Behind The Story: Boosey Creek Cheese
One of the best things about being a food writer is that, sometimes, you get to eat the fruit of your labours. (Quite literally the time I wrote this story about a Bolivian fruit called the achacha). Other times, it's less literal but just as tasty.
In July, I spent a week with a talented bunch of young hospitality folk on an Appetite for Excellence produce tour around Victoria. It was inspiring, informative, and fun. It was also a lot of work. I needed to listen, learn, understand, and write up the experience of every producer (9 in total over 4 days).
One of the first places we visited was a family-run cheese factory called Boosey Creek. It's a tiny place where everything is done by hand. And they can lay claim to producing some of the freshest cheese in the country. This is because they also own a dairy farm and the milk from their grass-fed cows travels a single metre to the dairy. Yep, ONE METRE. (That's like 3 feet, for you Americans).
As a point of reference, most dairies buy their milk from surrounding dairy farms and it takes a few hours to arrive. And that is still very fresh.
This is a regular electronic milking system that calculates the amount of milk each cow produces. They are milked 3 times a day and fed grains during the process so they're fairly content. Up close they're also a lot bigger than they look on the field.
These 350 Friesian cows spend their whole lives outside on a 900-acre farm. In the thick, red, muddy soil, grass and clover grow with abandon.
Unsurprisingly, such freshness and care means Boosey Creek produces some tasty cheese. And they win a lot of awards.
If you love cheese, read my story on Boosey Creek Cheese here.
Then get down to a supermarket and taste it for yourself!
About the author: Lilani Goonesena is an Australian freelance writer, Squarespace web designer and blogger currently living in Vientiane, Laos. She is passionate about helping freelancers and small businesses get online with web design and content, blogging and her awesome weekly newsletter on digital marketing, social media, content, SEO, web design and "all that online stuff". She also writes food and travel articles for businesses and magazines, and blogs at the delectable Eat Drink Laos, just for fun.