FAR-M® is a pure, camel chymosin produced by fermentation.
FAR-M® can readily be used for cow milk processing, but as a new product, it permits the making of cheese from camel and donkey milk. It allows industrial and artisanal cheese production resulting in curd firmness and production yields comparable to that of cheese made from cow's milk.
Due to different protein composition of camel and donkey milk compared to bovine milk, use of bovine, microbial or vegetable coagulants results in weak curd formation or a complete absence of clotting, when producing camel or donkey cheese.
FAR-M® is available in a highly-stable powder form, which allows transportation at ambient temperatures and distribution to rural areas. Small sticks of FAR-M® are also available for distribution to small cheese producers in rural areas.
Together with the Kenyan company Oleleshwa Enterprises Ltd, Chr. Hansen has developed recipes for the production of a wide range of camel cheese products, such as dried cheese, sweet cheese, feta-type cheese, fresh soft cheese, cream cheese and even a soft ripened cheese which could be called Camelbert. All recipes have been collected in a short, simple and illustrated Camel Cheese Manual and are available for download below. An additional guide on camel milk hygiene developed by the Kenya ASAL team1 is also available for download.
1Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI), Kenya Ministry of Livestock - ALLPRO project, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Kenya Camel Association (KCA), Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development.
