Thistledown Creamery 'Estrella'

Fresh
Ewe's milk (mixed East Friesian/Awassi)
Southern Tablelands
200g 'buttons'
www.thistledowncreamery.com

How exciting to have farmhouse ewe's milk cheeses produced in NSW! Thistledown Creamery is a collaboration between 4th-generation sheep farmer, Judy Bradley, and her daughter, Vanessa, who has been experimenting with cheese-making since she was a teenager.

The family run their small flock of East Friesian and Awassi sheep on several thousand acres of nutrient-rich pastures not far from Bungonia (near Goulburn), an area ideally suited to sheep farming. Their delighful range of cheeses (including a few recent additions made from cow's milk) are all hand-made on the farm.

Thistledown Creamery 'Estrella'

Their youngest cheese is called 'Estrella'. It's a fresh, unripened 'lactic set curd' cheese - think 'chevre', but made with ewe's milk instead of goat's milk. Like chevre, it is absolutely white, and has a very light, smooth texture, but it's more delicate and milky, with a pleasant sourness on the finish. Its clean flavour and rich mouthfeel remind me of very fresh ricotta, when it's still warm in the basket.

'Estrella' is available plain and also coated in fresh dill. The dill version has a faint green tinge around the edges, and the flavour of the herbs permeates nicely through the cheese. I can't wait to try it tossed through warm pasta with grilled zucchini and tuna, one of my favourite warm-weather dishes. Bring on Summer!