Cheese Wine and Friends must be Old to be Good. - The ABC Farms in Pune

 

A.B.C. Farms Pvt Ltd

When we had kids, Hubby and I decided that every trip that we would take would be an experience for our children. It would be an opportunity for them to learn something new, experience something new, feel something new and hopefully add to their knowledge repository.

Earlier, we ended up spending our New Years Eve and the start to the New Year at our friends Villa in Shahpur; but even those trips were educational trips. From imbibing values of sharing, caring, love, compassion; to introducing them to the flora and fauna of the place; we made every trip count.

This time for New Year’s Eve, we took them to Pune and since they love cheese; we decided to teach them all about cheese.

What better place to take them to for a lesson on Cheese than to the ABC Farms, a place that was started way back in 1976. A, B and C stand for Aga, Bhathena and Chinoy, the surnames of the first three founder directors of the Company. Today ABC Farms is completely owned and run by Sohrab Chinoy and his family.

We booked an appointment and reached the place by 12.30 in the afternoon. It was much different from what I remembered the place from an earlier visit about two decades back. We were met by the charming Sohrab Chinoy who welcomed us with an amazingly refreshing probiotic lemon flavored lassi. 

Then a huge tray filled with cups of different kids of cheese was brought in and as we dug in Sohrab spoke to us about the farm, the history, how he got into the business and more. As we sat talking, Sorabh shared wonderfully candid stories of his youth, he experiences, his passion and more. Munchkin 1 was full of questions and wrote down notes diligently in her tiny book, while Munchkin 2 and our friend’s Munchkin gorged on all the cheese.

Sorabh then took us to the Cheese processing unit and showed us how cheese is made. The chill in each of the curing freezers were completely worth it when we got to see how cheese gets aged, stored, packed; all ready for dispatch.  

Freezing inside one of the curing freezers with Sorabh

It was an amazing experience and one that I hope my kids will re-visit when they grow older and are able to understand a little bit more.

Walking out of the Farm, we shopped for so many different kinds of Cheese that my fridge is still bursting at its seams; but completely worth it considering how much we learnt. I loved Sohrab's passion for the farm and how despite all the challenges and competition, he refuses to part ways with his ethics, processing styles and quality. What I loved best was his advice to continue eating cheese, but good quality cheese never fattens!!! 

We ended the trip with a yummy lunch at the Shisha Cafe – Persian & Indian Cuisine. The ambiance is absolutely relaxing and seeing the restaurant built around the huge tree (which I think is an old Gulmohar) is so heartening.

We were there only during the afternoon; but I’m sure the place is abuzz during the evening hours.

Overall, a wonderful experience that I shall cherish for a long time to come. I do hope to make it back again soon and actually gorge on some of the amazing items listed on the menu.

Till we meet again… Au revoir Mr Sohrab Chinoy.

Sohrab Chinoy

ps: I was so mesmerized that I hardly took pics. Most of the pictures here are from the ABC Farms website or FB page.