes that the prestige associated with the production of high quality products that generate meaningful income will serve to partially reverse the urban migration trend and help continue the nomadic pastoralism traditions. By-products from the cheese production can provide additional income, such as whey processing into animal feed, candy, baked goods and nutraceutical products. Herders can develop ancillary businesses to complement cheesemaking, such as honey production and production of winter fodder. In time, each “sum” will develop greater economic strength, stronger advancement opportunities for its people and a skilled and empowered workforce.
Aside from sourcing investors and building the network of cheesemaking plants, one of MACU’s most imminent tasks is developing the export markets, primarily to China and Russia, but also with Japan, Korea and Hong Kong in sight. The company is currently actively seeking distributors in these three markets. To develop export markets, MACU needs to build the brand, its credibility and consistency in quality.
Yanzi and Mike have embarked on a long and challenging journey to give socio-economic and ecological sustainability to nomadic communities and to developing Mongolia into a world-recognised producer of cheese when currently more than 95% of Mongolia’s own cheese consumption is met with imports. The journey has been fraught with challenges but also filled with rewards, rewards of being recognised by the privileged few who have had the opportunity to taste their products. The success of MACU will be Yanzi and Mike’s legacy to this landlocked country.
Yanzi is MACU’s Operations Manager and cheesemaker. She originally comes from Ying Xian 应县in Shanxi 山西 province, China. Her village is famous for the “Muta” 木塔, the tallest and oldest fully wooden pagoda in China, built in 1056 by the Khitan people, ancestors of the Mongols, when they led the Liao Dynasty. Fate had her sent to Mongolia from Beijing, where she was working in a different industry. In 2014, her husband Mike decided that cheesemaking would become the family business after his encounter with Tumurkhuyag Urtnasan. Mike had the vision but not the ‘touch’. So Yanzi took up the profession and enrolled into a number of training programmes to get up to speed in the shortest time possible. She completed most of her training in France and the UK. Her expertise is fresh, soft, bloomy rind and semi-hard cheeses. She created cheeses such as “Tsaagankhar”, “Piko” and “Larch” for the White Mountain Cheesemaking Plant’s major hotel clients, such as Ulaanbaatar’s Shangri-La and Kempinski Hotels.
I caught up with Yanzi on her return from China after the Chinese New Year holidays, while Mike had been battling with a broken septic tank, a crashed phone and an urgent need to recruit a new cheesemaker. Yanzi was very kind to share with us her background, experience and thoughts on cheesemaking for Asians.
IN: How and when did you decide to become a cheesemaker? Was there a particular incident or personality that triggered your interest in taking up this career?
YZW: I began to get interested in 2014. In 2016 we set up an experimental atelier in an abandoned student cafeteria near the Mongolian Agriculture University. We tried to train others but they did not stay. [During this experimental phase], I discovered I had a feel for the milk and my cheeses weren't so bad.
IN: Do you remember how you felt when you tasted the first cheese you made?
YZW: Being Chinese from the countryside, it was all new to me. At first, I didn't like any cheese. It was more the challenge of making cheeses that people liked that got me to begin paying attention to smell, taste and texture - especially that of Mozzarella and Brie. I discovered that I’m pretty good at it. I have a sensitive nose and acute taste buds and I can ‘feel’ the curd!
IN: Which is your favourite cheese amongst the cheeses that you make? Please tell us what it tastes like. And why it is your favourite?
YZW: I am happy with my Mozzarella and bloomy rind cheeses. But I kind of invented a semi-hard cow-milk cheese we call “Larch”. I'm still developing it. It's buttery and a little acidic when young, but gets progressively more nutty and fungal. I like to let the rind harden rough and brown like a Pecorino. It’s my favorite because I worked it up myself and I like tasting it myself, and because others like it too.
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| A selection of MACU cheeses |
IN: Is making cheese in Mongolia very different from making cheese in Europe or US, using France, UK and USA as examples? What are the principal challenges and advantages?
YZW: I studied in France with Mons for less than a month, made Cheddar for a couple of days in England, and spent a few days visiting small cheesemakers in the US. I don't know much. We are beginners. Everything here is difficult, but also everything is open. We also have good quality whole milk directly from the animals. We have yaks, goats, sheep and camels as well as cows. Mongolia is one big grassland with various micro environments and wild grass of various kinds everywhere. It's paradise for creative cheesemakers if you can put up with all the problems and the climate, which is sunny but harsh.
IN: Historically in Europe, cheesemaking was a woman's job at the farm and the technique was passed from mother to daughter. Would you recommend cheesemaking to other women in Mongolia as a profession? Why or why not?
YZW: It is the same here. Unlike Chinese, Mongolian women have a long, rich association with milk animals, milking and making things from milk. Cheese in the European sense didn't develop because of the nomadic lifestyle and very cold and dry climate, but cheesemaking comes easily to Mongolian country women. We don't have to recommend cheesemaking to women here. Some are already making European cheeses. We are training more. More will follow naturally as artisan cheesemaking gets better established here.
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| Mongolian ladies milking sheep |
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| Milking yaks and khainag |
IN: As the MACU logo suggests, cheesemakers in Mongolia work with milk from different animals – goats, sheep, cows, yaks and camels. You learnt cheesemaking in France and the UK. Could you share with us how you have had to adapt certain techniques to work with different milk origins?
YZW: I personally only work with cow's milk. But even that is different. As a result of the wild, hardy grasses and the dry conditions, the cows may give only 4 liters of milk instead of the normal 40 litres, and the dry climate makes cheesemaking very different here. The milk smells stronger and earthier here. I also feel it when I run my hands through the milk. Perhaps it is because we only use whole milk to make cheese here.
Other of our [MACU] cheesemakers are making cheese with whole yak milk. It's got up to 8% butterfat. These are great cooking cheeses. Mike is busy developing cheeses from other animals with other cheesemakers, but so far I only eat them!
I make cheese at our own White Mountain cheese plant on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. To get yak and goat and sheep milk one has to go to other parts of Mongolia. We're working with local partners in such places. They come to White Mountain for training. Maybe this summer I will get a chance to go to them and make cheeses from other milks.
I like Pecorino so I am most interested in trying my hand at sheep milk cheeses.
IN: Which cheese do you admire the most from Europe? Why do you admire it?
YZW: I like Pecorino. It’s so many cheeses in one, changing from one to the other depending on how you age it. It also seems to change noticeably from one locale or cheesemaker to another. Also, most people seem to like it.
I make an imitation peppered Pecorino from cow's milk. We call it “Tsagaankhar” (White-Black). It is a great buffet cheese. The serving dish empties quickly. But if I teach someone else to make it, it won’t be the same cheese.
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| A selection of Pecorino cheeses on display at BRA |
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| Mike Morrow |
IN: What motivates you? What drives you?
YZW: Survival. My husband is crazy.
IN: Who is your hero? Is there a personality who has inspired you the most in your life? Or a cheesemaker you would like to create a cheese with?
YZW: Susan Sturman is not a cheesemaker exactly, but she arranged my training in France and helped me when I had difficulty because of the language barrier. She is an example to me of how cheesemaking can be more than a business, how it can be an activity that builds understanding and friendship from one part of the world to another.
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| Sue Sturman |
IN: What is your vision/ambition for Mongolian cheeses?
YZW: We have worked very hard to establish Mongolian cheeses. Our goal is to develop a network of 100 cheese plants and at least 200 good cheeses.
IN: What will be your advice to fellow Mongolians or Asians who wish to enter into the cheese profession, either as a cheesemaker or cheesemonger?
YZW: Don't do it if you aren't prepared for a lot of difficulties and frustrations. Don't forget it is a business. But also make it more than a business. Focus on being as good as you can be. Quality precedes quantity in artisan cheesemaking.
IN: If you were a cheese, which one it would be? And why?
YZW: I already answered that -- a Pecorino. It's a cheese for all seasons, an interesting cheese that most people like.
