BBQ Tips for Cheese
How did we start? • I decided in my 40’s to start my own business and decided it was going to be cheese manufacturing. I’ve always had a thing for cheese! When I was little I remember my dad would wrap little cubes of cheddar in bacon and fry them up on the weekends – I was hooked from then on. • Trips to Europe where I tasted many kinds of cheese and saw artisan cheesemaking first-hand. • I started making cheese at home using a mail-order kit in 2000 with milk from my neighbours, the Ebeling family. They now supply our factory. • I live in the centre of dairy country in South Waikato, so raw milk source was available. • I founded Over The Moon Dairy in late 2007, starting production in January 2008. We’ve just had our 14th birthday. This was supposed to be a retirement project but has turned into the small business ownership role I always dreamed of. I’d always had the idea of starting my own business before I ended my working life.
Summertime is BBQ time, and a great BBQ cheese is Halloumi which is fantastic as you can fry it. A lot more people know and enjoy Halloumi now, but it was hardly known at all when I first started Cube and skewer Halloumi alternately with steak and cherry tomatoes and fry on the BBQ. Brush with marinade beforehand if you want more flavour. It elevates plain (cooked and sliced) sausages if that’s all you can find in the freezer! Here’s another BBQ tip but this one’s a bit naughty. Take a mini round of Camembert and fry each side for a couple of minutes to soften it up. Then cut it in half and fry the cut faces. Put on a plate then smear onto sliced French bread. You might not be able to fit dinner in after feasting on this! If you buy a firmer Brie/Camembert or soft washed rind, take it home and put it on a shelf (out of the sun) and wait till it’s quite squidgy. This could take several days but you’ll be rewarded with a cheese that oozes and gives you lots more flavor.
• The New Zealand Cheese School also operates from the Over The Moon factory, training professional cheesemakers from NZ – and all around the world (prior to Covid). • In 2015 we opened another Over The Moon Cheese Deli in Cambridge. • We also acquired the Cheese Cartel in March 2020, an online cheese subscription service, and been developing and growing our online store over several years.
What’s our point of difference? The things that make us different are our innovation, access to four different types of milk, and consistently high-quality product. We love a challenge. We love ‘having a play’ in the factory and seeing what we can come up with. Different blends (cow with buffalo, goat with cow). We are also introducing our new sheep cheeses this summer. Most times it works and customers love our high-quality products. We’ve won over 150 medals and trophies, from both NZ and overseas.
14
Goat & Sheep Milk NZ - Issue 5 | February 2022
