Buffalo have been reintroduced to Israel, to the delight of visitors, as well as to the culinary satisfaction of connoisseurs of fine cheeses.
By Janet Mendelsohn Moshe
Over the last century, the buffalo that were once used to drain swamps in the land of Israel have disappeared from the landscape, being replaced by cows on many agricultural settlements. According to Irit Treister, cows were brought over from Holland, and specially bred in Israel for their considerably higher yields of milk. Irit and her husband Hagai have raised cows on their moshav (co-operative village), located in the center of the country, since they were married; Hagai continued the tradition from his father. In 1994, as Irit and Hagais oldest son was completing his military service, he told his parents he wanted to come home to the farm and work with the cows. The Treisters decided to expand the cowshed and toyed with the idea of opening a small dairy.
"We wanted to do something different," recalls Hagai. After a trip to Italy and a visit to the buffalo farms there, they decided that importing buffalo would provide an interesting family business. He explains that although they look quite ferocious, buffalo are in fact docile animals whose rich milk can be turned into the finest mozzarella and ricotta cheeses.
"The University of Naples was helpful, putting us in touch with local farmers and dairies," says Hagai. He and Irit had to learn basic Italian in order to communicate with the farmers in Campania, southern Italy, and during their many visits they learned the special care needed to raise buffalo. Irit also studied the art of making cheese from buffalo milk. "True mozzarella comes from buffalo milk, not cows milk," she explains.
When the Treisters finally received permission to import buffalo into Israel it was the middle of winter. After a month in quarantine, the fifty head of cattle were transported in heated trucks over the Alps and into Germany; an El Al cargo flight brought them to their destination in Israel.
Six years after their arrival, the buffalo are still a major attraction of the village. An occasional busload of tourists arrives for a tour and a gourmet breakfast of delicious whole wheat bread, fresh salad, wine and an array of cheeses. Curious weekend travelers stop by to see the unusual animals, and free samples of their cheeses and yogurts convince many of them to stock up in the dairy store, where Irit and Hagais daughter now works. Her husband manages the marketing side of the dairy.
The Treisters are proud of their family business, but their greatest satisfaction, smiles Irit, is that gourmet restaurants all over the country are now using the fine ricotta and mozzarella in their kitchens.