“Life has its mysterious ways, and now I am back.”

Bringing the Italian art of aged cheesemaking to Moldova

July 17, 2024

woman carrying cheese — Dorina Baciu displays the aged cheese that she and her husband Valeriu Motroi manufacture in southern Moldova using artisanal Italian methods.

Photo: UNDP Moldova/Flickr

Dorina Baciu and her husband Valeriu Motroi had been living and working as expats in Italy for about a decade when they received a subtle hint from her father that he wanted them to come home.

“During that time, in Moldova, my father purchased 100 sheep, hoping that me and my husband would return and take care of them,”

In Italy, as well as working several jobs, in dairy factories, in construction, and even as a driver, Dorina picked up a love of aged cheese, which is made differently from the method Moldovans usually appreciate.

“For centuries, traditional cheese was more popular - sheep cheese, goat cheese. There was no culture of consuming locally-produced aged cheese,” she says.

Although Dorina and Valeriu, who are from the same village, spent a significant amount of time away, returning permanently and launching a business was always on their minds.

“When I was little, I wanted to escape the village as soon as possible and have nothing to do with animals and milk. I had graduated from the Faculty of Law and was looking for opportunities outside the country. But life has its mysterious ways, and now I am back.”

- Dorina Baciu

In 2017 she and Valeriu founded the Sălașul Baciului factory in the village of Sadaclia in the south of the country. They are the only local artisans who produce aged cheese with a maturation period of up to 50 months, following Italian methods.

During their last year in Italy, Dorina and Valeriu visited villages in the Sicilian mountains to study the technology and gain experience in the field of artisanal products.

With the factory up and running in Moldova the entrepreneurs started with traditional cheese and later switched, becoming pioneers of artisan aged cheese. Because the product was new to the public, the family gave away free samples, sold at low prices, and monitored how buyers and the market reacted.

In 2018, Dorina and her family started selling at Eco-local, a fair of eco and artisanal products, organized every Saturday in Chișinău. People liked the cheeses and sometimes, even with four sellers at the table, they couldn't keep up with the demand. Since then, the range has added other types of aged cheese, but the producers still use the original technology and quality raw milk. It’s a process which is keeping alive some Italian traditions as well.

“We were once visited by a delegation that included an Italian technologist. He tasted our products and said that even in their country, in many mountain regions, this recipe has not been preserved. He expressed his admiration and wished us success. Experiences like this give us the strength to move forward,” says Dorina.

The work is hard. In the high season of May, June and July, around 200 litres of milk are processed every day. The family does not get much sleep, they work practically 24 hours a day and a processing cycle takes 12 hours.

Dorina and her husband do not plan to expand the business too much, as they want to run it as a family concern. There is Romanian demand for her products and the producers are open to export options. They have also tried to collaborate with supermarket chains in Moldova but foreign products are often more popular than local ones.

“Running this kind of business isn't for everyone. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and there are always unexpected hurdles to overcome. While it can be rewarding, the financial gains alone are not worth the effort. We've been growing steadily, but the pandemic and war in Ukraine slowed us down, we lost business from restaurants that closed,” Dorina says. “Even now, I think we are about 10 years away from this product being consumed in quantities that would encourage producers to embark on this journey. That's why there are so few of us in the artisanal aged cheese industry.”

With funds from the Government of Japan and support from UNDP they’ve been able to buy a vehicle for collecting, transporting, and storing milk and cheese.

"The purchase of a delivery machine has become a pressing necessity for the development of the business for some time. Customers will be able to receive our products more quickly, delivered fresh, respecting all hygiene and quality standards. It is also a great relief for our team, as previous deliveries required a lot of logistical organization and effort that we can now redirect to other production processes.”

Dorina recently was elected co-president of the livestock microcluster "Cimișlia-Basarabeasca", founded in 2023 with support of the UNDP project "Resilient and inclusive markets in Moldova", funded by the Government of Switzerland.

“Now I feel that the future will be generous with the livestock sector and artisanal dairy products, it was about time we give it the attention it deserves. Within our cluster, we also plan to exchange experiences and form partnerships with entrepreneurs from all over the country and with another livestock cluster supported by UNDP - Bacii Sudului from Cahul. They started this journey earlier and can help us avoid certain mistakes,” says Dorina. Entrepreneurs from the livestock cluster Cimișlia-Basarabeasca will benefit, with UNDP and Switzerland support from equipment for milk processing and storage. The animal gene pool will be improved and animal maintenance and feeding will be upgraded. A feed production plant is also planned, as they plan to test fertilization using animal manure.

Through this process Dorina’s legal training has been put to use. “My law degree helped me along the way to write official letters, contracts, defend my rights and promote legal initiatives in favour of small producers,” she says.

Dorina doesn’t regret returning home, despite the hard work, she believes it will pay off, regardless of what happens in the future.

“I am happy with life here, and everything I can offer my children – sports and foreign languages courses. I would not be able to afford these in Italy. I don't know if they will want to continue this business, we will respect their decision, just as my parents respected my wish to graduate from law school and leave the country, without suspecting that I would return here and eventually fall in love with this industry.”