Cheesy release at the market

It's like watching colour TV after watching black and white for years. We're actually talking about cheese. Raw milk cheese, made with unpasteurised milk.

Due to strict cheese rules, raw milk dairy hasn't been available on supermarket shelves before – but Katikati cheesemakers Chris and Jill Whalley's raw milk cheese has attained Ministry of Primary Industries' approval.


Mount Eliza Cheese owners Jill and Chris Whalley celebrating their new Red Leicester cheese at the Tauranga Farmers Market today. Photos by Tracy Hardy.

Chris says his brand Mount Eliza Cheese is the first in New Zealand to gain authorisation.

'Sabato [Auckland food supplier] said it's like watching colour TV after watching black and white for years.”

It's taken the owners of Mount Eliza Cheese three years to gain approval. Three whole years of food safety and risk management programmes – and farm audits.

But why? 'It always was a long-term plan of ours from when we set up in 2007, to use raw milk,” says Chris. 'It's just taken a lot longer than we thought.”

And what for? 'You get a lot better flavour and texture through raw milk,” says Chris.

'You don't kill off a lot of the enzymes that help to produce the flavours and the feel of the cheese. Enzymes tend to get denatured if you pasteurise.”

It's obvious cheese-making requires plenty of patience. 'It's all about attention to detail and finely tuning the recipe over a few years,” says Chris, who's still waiting for the raw milk farmhouse cheddar to age. 'We like to mature that for about a year.”

Churned, aged and taste-tested at their small artisan creamery in the hills behind Katikati, Chris and Jill's raw milk Red Leicester is finally ready to eat.

'It's about four-and-a-half months old, so it's just in its prime,” says Chris. The cheese-making duo will be officially releasing their eight kilogram round block of cheese to the public at the Tauranga Farmers Market this Saturday with a special ceremonial cutting.

So what will it taste like? 'The Red Leicester is a silk smooth full rounded flavour, with quite a nutty finish,” says Chris.

'It's lovely on crackers and bread. It melts really well and is lovely with fish, pasta and cheese sauces. It's a very versatile cheese.”

The Red Leicester will also be available at the Katikati and Tamahere markets, as well as at Nosh Food Market and Farm Gate Deli and Kitchen in Mount Maunganui.

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1 comment

Mmmmmm

Posted on 23-05-2015 13:08 | By maggiebop

Tried this at Farmers' Mkt this morning and ended up buying some. Very good.


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