30 May 2010

FIRST TASTE & ALL LOCAL

It's not often that you can get the very first taste of a new product. Every week I stop by to see Pam Wills, her daughter Annie and son-in-law Phil Armstrong's stall in the Matakana Farmer's Market to and find out what they're up to. They are raising a herd of about buffalo in the Whangaripo Valley, over the hills from Matakana, and have been making the buffalo milk into some lovely cheeses for more than a year now.

Each week they offer tastings of their yogurt, their Brie-style buffalo cheese and a beautiful, slightly creamy Blue that is mild but has a ton of flavour. I have also bought a wonderful fresh cheese from them that was perfect on one of my almost famous tarts, and occasionally they have creamy little mozzarella balls to sell in the market.

But this week they were beaming with pride at their new Pecorino style cheese , which they call St Malo. This was the first outing for the cheese, and it was probably a little young and needed a tad more maturity. But I guess the excitement was high and why not take a wheel to market to give foodies like me a taste? I bought a small slab and have had it tonight for Sunday dinner (or tea as my mother would call the light meal we were served at the end of the weekend.) It was deliciously tangy and tasty and I can imagine it will be magnificent if they can resist selling it until a few more weeks have passed.

We actually had a complete farmer's market meal as we started with Annabelle Guinness' comforting Shiitake Tea Soup which may well outdo chicken soup when you need a little nurturing. We then ate our cheese with toasted kumara and sunflower seed bread that Jason of Pukeko Bakery had sold me at the market. Light, fresh and all local!

Whangaripo Buffalo cheese is only available at the Matakana Farmers Market presently, but it may soon be in Farro Fresh. Annabelle Guinness's range of phenomenally good artisan soups (she chops everything by hand and only uses the freshest and best ingredients) is coming to Nosh in the next week or two. And Jason takes his bread to a number of other markets around the Auckland area including La Cigale and the Parnell Farmers Market on Saturdays.