Drop in to find the latest range of Milawa Goat cheeses!

Tomme

Named for the French alpine cheese Tomme de Chévre, which refers to the small 2kg barrel shape it is made in, our Tomme is often sought out for its uniqueness. A good hard table cheese, Tomme combines well with a fresh Chévre when cooking.

Whilst young Tomme has mild fresh tastes, and creamy yet dry texture. It develops on to a dry, cheddary, savoury cheese with a really rich dense interior. Excellent matched with a good dry red wine, and a sourdough loaf.

Milawa Goats Camembert

A rare treatment of goat milk, created to combine the buttery notes of Camembert with the rich, earthy flavours of aged goats cheese. This Camembert ranges from quite delicate mild flavours whilst young, to a decidedly goat kick when fully mature.

Ripe Goat Camembert and fresh French Sourdough is perfection.

And of course

Marinated Chévre

Milawa Chévre that has been marinated in garlic, chili, rosemary and olive oil. The herbs are added whole and impart a mild flavour to the cheese.

A perfect match with Mediterranean flavours for the your antipasto platter. Crumble over a green salad and then drizzle the flavoured oil in place of a dressing. Great for a goat cheese tart. Or grab a baguette and eat straight from the jar!

Cheese Platters are best kept simple and uncluttered, but can be accompanied by a number of delicious products which will add to your enjoyment of the platter.

Maggie Beer pastes come in a variety of flavours such as the ever popular Quince paste to the Plum, Fig and Fennel, Spiced Pear and Cabernet Paste. They provide a concentrated flavour in just a thin slice and compliment the flavour of all cheeses.

Pastilla Nash log is made with prunes, walnuts, sugar, lemon and honey. Totally natural, it has a long shelf life if kept in the fridge and when sliced wafer thin it adds another dimension to the flavour of your cheese. Muscatels on the vine, gláced fruit, dried cranberries, fresh fruit and nuts not only enhance the flavours of your cheeses but they also add to the overall pleasant appearance of your cheese board. Bunnyconnellen olives sourced from Crows Nest are organically grown, hand picked and processed.

At Colin James we stock their Italian herb kalamatas, smoked kalamatas (smoked with the iron bark from their property), Chilli and garlic blonde kalamatas, Lemon and Cardamon blonde kalamatas. These olives are plump, full of flavour and look great as a colour contrast to your cheeses. If you want great tasting salami then why not try our Borgo salamis made in Brisbane to traditional Italian recipes or slice up a tasty beer stick freshly made at Caloundra.

The breads you choose are important as they need to accompany your cheeses rather than overpower them. Shepherd’s Bread which is yeast, egg and dairy free is made to a traditional recipe stemming back to the time when shepherds tended their flocks and they required a bread that kept for long periods. These breads come in long, flat sheets that can be broken up to varying sizes as needed. The ever popular Australian made and owned Lavosh crackerbreads are baked in the traditional methods and display unique home baked characteristics. For those who love cheese but are looking for a great gluten free crackerbread, try Melinda’s Peppercorn and Chives, Natural or Poppy Seed crackers.

If you like your cheese stinky and full of flavour then washed rind cheeses is the category for you. Invented by the Trappist monks to enhance their rather meagre diet on fast days, they can range in flavour from mild to robust. This family of cheeses is varied and interesting and the perfect addition to your cheese platter.

During processing, the curd, which may or may not be cut depending on how soft the final cheese should be, is scooped into moulds and left to drain. The high moisture of the curd and the humidity of the maturing rooms attracts a bitter-tasting, grey, hairy mould called “cat fur”. To discourage this, the newly formed cheese is rubbed with or dunked in baths of salty water, wine or a similar alcoholic liquid. This produces a rather robust cheese and encourages the development of an orange sticky bacteria called brevi linnus which helps to break down the curd from the outside, gradually becoming an integral part of the interior, rather than just a skin.

The interior may resemble Brie as in Reblechon, Pont le Veque, Taleggio, Totalpina, Epoisses or be more supple and elastic as in Port Salut, Saint Paulin, Tilsit, Comte, Le Caviste (formerly known as Morbier) or be firmer as in Raclette or Gruyere. While the taste may range from mild and creamy, rather spicy to outrageously overpowering, the aroma often resembles old socks.

At one stage in French history washed rind cheeses were actually banned from French Public transport because of their rather strong, pungent meaty or yeasty smell. Washed rind cheeses are versatile cheeses. They make an interesting addition to a cheese platter, can be melted through your favourite pasta or steak sauce, added to an au gratin or melted over vegetables. They team well with dry white wines or robust reds. If you really want to experience a unique way to eat washed rind cheese buy a raclette machine or a fondue set and invite your friends around for a great evening.

Not only is it a treat for your taste buds, but it’s also a wonderfully healthy food! Often referred to as “the cow of the poor”, goats were frequently the only source of milk on small Mediterranean and north African family farms and as cheese was the way to preserve the excess spring and summer milk many goat cheeses have their origin in these areas.

What then are the health benefits to encourage you to eat goat cheese? Compared to cow milk products, goat cheese is lower in fat, calories and cholesterol. It also provides more calcium and fewer carbohydrates than comparable cow milk cheeses. Even though goat cheese has fewer calories, it has a full, rich and creamy flavour. The majority of people who are allergic to cow milk, or who are lactose intolerant will be able to digest goat milk. Forty seven percent of the worldwide human population is allergic to cow milk in one way or another, while only 3% have any allergic reaction to goat milk. So, most people with cow milk allergies or lactose intolerance can usually tolerate goat milk. In addition, most goat cheeses are made with a culture that converts the lactose to lactic acid, which is much more easily digested.

The fat particles in goat milk are approximately 1/3 the size of the fat particles in cow’s milk and are very close in size to those in mother’s milk. They are smaller with short-chain fatty acids and produce a softer curd. Their small size makes them easier to break down and digest than the larger, long-chain fatty acids of cow’s cheese. Goat milk products are said to be “naturally homogenised” and therefore easier to digest for lactose intolerants. Low in potassium, it is classified as a “kidney friendly” food and suitable for those with CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) Goat cheese ranges from soft, fresh chevre and fetta to yummy bries, (some even rolled in ash), blues to the harder style and even a gouda style. Combined with sheep’s milk it makes the perfect haloumi. Our range of Australian and imported goat cheese varies depending on availability.

THE COW’S hard milk cheese, known as cheddar, has been made in the Mendip Hills near the Cheddar Gorge in England since at least the sixteenth century. Since then emigrants have taken the recipe for this wonderful cheese to all parts of the world. However to be a true cheddar, the cheese must be produced in the hills of Somerset, Devon and Dorset. Unlike many of the other European cheeses, the name cheddar has not been protected and more than any other British cheese, it has been copied and abused to the point where many hundreds of tonnes of tasteless cheese are churned out daily world-wide bearing the name cheddar.

True cheddar is made from the milk of cows whose daily diet is fresh green grass, buttercups and daisies. Ten litres of milk is used to make 1 kg of cheddar cheese. Made by hand, traditional cheddar is wrapped in cheesecloth to mature for 9 – 24 months. Its taste is like magic, the bite like chocolate, firm and yielding and the aroma is fresh, nutty and slightly savoury. While the flavour differs from farm to farm, there is always the rich sweetness of the milk, a classic acid tang and a long lingering kaleidoscope of flavours.

Mild cheddars, sold between 1 and 3 months old, are firm, supple, slice easily and can be served with a crisp white wine. Matured cheddars (3 – 12 months), have a stronger flavour and a more textured body, making them a perfect partner for dry whites, Shiraz and Merlot. Vintage cheddar (aged for 12 – 24 months) with its more robust flavour, is delicious served with Cabernet Sauvignon, ports and muscats.. The older the cheese, the more crumbly it becomes. Aged cheddars can develop calcium lactate granules throughout the body of the cheese and often on the outside where it can be mistaken for white mould.

Today cheddar cheese is the base for various styles of club and processed cheeses which can contain a range of different flavourings, herbs and spices such as peppercorns, sage, walnuts, garlic, chilli and wasabi. Today some cheesemakers still mature their cheddars in cheesecloth (eg Kenilworth and Pyengana) and many cheesemakers use specific coloured waxes to depict the ages of the cheeses.

One of the world’s most famous blue cheeses owes its beginnings to a lusty shepherd. If legend is to be believed, Roquefort was created by sheer chance when a young shepherd found a cool cave in which to consume his supper of bread and fresh sheep’s milk cheese. Before he could eat his humble meal a beautiful girl came along. Forgetting his hunger he followed her. Several weeks later he returned to the cave where he found his left over meal of bread and cheese covered with a blue green veined mould. Sheer hunger forced him to eat the meal. To his delight it tasted so good, that, from then on he left his cheese in the cave for a period of time before eating it. Since then Roquefort has been matured in the caves and grottos of the village of Roquefort and its surrounding areas.

Blue cheeses range from the traditional hard varieties to the very soft bluebries. All are made using various strains of the Penicillium mould (the same mould that grows on oranges and breads when exposed to the natural atmosphere.).

Traditionally, blue cheeses were made by adding penicillium mould to the milk, the cheese was formed into shape and brined and then pierced with copper wires allowing the air into the body of the cheese enabling the mould to grow. Today, stainless steel spikes are used inpreference to the copper ones.

The blue mould is one of the most prolific moulds and quite easily migrates to other cheeses. For this reason blue mould cheeses are always produced in caves or special areas where non-blue mould cheeses are not made. Sometimes a blue cheese is actually white when opened with no or very little blue mould apparent. On exposure to the air the blue mould develops rapidly and enhances the flavour.

Roquefort is one of the most famous blue cheeses. Made from unpastuerised sheep’s milk it is easily recognized by the white open texture and its gutsy, salty flavour. Traditionally the mould was grown on a special type of ryebread, carefully dried, ground to a powder and mixed with the curd. Today the mould is more likely to be added as a liquid culture. Roquefort matches well with any good solid red wine, port or muscat.

That’s what most people think of when asking for Swiss cheese. The cheese connoisseur knows better. Tilset, Appenzeller, Emmental, Raclette and Gruyére are some of the most famous Swiss cheeses, the history of many of them dating back to the 12 and 13 Century.

Taking its name from the Emme River, Emmental is well recognized because of the walnut sized holes in it. It’s smooth, elastic texture and sweet fruity taste makes it the perfect cheese for fresh sandwiches and crusty rolls.

Appenzeller, one of Switzerland’s oldest cheeses, derives its dry, flat, pale yellow to orange rind from being washed in a secret concoction of spices, white wine and salt giving the younger cheese a buttery taste with fruit overtones which become stronger and more yeasty on maturity.

Known as Valais until the 19 Century, Raclette acquired its modern name from the French verb racler which means “to scrape”. This supple, pale golden cheese with it’s sweet, earthy and pleasant citrus to savoury tang was traditionally cut in half and placed with the cut surface facing the fire. As the cheese started to bubble, it would be scraped on to boiled potatoes to make a delectable treat.

Taking 400 litres of milk to produce a single 35kg wheel of Gruyére, this cheese with its fruity, earthy, nutty flavour and darker yellow colour is dense and compact, yet flexible making it perfect for gratins, grilling and in soups.

For the first 2 months of its life, Tilset (named after the east Prussian town of Tilset where it was first made) is washed and brushed regularly allowing a crusty rind to form protecting the smooth, supple interior (with its tiny irregular holes) from drying out. Tilset has a mildly pungent aroma, a rich buttery and fruity flavour with a spicy tinge.

Swiss cheeses are great served as table cheese, on your next cheese platter or used for melting, grilling and au gratins …. best of all, combine 2 or 3 of them in a fondue. What a great way to treat your guests or family to a relaxing and enjoyable introduction to the delights of Swiss cheese.