Whitestone Cheese struck gold when going deep into cheesemaking. Meet the Dairy Champions behind your new favourite blue.

When the going got tough during the pandemic, Whitestone Cheese’s managing director Simon Berry doubled down on cheese nerdery. In 2020, Ōamaru’s Whitestone Cheese saw its export markets and domestic restaurant trade disappear overnight, so Simon stuck to what he’s good at, spelunking into the blue cavities of cheesemaking. Simon set out to create a high-moisture blue cheese — trickier than it sounds. Some weird science was in order. The difficulty comes from getting a soft, wet cheese to retain its structure. Without expert care, the little oxygen cavities and holes where the blue mould grows in the cheese will cave in on themselves. But Simon and his cheesemaking troglodytes experimented, proving their blue cheese hypothesis correct by producing Whitestone Oamaru Blue, this year’s Dairy Champion.

“Delicious. The judges could not stop eating this,” said the panel.

Whitestone already has many awards for its flagstone cheeses, but for Simon, the Oamaru Blue is special; it explores new territory. New Zealand consumers tend to favour milder, firmer blues, he says, but Whitestone’s Oamaru Blue, which features the company’s famed Shenley Station 45° South Blue culture as well as an effusive Italian strain, is full of gusto.

With the domestic restaurant markets back on track and as exports slowly awaken from their pandemic slumber, Simon looks back on the challenges of the past few years with fondness. A virtual cheese-tasting night for harrowed and housebound Aucklanders in 2021 reinforced to him why he loves cheese so much.

“It was people just eating cheese and chatting in a video call, but it was a moment of joy and connection. It made me think that even in downtimes, people want something to treat themselves with.”

About the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards

The winners of the seventh Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards make some of the most delicious food and drink Aotearoa has ever tasted. Salute the medallists and winners and show your support by buying their gourmet treats.

CATEGORY CHAMPIONS

Supreme Champion: Premium Pine Nuts, Pinoli, Marlborough
Emerson’s Paddock Champion: Organic Scotch Fillet & Pure Organic Beef Burger Patties, Moreish Premium Organic Butchery, Palmerston North
Dairy Champion: Oamaru Blue, Whitestone Cheese Co, Ōamaru
Seafood New Zealand Water Champion: Live Crayfish, Tora Collective, Tora Bay
Farro Earth Champion: Premium Pine Nuts, Pinoli, Marlborough
Label & Litho Drink Champion: Currant Crush, Pete’s Natural, Nelson
Free-From Champion: Mango Lassi Ice Cream, Little ‘Lato, Auckland

Find the full list of winners here, and medallists here.

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