The native field and its relation to the production of artisanal serrano cheese in Santa Catarina

Abstract

Serrano Craft Cheese (QAS) is currently part of one of the typical products of Santa Catarina, and has been structured for a title of Geographical Indication (GI) in a region known as Campos de Cima da Serra. GI is a form of valorization of the product of a region or territory, whose origin has acquired notoriety due to the way of knowing, environmental characteristics, including natural and human factors. Basically, this product is made by hand, using raw and unpasteurized milk, being characterized by several factors, including the feeding of animals in native field. Studies have shown that a diet containing representatives of various botanical families contains a variety of secondary metabolites, particularly more terpene than a grass and legume pasture alone. Therefore, this work aimed to study one of the main production elements of artisan cheese, the native field and its relations with the final product. For this, an exploratory survey was conducted, in which it was possible to understand how this vegetation interferes with the final quality of the cheese through its various physicochemical characteristics. Through the spatialization of the native field, it is possible to affirm that the Campos de Cima da Serra region has unique edaphoclimatic characteristics and that its native fields are a differential for cattle grazing for cheese production. Differences in milk composition may be related to climatic differences, which confers a great relation with the environment of Santa Catarina mountains. The physicochemical data collected in the review show that the quality of cheese is intrinsically related to the quality of pasture consumed by cattle, that is, the cheese produced in native field presents great local typicality. In addition, one of the main relationships presented was that, in spring / summer, the native field has higher protein content than tropical pastures, which is why the fat content of QAS is lower than most artisanal cheeses in Brazil.

Key-words: Native Field. Quality. Artisanal Cheese Serrano. Geographical Indication.