149 Madeira Consorcio Excursion

Last updated on 2nd March 2025

28.2.2025

We met at the production facility of “Santo Queijo” (in Santo da Serra), our only professional dairy place on the island (https://www.santoqueijo.com/).

We entered the factory through a “clean” room where we had to wash hands and donned garb as in a clinic, from top to toe (see foto).

Santo Queijo is a family owned company in third generation. João Luis and Sonia gave us a tour through the facility.

The machinery they have in the place is impressive, and cleaning is very extensive at the end of a work day (6 days a week). The factory was enlarged some years ago, due to the success of the products, and state subsidies were used to acquire the high tech equipment.

Santo Queijo collects around 4000l milk per day, with their own milk trucks, from three farmers in Canico, Gaula and S. Vicente. The milk is coagulated and acidic enzymes turn it into cheese with casein. They produce curd, fresh cheese, and other types, for salads, baking and frying as kind of “halomi” (Greek cheese), all of them very tasty! (The whey is a delicacy for farm animals.)

The cheese is also used to produce frozen cheese rolls, with fresh cheese, chicken and spinach “fingers” which the clients can buy in the supermarkets and bake at home in a deep fryer or air fryer (less fatty). Desserts are made of curd with strawberry, maracuja or caramel sauce. All products are more expensive, because the production depends a lot on manual work. All workers are with the companies for a long time. They have health checks at regular intervals.

Sonia, in her laboratory, checks the arriving milk for cow diseases (in which case the milk needs to be pasteurized or destroyed) and makes sure that the pasteurization is complete, so that the products are safe (raw milk is not sold). Madeira is far away and well isolated from any diseases that cows can catch in other environments.

Santo Queijo could process more milk, produce more and sell more products; the demand is there. They are planning to start their own cow pasture/farm but regulations are very strict (as on the mainland).

We then had a product tasting in the brand-new “Taste House”, it was all delicious. Some of us are fans of the products already, we’ll spread the word, and maybe we’ll get an air-fryer for the deep fried products…