Cheesemaker enjoys slice of success in food awards
A quest for perfection has seen Woodside-based Kym Masters take a top SA prize with his Section28 Sunrise cheese at the delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards.
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Kym Masters has been making cheese in the Adelaide Hills for five years, “and we’re still about 50 years off perfection,” the Section28 Artisan Cheese owner smiles.
“We joke about that, but we’re serious, too. We’re probably 85 per cent of the way there now. Over the next 10 to 15 years we’ll get to 90 per cent there.”
This quest for perfection has seen Woodside-based Mr Masters quickly establish himself as a cheesemaker to watch, and his Section28 Sunrise cheese, a classic semi-hard alpine cheese that is washed in the lees of BK Wines’ pétillant-naturel chardonnay, today scooped a delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Award.
Mr Masters was announced as one of four SA state winners in the Dairy category. He was joined by cheeses from La Vera Cheese, The Dairy at Riverside Farm and The Dairyman Barossa.
The Cleve-born and raised former corporate financier Mr Masters started Section 28 in 2015 after being inspired by the cheese he tasted on a 12-month stint in the mountains of northern Italy with his family.
Cheese making, he says, is part science, part art. Understanding your milk improves your ability to make better art, he explains. I collect my milk from Andrew and Sonya Maxwell’s dairy up the road, each morning and work with them to get to the next level of scientific understanding of the milk I’m working with and to better understand seasonal variations - especially when we haven’t had like for like seasons.”
Mr Masters is a former national winner of a delicious. Produce Award for his seasonal, flower-covered La Primavera cheese. But he is never blase about praise from his industry peers.
“Any time someone thinks our product is worthy of an award or a mention we’re thrilled - there’s always an element of ‘I hope people like this’. I get a thrill that people enjoy my cheese or think I’m worthy of an award.”
His SA-award-winning Section28 Sunrise cheese is washed with pet-nat chardonnay for 3-and-a-half months then aged in an underground cave on the Woodside property for nine months.
Its reliance on chardonnay lees means it is only available from March to June each year.
The affinage of many of Mr Masters’ cheeses has been extended due to the closure of Section28 for two months – due to the sudden cancellation of orders from restaurants.
“About 90 per cent of our sales are to eastern seaboard white-tablecloth restaurants. We went from stretched to zero in less than five days... But there are green shoots of hope again – Thursday was the first day back.
“On the plus side, because we make aged cheeses we’ve been able to stop production but keep ageing the cheeses. That makes them even more interesting than they would otherwise have been.”
This year, as part of its recognition of Australia’s best producers, delicious. is reminding everyone that it has never been more important to get behind and support our Aussie farmers and small producers via the #knowyourproduce.
By encouraging people to know their producer and the stories of the people behind the produce, delicious. hopes more Australians will choose to buy local – which is the very best way to support our struggling farmers and small producers.
delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Award winners in SA
DAIRY
La Vera Cheese – The Genuine Art of Cheesemaking Belmondo Buffalo Blue
Riverside Dairy – Sheep’s Milk Haloumi
Section28 Artisan Cheeses – Section28 Sunrise cheese
The Dairyman Barossa – Artisan Farm Cream & Butter
EARTH
Ngeringa Produce – Ngeringa Biodynamic Salad Greens
Singing Magpie Produce – Black Genoa Semi Sun Dried Figs
PADDOCK
Mayura Station – Mayura Station Signature Series
Nomad Farms – Nomadic Pastured Heritage Chook
Paroo Premium Kangaroo – Paroo Kangaroo
TDM Free Range Farms – Free Range Berkshire X Pork
SEA
Ausab – Yumbah Greenlip Abalone (whole in shell)
Clean Seas – Spencer Gulf Hiramasa Kingfish
Coorong Wild Seafood – Seasonal Wild Catch (carp)
Gazander Oysters – Gazander Oysters Premium Pacific Oysters
Goolwa PipiCo – Live & Fresh, De-sanded and Ready-to-Cook Pipis
Kinkawooka Mussels – Kinkawooka Mussels
Two Gulfs Crab – Blue Swimmer Crab Meat
DON’T MISS THE FULL LIST OF DELICIOUS PRODUCE STATE AWARD WINNERS IN THE JUNE ISSUE OF DELICIOUS MAGAZINE
