CHEESE WATCH

Moulin Rouge - Crescent Cashew Nut Cheese, Henderson

Calum Hodgson tells us about one of his favourite cheeses

CHEESE IS HARD TO HATE. A talisman of simple things, even saying the word ‘cheese’ elicits a smile no matter what the age. So, I coined this phenomenon, #Cheesesolidarity, an energy at play that puts cheese unity in the community. When I returned to New Zealand from the UK, NZ cheesemakers were generally reluctant to open their doors to weird curd nerds wanting to visit and hang out, and I started to feel my concept of #Cheesesolidarity might be too idealistic. When I met cheesemaker Jan Walters moons ago, she was farming goats quite literally smack bang in the middle of suburban Albany. She made great goat’s cheese and improvised and made almost all of her cheese kit from recycled hardware. She instantly became my muse. After milking goats for 37 years and making goat’s cheese for 17 years, Jan is now retired, but she didn’t want to give up the game of cheesemaking, so she started to play with new raw ingredients. A cashew breakthrough suggested an opportunity for an easier lifestyle that had no milking, no feeding, no kidding and no mucking out of sheds. And thus Crescent Cashew Nut Cheese was born, producing ripened nut cheese with all the characteristics of a mould-ripened cheese. Moulin Rouge is a soft and crumbly mould-ripened cashew cheese washed in port wine. It’s a cheese for cheese purists and vegans alike that in many ways encompasses #Cheesesolidarity. The alchemy is in teasing out the cheese’s character in the maturing room – a little lactose gives the cultures something to feast on, multiply and reveal their hidden personalities. This cheese is weirdly nostalgic for me, with those familiar smells of the maturing room from my many visits to the farm. Just like Jan’s cheeses, my wife and kids are gluten free and dairy free. It’s not a melodrama as some assert; it’s a new wave of food adventure. Now we all can say cheese and smile! CALUM HODGSON - THE CURD NERD instagram.com/nz_curd_nerd.