Speciality Food Feb/March 2024

specialityfoodmagazine.com 51 RAVE Coffee and Paxton &Whitfield have teamed up to create Kaldi – a limited edition coffee-matured goats’ cheese. Named for the young goat herder who, legend has it, first discovered coffee, Kaldi is an innovative washed- rind variety, balancing the fruity and floral notes of RAVE’s responsibly sourced beans with the fresh, clean and nutty profile of the cheese. RAVE’s DavidWebb and Paxton &Whitfield’s James Rutter explored different milks and cheese styles before landing on Kaldi’s final format – using young, unrinded goats’ cheese from the Somerset Cheese Company. It’s aged at the cheesemonger’s state-of-the-art maturation rooms in the Cotswolds, where it goes through a process of brine-washing and coffee coating before maturing over 10 weeks. James says, “Aside from cheese, coffee is the product that intrigues me the most, so it was a real pleasure to work on the Kaldi collaboration with RAVE. Since we opened our maturation rooms and increased our focus on affinage, coffee has been on our minds, but we knew the process would only work if we used the highest quality beans. “We’re very lucky to have RAVE on our doorstep, ready to help us find a coffee that complemented the goats’ cheese and let it sing, rather than dominating it altogether.” New coffee cheese comes to market Mexican food and drink is hot property in retail right now, with trendsetters and analysts predicting the British appetite for everything from tequila to tacos will only strengthen in 2024. A family-run cheesemaking business in Yorkshire has got ahead of the game, tapping into the trend to produce a brand-newOaxaca-style cheese for retail, alongside a range of soft Mexican-type cheeses that are being snapped up by restaurants and foodservice. Razan Alsous of Yorkshire Dama (known for its Squeaky Cheese made using Yorkshire milk), started investigating Mexican dairy as part of her degree in foodmanufacturing. “It’s very similar to the cheeses in the Middle East,” says the Syrian native, “because we do a lot of fresh cheese and cheese curds, which is what they are doing as well. I had some customers ask ‘do youmake queso fresco?’ and I started to read about it. By coincidence, we do make it but under a different name in Arabic, so A range of ethically-produced goats’ cheeses, which launched successfully at the end of 2023, will once again become available to retail for summer 2024. Danni Rees and Oli Harris foundedMossy Oaks in the Shropshire Hills in 2022, following their shared ambition to live from the land and produce high- quality, sustainable food. British Saddleback pigs, rescued laying hens, and a herd of hardy rare breed Guernsey Gold goats are part of teamMossy Oaks, where the duo is aiming to return to a fully traditional wood pasture system. Havingmade cheese as a hobby since 2017, and being passionate about craft cheese, they have invested in producing a ‘full board’ withmilk from their “happy goats” which live out on pasture year-round. The entire process, frommilking to packaging, takes place on site. “We operate as low input as possible,” says Danni. “Our herd is fedmainly from the pasture, supplemented with spent grain from a local brewery. We rotationally graze our pasture with herd so they benefit the land as well as producing food for us. And we work with the rhythm of nature and keep all our processes in sync with this.” Milking takes place only fromApril to October, and the farm operates a nanny-with-kid system, keeping kids with their mums, and only taking surplus milk for cheesemaking. The next batches will be available from this summer, and include the signature Mossy Oaks Gold (a semi-soft washed-rind cheese), Nanny Hold (a hard cheese), Hill Billy Blue, and bloomy-rinded Golden Goatling. Soft fresh cream cheese and feta and halloumi-style cheeses are also available.” Yorkshire producer launches Mexican-style cheese range I thought, ‘why not?’” Especially, she thought, as Mexican cheese cannot be imported into the UK. Razan began researching the technical aspects of Oaxaca cheese, spending a year onmarket research and formulation, and says she has seen a lot of interest since the product became available for sale. “It’s very similar to mozzarella, but it has a slightly different technique of how you work on the acidity and moisture level of the cheese, and there is a slightly different texture as well, but it’s from the same family of cheeses,” says Razan. “This is what we need at the moment in the UK.” Also available, largely to chefs but potentially to retail in future, are queso Latino, and the queso fresco, with Razan working on a Chihuahua- style cheese and a Mexican spiced version of her Squeaky Cheese. “As an SME we have got the flexibility to anticipate gaps in the market and respond to them. It’s all now about business growth, and going to the next level,” she adds. New ethically-made goats’ cheeses to be available this summer Lynher Dairies, maker of Cornish Yarg and Cornish Kern, has been awarded Most Sustainable Organisation for a medium- sized business at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards. Emily Rodda says, “Lynher Dairies lives and breathes to produce outstanding cheese. Today, our definition of ‘outstanding’ goes beyond the array of national and international awards that we receive to hold our environment and social performance as integral to the business. “Our interventions are centered around three main pillars that align with the triple bottom line approach: reducing our environmental impact through improving resource efficiency; supporting our farming, cheesemaking and local communities for the good of all; and exceeding our role as employers to improve the wellbeing and social equity of our team.” Sustainability measures at the dairy that contributed to its award win include reducing electricity consumption by 47% since 2018, installing solar panels in 2023, changing processes to reduce plastic cheese cloth consumption, and using ‘wonky’ cheeses in cooking demonstrations at local events. Wild garlic and nettle foragers are trained to ensure they don’t deplete natural stocks, and, says Emma, the dairy has collaborated with Working Woodlands Cornwall to launch a woodland management plan. “Our projects going into 2024 include making our packaging 100% biodegradable, recyclable and reusable, exploring ways to convert our pasteuriser boiler to renewable energy sources, and developing our own farm standard for our herd which reflects the social, environmental, and animal welfare standards that we deem essential,” Emily adds. Cornish dairy celebrates sustainability award