Davide Thani brings Velcheese to east Belfast

Davide, who was born in Cagliari, capital of the island of Sardinia, is a former radar engineer in the Italian air force who has set up Velocheese, his own small cheese company here to craft fresh Italian mozzarella, stracciatella, scamorza and maple wood smoked scamorza by hand.

He is also planning to craft other Italian cheeses such as ricotta and perhaps ‘casu axedu’, which he describes as “a Sardinian acid cheese, a fermented cheese that’s great with fermented food”. Positive feedback from family and friends subsequently led Davide to start selling the cheeses to local delis.

He joins a small group of artisan cheese producers in Northern Ireland including Ballylisk of Armagh, producer of triple cream soft cheese, Young Buck blue cheese producer Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Newtownards, Dart Mountain in Dungiven and Kearney Blue in Castlereagh.

A graduate in Electronic Engineering, Davide grew up in Sardinia where “almost everyone either had or still has a small vegetable garden, some livestock and made everything at home including cheese, bread, jam, wine and cured meats”.

“I milked cows, picked olives for our own oil and tomatoes for our yearly batch of passata,” he continues. “At home, I regularly pressed grapes in welly boots and milked cows for fresh milk and to make cheese including Sardinia’s famous pecorino, a hard sheep’s milk cheese. Agri-food, especially sheep farming, is also a significant industry on the island. Around 50 percent of Italy’s sheep’s milk cheese is produced in Sardinia.”

His love of good food from his upbringing was also encouraged during his stint in the Italian Air Force. “As it happens military bases there are enclosed protected places, ideal to foraging with my colleagues, many of whom were also part time farmers,” explains Davide.

The decision to start making his own Italian cheese followed his move to Belfast with his family – his wife Sarah is from the city, in 2015.

“My decision to make my own mozzarella is the outcome of a craving for fresh Italian cheeses - fresh as meaning just-made cheese,” he says. “I was also impressed by the quality of milk in Northern Ireland and was excited to be involved in the evolving artisan food world here. It’s a very dynamic industry.

“Northern Ireland is certainly not short of quality milk. Farmview Dairies in Castlereagh is my current supplier for non-homogenised, pasteurised milk. The rennet I import directly from Italy. This is used to separate milk into solid curds and liquid whey for cheese production.”

He remembers making his first cheese during a trek in the Italian Alps with a friend. “I had a bottle of raw milk in my rucksack which turned into cheese by heat and movements. While My friend wasn’t impressed by the taste, I was very excited. It was good and I enjoyed it. I had probably just experienced how humans first discovered cheese,” he adds.

Davide subsequently decided to improve his knowledge of cheese production by studying with experts at Puglia in southern Italy. This included making Fior di latte”, a mozzarella made with cows’ milk and often used for gelato, and burrrata which was first made in Puglia. “Burrata is another cows’ milk cheese made from mozzarella, rennet and cream. It has an unusual, soft texture.

“I am now focused in making paste filate, a stretched curd mozzarella,” he says. “I remember once when I was still a child going to buy mozzarella in Sardinia. I went to the door of the cheese making room and bought a mozzarella that had just been made and was still warm. I remember it was the best mozzarella I had ever tasted.”

His ambition is to bring this experience to cheese lovers in Northern Ireland and hopes to demonstrate the cheese at events such as markets here. He’s already been supported by several local delis which are now selling and promoting the mozzarella and other Italian cheeses.

“The feedback from delis and their customers about the mozzarella is immensely encouraging,” Davide adds.

As well as being passionate about fresh cheese, Davide is focused on sustainability and has plans to setup a new business that will provide guidance on minimising waste and energy use. Velocheese reflects his longstanding interest in emission-free transport for the movement of cheese and other products.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you