The announcement last week that New Zealand will no longer be able to sell cheese labelled as feta under a new free trade deal signed between New Zealand and the European Union is an opportunity for the industry, said Cathy Lang, who has just been named New Zealand Champion Cheesemaker.
“It is going to be a little bit different, but exciting as well. New Zealand makes styles across the board, but it’s time for us to make our own types of cheese and come up with something new,” Lang, who is a master cheesemaker at Fonterra’s Bridge St site in Eltham, South Taranaki, said.
“That’s how these older styles started in their own countries. This is something to look forward to.”
Cheesemakers around New Zealand are already coming up with “weird and wonderful” cheeses, some using native ingredients, she said.
Cheese reflects the climate, season, how the cows are fed and the environment of the place where it is produced, like wine, she said.
“You have to know how to read the milk first, then the curd you have in the vat, across the seasons.”
Lang, who won the title at the 2022 New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association’s New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards, still makes her own cheese for pleasure on the weekends.
She got her taste for creating cheese as a hobby more than 20 years ago, while working in various roles in the veterinary and animal health industry.
Then she spent seven years running her own artisan business, Cloudy Mountain Cheese, before making the switch to Fonterra.
Her journey from being a home cheesemaker to heading an operation that produces brands including Mainland, Kapiti and Galaxy sounds like a huge step, but the fundamentals of the craft are still the same.
“When people think of Fonterra, they think someone pushes a button and a block of cheese comes out at the end. But it’s not the case – all the cheeses are made by hand,” she said.
“Making cheese here is essentially the same. You’re simply dealing with larger volumes and more people.”
Five of Fonterra’s cheeses also won awards:
- Dominion Salt Champion Export Cheese Award – Kapiti Kikorangi Triple Cream Blue;
- Ecolab Champion Blue Cheese Award – Kapiti Kahurangi Creamy Blue;
- Tetrapak Champion Retail Pack Cheddar Cheese – Mainland Tasty Light (Noble);
- CHR Hansen Champion Soft White Rind Cheese – Kapiti Akatea Brie 125gm; and
- Thermoflo Champion Washed Rind Cheese – Kapiti Rarama Washed Rind.
