Cheesemaking: sharing the passion

Dave Milner has been making cheese since 1980 and is now sharing his passion and expertise with others.

At his recent cheesemaking workshop at Bethany Park in Kaiteriteri, he showed nine participants how to make camembert. Dave’s enjoyment of cheesemaking began when he joined the East Tamaki Dairy Company in 1980.

“The company had just built a specialty cheese factory on the site, specifically to manufacture the first traditional style camembert, Royal Tasman Camembert,” he says.

This was the first specialty-type of cheese ever made in New Zealand.

During his 19 years at the company, Dave developed his passion for cheesemaking.

The company were producing a range of white mould French-style cheeses under the Royal Tasman label for retail and supermarket trade throughout New Zealand. They were also making a 1kg round brie-style cheese for a specialty food company in Australia, Pinnacle Foods.

Pinnacle Foods requested that they make a product similar to ‘Lactos’, the most popular cheese in the category at that time, which was made in Tasmania. So, Dave went to Sydney to find out exactly what style of cheese was required, spending time behind the delicatessen counter of one of the leading department stores, David Jones, asking customers what soft cheeses they preferred and why.

“When I returned home, I had a fair idea of what was required,” Dave says. “We made just one batch of the ‘special new style cheese’ and sent samples to Sydney for assessment.”

The comments came back positive, and the cheese was named Royal Tasman Double Cream. It won the ‘best new experimental cheese’ award at the NZ Cheese Awards in 1994.

Decisions regarding branding were the next step.

“Picture this - three people sitting around a table with a map of France,” Dave recalls.

“After much discussion we came to the Orn District and it was suggested we name the product ‘Orn’ but felt it was not quite right. So, at my suggestion, we added ‘elle’ to the end, and Ornelle Double Cream was born.”

Dave is now sharing his passion through workshops, which he has held for many years now. At his workshops participants make four cheeses - soft, feta, camembert and cheddar.

Call Dave on 0211644822 if you are interested in attending a future workshop.

By Fiona Nelson