Heidi Farm Gruyere earns Grand Champion Cheese award

A TASMANIAN cheese has wowed the tastebuds of judges at this year’s Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

Lion Heritage head cheese maker Ueli Berger with his award winning St Claire Cheese at Burnie

A TASMANIAN cheese has wowed the tastebuds of judges at this year’s Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

Lion Heritage head cheese maker Ueli Berger with his award winning St Claire Cheese at Burnie. Picture: SUPPLIED

The Heidi Farm Gruyere, made at Lion’s factory The Heritage at Burnie, has earned the prestigious Grand Champion Cheese award beating entries from across the country.

Cheesemaker Ueli Berger is in charge of creating some of Tasmania’s most well known cheese, including the wining gruyere, which also won the grand champion award in 2009 and 2002.

“It is definitely one of my favourites, it’s up there with the best,” he said.

“It’s a bit stronger in flavour than a camembert or a brie, but at the same time it’s not overpowering, it’s well balanced.”

Mr Berger said one of the secrets to making top quality gruyere was attention to detail.

“There is a lot of work that goes into making this cheese, especially early in the process,” he said.

“It matures for six months, but at the beginning it has to turned and washed everyday and even after the first couple of weeks we have to turn it regularly.”

Mr Berger said one of the main advantages of making cheese in Tasmania was the availability of top quality milk.

“It’s starts right at the beginning and we are very lucky here in the North West to be able to get such lovely grass fed milk, which makes a big difference in cheese making,” he said.

While gruyere is not the most well known cheese variety among main stream consumers, Mr Berger said it had a strong following particularly among people with European backgrounds and what he describes as cheese nerds.

“Gruyere is quite a well known type of Swiss cheese and I think people who like their cheese really enjoy it,” he said.

Creating award winning cheese is a combination or art and science.

“I think it’s important to have both,” Mr Berger said.

“Cheese is made using certain types of bacteria, and you have to understand how that process works, but you also need a little bit of flare and creativity to use that bacteria to create a good cheese.”

Mr Berger said cheese making at Lion was a team effort and the award was a credit to all the staff.

“We have a great team and we have a lot of fun and they’re really open to working together,” he said.