Thistledown Creamery 'Tin Sheep Tomme'

Semi-hard
Ewe's milk (mixed East Friesian/Awassi)
Southern Tablelands
4kg wheels
www.thistledowncreamery.com

Another wonderful cheese from talented young cheese-maker, Vanessa Bradley. Inspired by the classic ewe's milk cheeses of the Basque region boardering France and Spain, 'Tin Sheep Tomme' is the closest thing I've seen to Ossau-Iraty this side of France.

Thistledown Creamery
'Tin Sheep Tomme'

Matured for 3-4 months, it has a compact texture, with grassy, milky aromas and a sweet, nutty flavour. The natural rind is beautiful, with lovely mottled patches of grey, brown and orange, giving a deep, earthy aroma to the cheese.

You can almost smell the native pastures that the well-fed sheep graze on as you inhale.

Vanessa says the name is a nod to Aussie farms everywhere, with their bush sheds and old shearing sheds made with stringy bark and tin - such as her own family's 100-year-old shearing shed.

'Tin Sheep Tomme' is the sort of cheese you can imagine on a farmhouse kitchen table, to be grazed on at breakfast, lunch or dinner - simple, honest, unpretentious. I wish there were more cheeses like it.