“GO ON, I DARE YA.” That’s how it all started – a wager with Jill and Ade from Cartwheel Creamery to make a blue goat’s milk cheese. Fortunately for me, Ade and Jill have joined me on a number of cheese (mis)adventures along the way. Another of their cheeses, DoeReiMi – named after the classic Sound of Music anthem – started life as an entrant to the inaugural Great Unwashed Washed-Rind Challenge in 2018, a competition I held to find the best example of a New Zealand-made cheese washed in beer. DoeReiMi continues to be made today. Nanny Blue started life in similar fashion, with the name debated while the cheese matured. I designed the original cheese label, such is my tyrosemiophilia (the hobby of collecting cheese labels). Ade was not fussed about the goat playing a banjo, but Jill wanted this. Nanny Blue is sweet and herbaceous, with a firm but tender texture, still complex without being a boring conversation at the party. People who think they don’t like goat’s milk cheese regularly fall in love with Nanny Blue. Jill loves the blue and white contrast and is convinced there must be a bit of magic going on with goat pheromones and blue mould. A gentle cheese that is not overly goaty, but all Nanny Blue.
CALUM HODGSON – THE CURD NERD

Calum Hodgson is cheesemonger at Massimo’s Italian Cheeses nz_curd_nerd