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.

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!