My Australian Cheeseboard

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a decent cheeseboard. Travelling down under this year, I made a point that our choices would all be Australian-made.

Cheese here is heavily influenced by Europe. You will find versions of the most popular cheese from France, Italy and England that have been home-made in Australia. Alongside these are many small and independent producers experimenting with new styles and presentation.

You can see my selection for our Christmas Day meal in the photo above. Here are the ones that made my final cut, including further information and links to the producers, should you wish to find out more:

• Endeavour Blue is from King Island Dairy, which is based on a small island in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. The island’s microclimate produces lush pasture, hence rich creamy milk and cheese. This blue is reminiscent of a good gorgonzola.
• Gumleaf Smoked Cheddar from Bodalla Farm on the New South Wales coast, south of Sydney. Smoked in leaves of a gum tree, it is part of their Bush Tucker Cheese range. Thankfully, it doesn’t taste too strongly of eucalyptus, just good smoked cheddar!
• Fresh Chevre Goat’s Cheese, dusted with ash, from Meredith Dairy in western Victoria. Ash helps balance acidity and develop a rind, while adding visual interest to your platter.
• Brie from Udder Delights, an independent producer from Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
• Camembert, also from Udder Delights.

I also enjoyed a trip with family and friends to the Yarra Valley Dairy. Their range of goats cheeses are served as part of a sharing platter along with other delights like olives, cured meats, cornichons, home-made relishes and terrine, see my photo below.

The Yarra Valley is a major wine and cheese producing region of Victoria, in the hills north-east of Melbourne. Here is a photo I took of the vineyard and hills beyond, while stopped for some Cellar Door wine tasting at Yering Farm Wines.

A gourmet experience of rich and creamy cheese, fine wines, in a beautiful rural setting with sunny weather (it reached 37C!). All in all, a Beautiful Day. Time to add U2 to the ADK Spotify Playlist.