Products

“Alexandrina Cheese is really from ‘paddock to plate’ Rebekah McCaul says." "We make award winning handmade hard style cheese on our farm." Each cheese is made to a particular ‘recipe’, and takes into account the daily milk quality, the style of the cheese, the knowledge of how to make it and some special techniques learnt from the generation before.   At Alexandrina Cheese Company it all starts with ...

Step 1. Milking the Jersey cows.
Step 2. Transport to the factory.
Step 3. Cheese making.

Alexandrina Cheese run there factory three days a week - Monday, Wednesday & Friday. There are lots of steps in the method pasteurization:

• heating the milk to 72 C separation
• taking the cream off the milk adding starter culture (a special bacteria) adding rennet
• rennet allows the milk to set cutting the curd and coagulation.

Step 3. The craft of cheese making …

Each variety of cheese has a different method. This makes the cheese maker manipulate the curds in a different way to achieve a specific outcome … a type or variety of cheese.

Cheddar – making involves;

> stirring the curds and whey
> draining the whey
> turning and stretching the curd.
> milling curd
> salting curd.
> filling the moulds
> pressing the moulds  

Edam & Gouda – making involves;

> pressing the curds under the whey
> draining the whey
> cutting the blocks of curd
> fitting the curd blocks in to moulds
> pressing the curd to form shapes
> balls and rounds go into a brine bath
> cheeses are dried and waxed

 Romano & Pepato - making involves;

> stirring the curds and whey
> draining the whey
> turning the curd.
> milling curd
> adding peppercorns to the pepato
> salting curd.
> filling the ten kilogram moulds
> pressing the moulds

Step 4. Maturing involves the cheese being sent to store room, to where the cheese is turned once or twice a week for even maturing.

Step 5. Quality check;

> cutting the cheese with a clean wire
> sensory evaluation / taste and smell
> packing and labelling the cheese.

Step 6. Most important step – a tutoured tasting and picnic under near a shady tree!

Blessed are the cheese makers!