Filipinos are fond of the traditional food, those things that truly tell you that you are a Filipino once the food lands on your tongue. During breakfast, while bread came in late as a Filipino favorite, it is traditionally spread with white soft cheese. The cheese is traditionally from buffalo milk but there's no problem making it from cow's milk. Among the producers of soft cheese in the country is the Southern Tagalog dairy federation, the Katipunan ng mga Kooperatibang Maggagatas, Ink. (KKMI).
Called "kesong puti" in the vernacular, white soft cheese has a very high moisture content compared to cheeses produced in Europe. The cheese is usually salty because of the way the traditional cheese makers try to extend the life of the milk by adding salt to the milk while collecting as much buffalo milk as possible from producers. Vinegar is used to produce curd and transferred to wooden trays lined with thin canvass cloth. Excess moisture is allowed to drain. For unpasteurized milk the curing time would take about 60 days but we don't do that nowadays. After draining, cut the cheese into the desired marketable portions and pack it with banana leaves.
At KKMI, they use rennet instead of vinegar and the cheese is packed as soon as the moisture has drained away. They have this walk-in refrigeration unit where much of their dairy products are stored.
In some coffee shops, they serve toasted bread with soft cheese and, tomatoes and other condiments. I usually have a hot cup of black coffee and bread hot off the oven spread with this kind of white soft cheese. Makes you remember lazy childhood days.
