Maia with her mini gouda
We take notice when there is a comment at one of our interviews from Sri Lanka. That’s a long way from our little New England village!
Courtesy of theendofhistory.net
The comment came from Alan Stables, who works as the sales manager for Maia Cheese. We’ll be interviewing Alan soon because we’re interested in his perspective as a cheese salesman.
Alan gave us this fascinating story about his boss, Maia and how she started her artisan cheese company in Sri Lanka:
Maia’s Story
Written by Alan Stables
Tucked away in the hills north of Sri Lankan’s second largest city, Kandy, you will find a 45 year old Georgian (from the country Georgia near Russia) cheese maker. Juggling the role of mother to five children aged from 2 yrs to 10 yrs, Maia is the mastermind behind the Maia Cheese Factory. Maia’s first child, David, is a twenty-two year old pop singer living in Georgia.
It certainly has not been easy for Maia. She first started making cheese in Goa, India, in 2003 where she met her Sri Lankan loving husband, Anthony. Working in confined conditions, she still managed to put out cheeses with lines of customers at her door.
Maia has a larger space now.
After various Indian publications published her story, some of the big boys came knocking at her door offering collaborations to scale up her enterprise. None of these worked out. All they appeared to want was her knowledge so that they could manage their own business without her.
Eventually the disappointed couple decided to go and live at Anthony’s homeland in 2015, where Anthony had inherited an outbuilding and some land. Not one to give up, Maia started cheese making there.
Maya holding 2 gouda wheels
After finding a source of cows’ milk that she liked, she began producing cheddar, gouda, fresh mozzarella, grated mozzarella and a few oddities like cheddar with chili to appease the local palate.
Indeed Sri Lankan’s knowledge of cheese was only what the larger milk companies had commercialized. These were a very salty feta in small cubes, a soft spreadable cheese produced in triangles and something called Swiss Cheese which was anything but Swiss.
You could say Maia became a market shaker offering choice and quality. Sticking to principles of no artificial flavoring and no preservatives, she began selling her cheese from a Saturday stall in Colombo called “The Good Market” whilst her husband started to knock on a few doors.
Maia’s fresh mozzarella
Cheddar in a sandwich of black pepper cheddar
Maia loves to experiment. Here is her mozzarella, cream cheese and chili roll
Fortunately, Maia cheese became popular, especially amongst the expat community, and locals who had travelled abroad. Her Facebook following of over 55,000 is a testimony to her dedication to producing artisanal cheese.
Maia expanded her one woman show to a factory producing local employment for women. Now, with a distribution network just starting to take place, she can concentrate on cheese making.
Maia’s brie
Maia has augmented her range since her earliest days in Sri Lanka to produce brie, blue brie, caciocavallo, halloumi, smoked mozzarella, provolone plus her best seller – Queen’s Blue. Value added products include ricotta dumplings and a finely grated maiajano (parmesan style).
Goat blue cheese
With goat’s milk sourced locally, Maia has started to produce a range of interesting goat cheeses. In fact she loves the quality of this rich white milk. It is highly digestible, higher in vitamin A and less prone to causing allergies. Producing lactose friendly goat’s cheese puts a smile on her face.
Maia’s first attempt at a goat cheese with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds on top
From goat’s milk, Maia makes a goat blue, goat cream cheese, goat cream cheese with herbs, goat feta, goat halloumi, goat mozzarella, goat ricotta with herbs, goat smoked cheese and a Kandyan goat cheese, so called because the goats come from the Kandyan region. Her new additions are a goat farm cheese and a goat farm smoked cheese.
Cheddar wheels
But don’t be fooled by this Georgian lady – she is much more than a cheese maker. Amongst her many talents, she is a highly trained classical pianist with an interest in art as well as chemistry. (Quite the combination to become an artisanal cheese maker.)
She also makes butter – salted, unsalted, garlic – and her latest creation is natural apple cider vinegar with turmeric and black pepper.
Maia’s garlic butter
Maia Cheese
Website – https://www.maiacheese.lk/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MaiaCheese
Instagram – @maia_cheese
