Yorkshire Dama COVER STORY
Razan and her husband Raghid
Make cheese grate again Orla McIlduff speaks to Razan Alsous, a former Syrian refugee and owner of Yorkshire Dama Cheese who knows that quality ingredients really matter when it comes to the tastiest products
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’m going to try really hard not to make it cheesy, let it brie and stay away from the plethora of cheesy puns I gouda go straight to. Now that’s out of my system, I can actually just share this inspiring story about one lady’s unexpected journey into cheesemaking. Like many of us here in the UK, Razan Alsous knew she wanted to go to university when she left school, so she studied pharmacology in her hometown of Damascus, Syria. But unlike most of us, her world was soon turned upside down by war, destroying the life she had planned. Razan and her family fled to Yorkshire in England in 2012.
Arriving with nothing
She tells me that settling in was
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a challenge, as they came from Syria with nothing: “It wasn’t an easy thing because when I was in Syria, I lived in Damascus. If you don’t know Damascus, it’s the capital of Syria and it’s got lots of high-rise buildings. I hadn’t seen many animals before in my life and I saw more cows here than I’d ever seen, it was very interesting, very relaxing.” After getting a family home established in Huddersfield, Razan began searching for a job, but despite her scientific background, her lack of references and work history in the UK made it extremely difficult. Not one to wallow, she knew she had her three children to think of, so began to plan, considering her own expertise and opportunities available to her. “When something in your life changes so much, you really need to accept that
reality. I began to think: ‘What next? What are you planning for the future? How can we recover from our loss?’ So that’s when the idea of the business came through.”
Quality British milk
Razan was in awe of the quality of milk British farmers produce but was constantly disappointed by not being able to find tasty ‘squeaky cheese’ like she ate at home in Syria for breakfast. The closest she could find was Cypriot halloumi, but found it wasn’t a patch on what she remembered eating at home in the springtime, when the rainfall at that time of year in Syria resulted in better quality milk. “I spotted a gap in the market,” Razan explains. “The rainfall here means British milk is amazing. Halloumi is usually or traditionally made from goat and sheep’s milk because of the desert geography so they made halloumi using their own local resources. And in Yorkshire we’ve got more cow’s milk so I started to work out what the difference was. I found that the melting point and the protein and fat percentage is affecting different types, like different levels will affect it.” Doing experiments to recreate the Syrian cheese she remembered from her kitchen in Huddersfield, Razan was delighted with the results: “The taste is amazing, wonderful even! We found it's absolutely different from the commercial halloumi found in supermarkets. Usually they make it from powdered milk; why do I need to use powdered milk while the
January 2022
13/01/2022 11:18:42
