Highland Organics 'Fresco Pecorino' & 'Grana Pecorino'

Semi-hard / Hard
Cow's milk
Southern Highlands
random weight portions (approx 150g)
3 weeks / 3 months maturation
www.highlandorganics.com.au

If you haven't tried Highland Organics cheeses for a while, they're worth another look. Cheesemaker David Snibson took over as production manager in January 2012, and the range has expanded to include new cheese styles as well as unhomogenised milk and yoghurt.

David has changed more than just the packaging, and the cheeses are now of a higher and more consistent quality.

Highland Organics 'Fresco Pecorino'
(old packaging)

The 'Fresco Pecorino' is part of the original range, and is exactly as described on the package: a soft cooking cheese. So it's perfect for things like eggplant parmigiana, toasted panini and good old mac 'n' cheese.

Matured for just a few weeks ("fresco" is the Italian word for "fresh"), it has a supple, meltable texture and mild cheesey flavour, making it a great kitchen staple.

The 'Grana Pecorino' is one of David's new additions. It's essentially a matured version of the 'Fresco', with the recipe tweeked slightly to produce a drier cheese more suited to longer maturation.


Highland Organics 'Grana Pecorino'
(new packaging)

'Grana' is a hard grating cheese, in the style of Italian Parmesan, making it another great everyday cheese to have in your fridge. While David would like to be able to mature it for up to nine months, most of it is packaged for sale at three months maturation, to meet customer demand.

At three months, it has a wonderfully flakey texture and rich, savoury flavour, which makes my cheesey heart sing, as there are so few decent hard cheeses being made in NSW.

I just have one small gripe: if your cheese isn't made from sheep's milk, please don't call it 'Pecorino'. The names 'Fresco' and 'Grana' accurately describe these cheeses - and they emulate those Italian originals very well - so perhaps the 'Pecorino' part could simply be dropped.


Little Creek Cheese 'BBQ Cheese'

Haloumi-style
Cow's milk
Central Coast
Approx. 200g random weight packs
www.littlecreekcheese.com.au

Summer may have ended, but it's never too late to throw another piece of cheese on the barbie.

I discovered this appropriately-named "BBQ cheese" (aka haloumi) while judging at this year's Sydney Royal Cheese Show. It was the only gold-medal cheese in the Haloumi class, and I was delighted when I found out it came from this small producer on the Central Coast.

Little Creek 'BBQ Cheese'

The Little Creek Cheese team consists of Russell & Sue Parsons, and Sue's son Alex Nelson, and they've been making cheese in the old Wyong milk factory for almost two years. Milk comes from the Riverina co-op and the cheeses are sold at the factory and various farmers' markets on the Central Coast.

So what makes a gold-medal-winning haloumi? When seared in a hot pan (we don't use oil when judging), the surface should caramelise evenly, and the inside should soften without running too much. The texture shouldn't be tough or chewy, and the salt shouldn't overpower the fresh, milky flavours.

Little Creek's excellent example ticks all of those boxes, and comes with a catchy name too. After all, isn't it what most of us do with haloumi?

Binnorie Dairy Marinated Goat Fetta

Fresh (Marinated Fetta-style)
Goat's milk
Hunter Valley
300g jars & 1.5kg buckets
www.binnorie.com.au

This goat's milk version of Binnorie Dairy's flagship Marinated Fetta is an excellent example of the "Persian Fetta" style - creamy and spreadable, rather than firm and 'slice-able' like traditional Greek Feta*.

Binnorie Dairy
Marinated Goat Fetta

Made from locally-sourced goat's milk, large chunks of the cheese are marinated in Binnorie's blend of canola & olive oils with fresh herbs. The thing I like most about it is the balance of flavouring, just the right amount of pepper, fresh thyme and not too much garlic! So many cheeses of this style have overpowering flavours, where you just end up with a mouthful of whole black peppercorns or raw garlic. But cheesemaker Simon Gough knows how to best use the oil and herbs to complement the delicious flavour of the goat's cheese.

Here's one of my favourite ways to use it: Chop some pumpkin and toss in a baking pan with some macadamia nuts and fresh rosemary or thyme, drizzle with some of the marinating oil and bake in a hot oven for about 30 minutes. Boil some pasta and toss the cooked pumpkin through, then top with the fetta. The delicious combination of sweet pumpkin, creamy cheese and crunchy macadamias is hard to beat.

Of course, you can also just enjoy it on crusty bread or crackers - Morpeth Sourdough Crisps are my preferred choice - remembering to soak up as much of the delicious marinade as possible.

*For more on Fetta vs Feta, see my previous post on Small Cow 'Fettice'

Marrook Farm 'Mountain Swiss' (aka 'Potholes')

Mountain-style
Cow's milk (Ayrshire)
Mid-North Coast
www.marrookfarm.com.au

The good people at Feather & Bone in Sydney recently introduced me to another fine, Swiss-style cheese from Marrook Farm. When they first took delivery of this new creation, they asked cheesemaker David Marks why he hadn't named it after a local land-mark, like his other hard cheeses, 'Bulga' and 'Brinawa'. In typical, straight-talking style, David replied that there were indeed a lot of potholes in the local area.

Marrook Farm 'Potholes'

While it is tempting to call the cheese an Emmental-style - that stereotypical "Swiss" cheese with holes in it - David insists it's not. It does utilise Propionibacteria to form the holes (these bacteria produce CO2 during the cheese's maturation, which pools inside the cheese forming holes or 'eyes'), it's not made using a 'hard-cooked' method like other Swiss-style cheeses. In fact, the recipe and method is a closely guarded secret, which David and his neighbour, a retired cheesemaker, came up with while experimenting last year.

Most cheesemakers would take months or years to develop cheese of this quality through experimentation, trial and error, but David just seems to have the knack when it comes to mountain-style cheeses.

Of all Marrook Farm's hard cheeses, I think 'Potholes' shows off the sweetness of the farm's milk best. The aroma of sweet, cultured cream gives way to a delighfully supple texture, filling the mouth with flavours of cultured butter, mushrooms and a hint of sweetness. It would probably make an excellent cooking cheese - think fondue made with 'Potholes' for melt-ability and 'Bulga' for depth of flavour - but I wouldn't know, because I ate the whole piece on its own.

Like all of Marrook Farm's hard cheeses, 'Potholes' is only made when the cows are exclusively feeding on pasture, so availability is seasonal. But well worth seeking out.

Country Valley 'Lush' Natural Yoghurt

Cow's milk
Southern Highlands
500g tubs
www.countryvalley.com.au

Since leaving Sydney at the end of last year, I really miss my daily fix of Country Valley yoghurt. Most days I ate it for breakfast, and it was normally the last thing I ate at the end of the day too, just a spoonful to settle my stomach before bed.

Country Valley 'Lush' Natural Yoghurt

Why do I love it? Because it's natural. And by that, I mean it is only made with two ingredients - milk and cultures. No thickeners like gelatin or vegetable gums, no stablisers, no 'non-fat milk solids' (whatever they are), no flavours, no colours and no sweeteners. Take a look at the ingredients list on so many commercially-made yoghurts these days, and most will have at least 2 of these additives; some will have all of them!

Unlike pot-set yoghuts, which often have a slightly lumpy texture and a little bit of free whey oozing from the top, Country Valley 'Lush' is thick, glossy and voluptuous.

And it's also really acidic. Yoghurt is supposed to have a sharp, citric tang, and this is one of the most acidic on the market. I'm probably in the minority, but I love eating it straight. When I told 'John the Milkman' himself, he couldn't believe I liked it unadulterated. So I asked him, if he thinks it's too acidic, why make it that way? He said he likes to give customers the option of adding honey or fruit to suit their own taste. Fair enough.

For those who just can't take that sharp, mouth-puckering tang, John and Sally Fairley also make a naturally sweetened version (somewhat confusingly labelled "Plain Yoghurt", in a blue tub), which is a lot easier on the palate. It still has a sharp acidity underneath, but it's perfectly balanced by just the right amount of sweetness.

So perfect, in fact, that it won Champion Yoghurt at the Sydney Royal Dairy Produce Show this year. Again.

Binnorie Dairy 'Buche de Chevre'

Matured goat log
Goat's milk
Hunter Valley
150g logs
2-3 weeks maturation
www.binnorie.com.au

There are two seasons for goat's milk cheeses - Spring and Autumn. In Spring I prefer the light, fresh curds and lemony fresh chevres, the arrival of which heralds the start of the season for me. But in Autumn, I enjoy more mature styles with stronger flavours and firmer textures that can be lingered over.

Binnorie Dairy
'Buche de Chevre'

Binnorie's 'Buche de Chevre', roughly translated as "goat's log", is a perfect Autumn goat's milk cheese. Cheesemaker, and former microbiologist, Simon Gough sources the milk from a single herd near the cheesery at Pokolbin, in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine region.

The young cheeses are dusted with vine ash before being left to mature for a couple of weeks. During this time, they develop their bloomy white rinds around the outside. The black ash just under the rind makes for a lovely contrast against the stark white of the cheese, which has a firm, chalky centre, and rich, fudgey texture.

If you're lucky enough to get one that is firm right through, without a runny layer beneath the rind (difficult to achieve with matured goat's milk cheeses) slice it into rounds and melt it on top of field mushrooms that have been baked with a splash of red wine, a sprig of fresh thyme and a generous grind of pepper. The complex, nutty flavours of the cheese perfectly complement the earthiness of the mushrooms. Autumn on a plate.

Bangalow Cheese Co 'Nashua'

Washed rind
Cow's milk (mixed Friesian/Guernsey/Jersey/Swiss Brown)
Northern Rivers
150g discs
6 weeks maturation
www.bangalowcheese.com.au

I love this cheese. I first discovered it at the ASCA Sydney Cheese Show in 2009, where I nominated it as best cheese in show. Sadly, my affection was not shared by the other judges at that particular show, and another cheese took the gong on the day.

Clearly, I was ahead of the times, because at the Sydney Royal Cheese Show in 2010, it won Gold in its class, as well as Champion Bovine Cheese and Champion Fancy Cheese.

Bangalow Cheese Co 'Nashua'

Cheesemaker Justin Telfer washes the infant cheeses in a salty brine, then lets a little bit of bloomy white mould develop on the surface. His approach is very much about allowing the cheeses to develop distintive characteristics depending on the season, and the subtle changes in each batch of milk.

Like many Australian washed rind cheeses, 'Nashua' is at its best in Autumn. When perfectly ripe, its texture is soft and pillowy, and it oozes invitingly when cut. The best batches have a distinctive hint of earth and truffles in amongst all that golden gooeyness.

After a break from the limelight last year, 'Nasha' was back to form at this year's Sydney Royal where it again earned a Gold medal in its class, and the Trophy for Champion Fancy Cheese. Not bad for a little hand-made cheese from a little town in the Northern Rivers.