Blessed Are The Cheesemakers

Last weekend we drove into Newtown, one of Wellington’s lower-rent suburbs, to visit a shop called Brew House. They sell mostly equipment to do with home brewing and wine making, but do a side line in cheese-making equipment as well. Some months ago, Nicola went on a cheese-making course and has been itching to put her knowledge into practice.

Armed with the Mad Millie kit, and after reading the instructions, we sought out sheep’s milk at Moore Wilson, in order to make halloumi. Unfortunately they had none, although I’m sure I’ve seen it there before. So we bought cow’s silver-top (full-cream) milk instead. I also spotted that they stock buffalo milk, which will be handy when mozzarella is on the cheese-making menu.

Cheese-making in progress

The cheese-making process is a mysterious art which requires special utensils, and magic. Nicola will tell you all about it.

At the end of the process, we had six small halloumi cheeses. We had some for lunch last Sunday, and more for lunch today. They taste of halloumi, fry up well, and are generally successful.