Buffalo cheese is the gastronomic attraction of Marajó Island
Marajó Island, surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Amazon River, in Brazil, holds a universe of legends, traditions, customs, and its own delicacies. One of these treasures is the Marajó cheese, made from buffalo milk and recognized for its softness.
The Caminhos da Reportagem team, a TV Brasil program, went to this region of Pará to discover its charms, how the cheese is made, and the history behind the product, which, in 2021, was granted the Geographical Indication (GI) seal by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).
Two types of cheese are produced on the island: butter cheese and cream cheese. The main difference between them is the use of bottle butter in the recipe. "The cream cheese is less greasy, it has a creaminess to it," says Eduardo Portal, manager of Latícinios Portal, defending the product he makes. In the market for a little over a year, the cheese dairy sells to cities in Pará and São Paulo. Eduardo says that the certification brought visibility and the conquest of new markets, beyond Soure, in Marajó: "It is very gratifying to see that a dream is coming true". The seal's influence on sales is also linked to the cheese's originality. Rubens Magno, superintendent of Sebrae in Pará, explains that the GI certifies that, in only one region, one can make the product in a certain way: "It is a recognition that confirms the ancestrality", he stresses.
Prudêncio Paixão, owner of Queijaria do Prudêncio, has been producing butter cheese for 25 years, the way he learned from his ancestors. "My day starts at three in the morning working already in the cheese factory. Around six thirty, we go to the corral to collect the milk, and at seven o'clock I already have the first batch of cheese on the fire", he says. With the cheese from Marajó, the entrepreneur Francisco Moya makes a cheese bread half mineiro, half marajoara; the chef Jerônima Barbosa cooks in the Bacuri restaurant the marajoara filet and other typical dishes of the local gastronomy; and Joniel Nascimento won over the networks with his Ice Buffalo ice cream, which has the buffalo Alemão as its poster boy and appreciator.
Symbol
In the world's largest river archipelago, buffalo have become a symbol and a major attraction on the island. The herd surpasses that of oxen and the number of heads corresponds to 38% of the national total, according to the IBGE. They are on the farms, in the streets, on the mounts of the Marajoara police, in handicrafts and on tourist tours. At Fazenda São Jerônimo, which has 400 hectares and different biomes, one of the most popular tours takes tourists to swim with the animal. "I wanted to show a little bit of Marajó. Igarapés, beaches, mangroves and grasslands," says Raimundo Brito, owner of the farm.
Buffalo were introduced in Marajó at the end of the 19th century and adapted to the hot and humid climate of the region. Today, they move the island's economy and, for Tonga Gouvêa, agronomist and cheese producer, they had the ability to keep men in the countryside: "They have the quality of producing cheap protein and adaptation; it is a spectacular species", he believes. Along with his daughter Gabriela Gouvêa, president of the Association of Milk and Cheese Producers of Marajó, he manages Mironga Farm, where tourists experience the so-called "experience", in which they learn about the history of the family, the buffalo, the cheeses, and taste what the farm produces. "Marajó goes beyond territory. Marajó is feeling. You need to allow yourself to live listening to the sounds that we have here, feeling the buffalo, eating the things the buffalo eat. There is no way for me to tell you what it is here, unless you come to live it", says Gabriela.
