As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes on the 30th of October, 2020, the Istrian company Latus, which has been operating since back in 2001, is located in the small town of Orbanici near Zminj, and the initiators of this dairy business, Maja and Sandi Orbanic, are pioneers in this industry because cheese production isn’t as popular on Croatia’s largest peninsula as the production of wine and olive oil is.
Latus, which is family run and boasts about 20 cows, is a continuation of the tradition as the Orbanic’s have been engaged in cattle breeding for generations.
“It’s a type of love that lasts a long time, it’s what draws us and makes us even better. Cheese-making in Istria is something that’s been going on only in more recent times, and our Istrian cows provide five litres of milk a day, while for a kilo of cheese, you’d need ten litres. Although it was difficult at the beginning, it didn’t discourage us.
Once upon a time, cheeses in Istria were small, they were kept in wheat, and the real development began in the late 80s and early 90s, and then serious production began. At that time, Istrians had more sheep than cows and few people produced cheese at home, so we decided to change that,” Maja Orbanic stated as she recalled the beginnings of Latus’ venture.
The first cheese they made was Zminj cheese, a semi-hard cheese without rind that matures in a vacuum, followed by an Istrian cheese done ”according to nona’s recipe”, but again, this was something different because the milk is pasteurised. When Latus started with production, they had 160 litres of milk a day, and today they process as much as 10,000 litres and have 20 products in their assortment that they offer for tasting.
Among them are cheese with pepper, truffles, indigenous Istrian and Zminj cheese, cottage cheese and other dairy products such as yogurt and whey. In addition to the tasting room, they also have a small shop on the ground floor, and today they cooperate with a dozen subcontractors from across Istria and produce 120 tonnes of cheese annually.
“When we started, we had 24 subcontractors, and we say that the ten that we’re cooperating with today are endemic. However, the quality of Istrian milk is top notch, our cows give up to 300 litres a day and are on free grazing from April to November and the rest of the year they’re in the barn,” explained Maja Orbanic.
It is interesting to note that last autumn they produced the very first Croatian mozzarella, and their most famous cheese – Veli Joze, which won the title of Croatian champion three times, was (like most great things) created by accident. The mozzarella expert is Sandi, and they explained that it is “not mozzarella for salad, but for taste”. They produce it in small quantities, to order, and in this field they also cooperate with Istrian pizzerias.
Latus otherwise boasts 27 employees, eight women work in the production system itself, and they also have nine retail outlets.
“We sell as much as 90 percent of production in Istria and a little less in stores in Zagreb such as Mrkvica, Grga Cvarka and Speceraj and in Slovenia. We also export our products through tourists who come for tastings,” said Orbanic.
The tasting room was renovated five years ago, and since rural tourism is flourishing in the interior of Istria, many foreign tourists are their guests. However, Orbanic says that when it comes to group visits to cheese dairies and tastings, it’s usually Croatian visitors turning up in groups, while foreigners lean a bit more more towards individual visits.
“There are a lot of holiday homes around us and foreigners who come to us expect this authentic experience, explore the territory and Istrian customs, and this is our great advantage because that is exactly what we offer.
If our olive growers and winemakers weren’t so good, it would be harder for us to position ourselves on the market like this. They work hard from year to year and our entire gastro scene is growing thanks to their achievements, says Orbanic.
The next cheese they’re working on and currently experimenting with is brie, and when satisfaction is reached, that too will take to the market.
For the last significant investments in the dairy business, Latus withdrew funds from the EU for equipping its barns and bettering its machinery, and they also applied for the recently announced tender for renewable energy sources, so they’re far from lacking in plans for further growth.
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