La Stella Latticini 'Nodini'

Stretched curd
Cow's milk
Sydney
30g each
www.lastellalatticini.com.au

"Passion, as everyone knows, is red." That's the first thing you'll read when you open the La Stella Latticini website. "In our case, though, it's white."

My passion is finding beautiful new cheeses, and this is the first Nodini I've come across in NSW. They're "little knots" that fit in the palm of your hand, made in the same way as fresh mozzarella or bocconcini, but hand-tied into a knot instead of shaped into a ball.

La Stella Latticini
'Nodini'

I judged the Nodini at the Sydney Royal Cheese Show last month, and awarded them a gold medal, along with La Stella Latticini's beautiful burrata, and light-as-a-cloud ricotta.

It wasn't just the shape that caught my eye, but the beautifully fine filaments when I tore the knots apart. Fine filaments - like shredded, cooked chicken breast - are the mark of fine craftsmanship in stretched curd cheeses, and these are the finest I've seen in years. And the flavour was clean and sweet, and marvellously milky.

How to eat? Simply with cherry tomatoes, basil and olive oil, or with the Autumn bounty of fresh figs and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.