In the small town of Macaye, France (population just about 600), sits Onetik, a creamery established in 1983 to help add value in the form of cheese to the surplus of milk coming from the region. Onetik uses milk from the Berria Cooperative, collecting milk from 350 different farmers, some of whom are very small and difficult to reach. They hope to help these dairy farmers afford to stay on their land, which in some cases has been used as pasture for hundreds of years. In a given year, Onteik buys 8.7 million gallons of milk from dairies in the area.

With that milk, the cheesemakers at Onetik perform their magic to make Chebris! Chebris is an excellent example of Basque cheese, which tend to have similar characteristics. After the wheels are made, affineurs (expert cheese agers) turn, wash, and brush each cheese every seven to ten days for the two and a half months they age in Onetik’s cellar. Over time, the wheels develop a light yellow rind with freckles of red and brown, and a texture so smooth that a thin slice almost dissolves on your tongue. It smells of freshly cut grass and buttered popcorn, and while you certainly taste the hay quality of sheep’s milk and the tang from goat’s milk, neither is overwhelming. With a rich, warm butter finish, we have one totally irresistible cheese!