Hundreds of hungry patrons filed into Lincoln’s Bourbon Theatre on Feb. 25, eager to sample a little South American culture. And good eats, too.
The Partners for the Americas Nebraska Chapter puts on their Carnival festival every year, a Brazilian holiday similar to Mardi Gras, that features elaborate costumes, floats, samba dancers, and, of course, food.
During the Carnival festival, the Dairy Store’s Husker Cheese puffs, known in Brazil as Pao de Queijo, took center stage.
“We went through them so fast this year,” said Don Beermann, one of the festival’s organizers and director of UNL’s Institutional Animal Care Program. “We started serving them around 8 p.m. and by 10 they were gone.”
The puffs are made from a dough with Husker Cheese, or one of its variant flavors, mixed in. They come in original Husker cheese flavor as well as Asiago Garlic, Husker with Tomato Basil and Husker with Jalapeno, and because they are made with cassava flour, they are gluten-free.
The result is “kind of like a cheesy roll,” said junior Dairy Store counter worker Ashley Andersen, who makes the rolls for catering events.
“And when you bake them, that’s when they get really cheesy,” she said.
The product was the result of Ecuadorian native Yulie Meneses’ first research and development project at FPC in 2008, on an internship from Zamorano University in Honduras. Meneses completed her master’s degree program at UNL in 2010.
She observed that small pieces of cheese left over after the cheese cutting process in the Dairy Plant could be used to make cheese breads popular in her hometown of Quito. Her next challenge was to formulate a recipe that could be replicated for commercial use.
“To made up something from a recipe and for home consumption is relatively easy it just have to taste and smell good,” Meneses wrote by e-mail from Ecuador, where she now works as a product development specialist at a vegetable oil company. “But when you are developing a formulation you have to very careful to establish the right percentages of each ingredient and additives you are adding in order to assure constant quality on the product. Every single thing is about ‘food science.’”
Meneses said it took about six months to develop the recipe, its packaging and labeling, and cooking instructions with her team in the Product Development Lab. Her cheese puffs, perfect for those with gluten sensitivities, sell for $3.99/dozen at the Dairy Store’s East Campus location.
“They are a delicious alternative for those that love bread but cannot tolerate gluten,” Meneses wrote. “I think it is a good option for big meetings and dinners where different people will attend, and you can serve the Husker cheese puffs and be sure everyone will enjoy them.”
Today, making the puffs falls to Andersen, the Dairy Store counter worker from Papillion. She has overseen the production of more than 7,000 individual cheese puffs, all made by hand. The task is a weeklong process of cooking, freezing, rolling and baking.
“I’ve only been making them for about two months now, but I’ve made them about eight or nine times,” she said. “(Baking the puffs) makes me feel well-rounded. I like to cook, so it makes me feel like I’m more capable. Bread of any fashion is a hard thing to make.”
Festivalgoers at the Carnival, for one, were appreciative.
“For this event, they’re perfect because they are a professional ethnic food that a lot of people relate with,” Beermann said. “And they’re really good when hot and fresh.”
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/dx8