The big cheese

CARYS MONTEATH

THE CHAMP: Former accountant Hank Littink is New Zealand's top cheesemaker.

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This year's New Zealand cheese awards saw the champion of champions award go to Fonterra, but in Canterbury some of our smallest cheese businesses came home with medals and two major awards: the best hobby (home) cheesemaker is Emilio Festo of Aylesbury, and the champion cheesemaker in the country is now Loburn's Henk Littink.

Henk Littink, now officially New Zealand's champion cheesemaker, works at Karikaas Natural Dairy Products at Loburn. When he lived in the Netherlands he was an accountant. When he moved to New Zealand in 1985, he was a park keeper.

But both careers went out the door when he met Karikaas' then- owners Karin and Rients Rypma and tasted their maasdam and gouda style cheeses. He realised he had missed Dutch cheeses. These New Zealand-made varieties impressed him not only because they reminded him of home, but for their very good flavours. "I left my name at the factory with a note that if ever they were looking for staff to give me a call," he says. With no experience? "Oh yes, I knew I would like it and that is what is important."

Littink trained on the job, learning every aspect of the business over 15 years with the Rypmas. He stayed on with new owner Diane Hawkins. Now, somewhat to his surprise, he has been a cheesemaker for 21 years.

There have been medals and other awards over the years, but never, till now, the big one.

"Winning the award is five minutes of glory," he says, "but the honour stays with the recognition. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, but it is always a team effort you know. In a small business making a specialty product it is always about the team."

And his favourite cheese? "I enjoy a young - maybe three months old - Karikaas gouda."

A TASTE OF ITALY

"Winning this award confirms to me my dedication and knowledge are appreciated," says champion hobby cheesemaker Emilio Festo.

Festo and his family left Italy for a new life in New Zealand four years ago. "I had a dream of becoming a cheesemaker from the days when I studied at agricultural college. But you know how life is, I was making cheese only for one and half years then for the next 24 years, a completely different career."

He didn't give up his cheesemaking dreams completely, working for a short time in the cheese factory at Puhoi and taking courses. Now, he has his own small farm and makes cheese for his family and friends.

"The milk here is like white gold and the starters are very good, but making cheese is not like baking and following a recipe," he says. "Part of its challenge is understanding milk, reactions to changes in temperature maybe, and the acidity and structure of the various cheeses. The beauty of good milk is the capacity it gives the cheesemaker to organise those elements to satisfy the market."

Festo won a gold medal and an award for his homemade ricotta, a silver medal for his mozzarella, and the Champion Hobbyist Award. His plans for the future include making and maturing more of his favourite formaggella cheese, building a dedicated home-based cheesemaking and maturing room, and selling his cheeses commercially.

GREAT GRUFF

Microbiologist turned primary school teacher turned cheesemaker Anna Moorhead is no stranger to recognition for her Gruff Junction hand-crafted cheeses, but was thrilled to take top place in a category for the first time this year.

Selwyn Farmhouse Mature Goat Cheese was named the Champion Goat Cheese while her Fendalton and Lyttelton Blue were bronze medal winners. The winning cheese, aged for two years, is brown around the edges and mottled inside.

"The texture is quite hard, but it's a bit like a vintage cheese. It has crunchy bits in it as a result of crystallisation. I wondered what the judges would think about that but they obviously like it."

Anna's foray into cheesemaking was the result of a happy coincidence. The 33-year-old became disenchanted with teaching at the same time as her father, a university lecturer turned goat farmer, found the market for his product was not big enough.

"He needed a cheesemaker to buy his milk and I had the right background," she says.

So Anna took a cheesemaking course in London and for three years running worked as a steward at the World Cheese Awards, thinking she could pick up a trick or two.

"I always positioned myself close to the goat table so I could listen and learn."

- © Fairfax NZ News