Speciality Food Magazine JulyAugust 2024

specialityfoodmagazine.com 29 SPECIAL REPORT Owen Davies, of Ty Caws in Cardiff (a cheesemonger which has recently started to produce sheep’s milk cheese), says more needs to be done to support the industry, and adds that investment in sheep’s milk could be lucrative for farmers due to heightened demand. “The price for sheep’s milk is 3.5 times more than cow’s,” he explains. “There is a premium there, and there is a huge demand for sheep’s milk, sheep’s milk cheese, and even sheep’s milk yoghurt. Beyond this, we’re seeing, in places like New Zealand, sheep’s milk being bought up by China to be used in baby milk formula because they are intolerant to cow’s milk. There is a market for it, but at the moment here, it’s hard to get hold of.” Owen has been crafting cheese at Food Centre Wales, a funded development site where he’s been able to research and create products with support. “I said to them I wanted to focus on sheep’s milk cheese. Wales is a country of sheep, but we HELP NEEDED TO MEET THE DEMAND FOR SHEEP’S MILK CHEESES Sheep’s milk cheesemakers in the UK say they are struggling to keep up with increased requests for their products due to a nationwide shortage of milk. don’t actually make many sheep’s milk cheeses ourselves, and we have a number of customers who are switching from eating cow’s milk cheeses to sheep’s milk and goat because of intolerances. Apparently, sheep’s milk is the closest to human milk, and it’s easier for us to digest.” Owen says they were lucky enough to find a farmer last year in Pembrokeshire who was able to supply them with good quality sheep’s milk. “But when we came to make cheese this year, that farmer had decided not to produce it anymore.” This will be a familiar dilemma for other makers. “It is very very difficult to find sheep’s milk in Wales, but we did manage to find a small farmer in mid to North Wales, who has 36 dairy sheep. However, it is very small scale.” Owen says he is pleased the Welsh government is in the process of setting up a sheep’s milk dairy in the country to support the industry but adds there is still work to be done to ensure the strengthening of what could be a valuable market in the future. Feltham Farm and Organic Cheesemakers’ Network founder Penny Nagle agrees, but says more needs to done to promote the benefits of organic farming and cheese in particular. Although interest in organic cheese is rising, Penny says that is countered by the decision of some organic cheesemakers to stop certifying in order to save money, which is in turn devaluing this small corner of the cheese world. “We think there needs to be a bit of research done, certainly by the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and the Soil Association,” she explains. “There’s a whole movement about regenerative farming and Net Zero and rewilding. And what we’re saying is, we’ve got organic cheeses here, and we’re thinking about all of those things too. There’s an almost untold story about how good organic milk is.” Those who farm organically or buy organic milk from a single source herd, such as Feltham’s Farm, have a third more costs because “everything has to be organic or the best quality, and often organic cheese is sold at the same price as other standard cheeses”. From Penny, the message is that consumers need more opportunities to engage with organic cheese, which suffers a lack of visibility, with cheesemongers not necessarily ‘thinking organic’ as they curate their stock lists. “There’s definitely a market for it,.” she adds “There’s a big movement from the Soil Association to say organic food is as accessible as any other handmade artisan food. That’s certainly the message we want to send.” Jessica Kimber Holloway at Godminster agrees that consumer education around organic is poor. She says she is saddened that organic seems to be increasingly left out of the speciality conversation which, she thinks, has an impact on all organic producers. “We used to lead with organic as our main USP,” she says. “But we don’t any longer because it can have negative connotations. There can be that expectation that it’s too expensive, but actually it is often priced like-for- like alongside non-organic artisan cheeses. I think those who remain organic will be able to charge a good premium for their products because organic is in demand. We need to shout about the value of organic!” Penny adds that consumers are increasingly looking at improving their diets, choosing local, organic and non-UPF, and that the main barrier is gaining access to these shoppers – something that retailers can certainly help with. GRAHAM’S FAMILY DAIRY HAS RECENTLY NOTED A 40% RISE IN COTTAGE CHEESE SALES – TO LEVELS NOT SEEN SINCE THE 1980S