CHEESE BOX 85 –

March 26

Welcome to our Cheese box 85 – March 26! 

INTRODUCING VALHAL CHEESE

Our favourite thing to do is to introduce a new cheesemaker and their cheese to you. It brings us joy to connect you with the ‘small guys’, to bring quality artisan cheese to your cheese platter, and to do our bit to support NZ economy. Valhal has just been launched a couple of months ago. It’s a third string to the bow for Nelson cheese lover and entrepreneur David: They produce cow-milk cheese with Little River Estate, sheep-milk cheese with Thorvald, and now offers an exciting range of goat cheeses. We feature their Freya this month and can’t wait to make you discover the rest of their new range.

We are always keen for your feedback to guide our future cheese curations, so do let us know what you think, either directly by email or on our Social Media channels (instagram.com/thecheesewheel4u, facebook.com/thecheesewheel.co.nz or tiktok.com/@thecheesewheelnz).

FREYA – FROM VALHAL CHEESE

A little white rind lactic set cheese matured for 10 days. The Freya has a mushroomy cabbage taste (in a nice way!), and its centre is light and fluffy. As it ripens it takes on a nutty woodland flavour and the paste (centre) becomes runny as the flavours increase. So you can almost decide when you eat it based on the taste you like, how fun is that! Perfect on seedy bread with a light cola, pilsener or Voigner.

Region: Nelson-Tasma. Type of milk: goat

VINTAGE GOUDA – FROM MEYER CHEESE

A classic, we can’t eat enough of this fine cheese made by Miels and his team in Waikato (They’ve recently expanded their cheese factory by the way, which is a good news for us all cheese lovers). Enjoy the crunch of the salt crystals, and match it with some stone fruit and a chardonnay, Tuatara Helles or a Scotch ale.

Region: Waikato. Type of milk: cow

BLUE – FROM THORVALD

A lovely semi-hard blue with a light rind. The tanginess increases with age so our advice is to be patient. Excellent with homemade quince paste and a dark cola, brown ale or port.

Region: Nelson-Tasman. Type of milk: sheep

SHEEP GOUDA – FROM GERALDINE CHEESE

Our second gouda this month, but quite different given this one is make by Jason (Geraldine cheesemaker) with sheep milk. It does go well with stone fruit though, and try it with peach cordial,  a Porter or a Cabernet Franc.

Region: Canterbury. Type of milk: sheep