You can thank a blind date for ultimately leading to the birth of Cheeses Loves You, a regular stall at Byron Farmers Market with local cheesemaker Debra Allard at the helm.
Debra’s mum set her up on a date with Jim, a fifth-generation dairy farmer, and the rest is history. Deb swapped a life in marketing and accounts for farming in Burringbar.
The 80-hectare farm, which has been in the family since 1895, was changed from dairy cattle to beef cattle a number of years ago when the bottom fell out of the local dairy industry, so when Debra and Jim decided to convert it back so they could use their own milk to make cheese, there were big shoes to fill.
‘It was a lot of pressure!’ Debra says. ‘But I knew value-adding was worthwhile. I had been making cheese for a number of years, and had travelled the world learning about cheese, but I had been using other people’s milk.
‘It made sense to be producing our own milk, so we started milking 20 cows seven years ago and it’s taken us seven years to build up to milk a consistent 90-100 cows.’
And it’s these cows that are the key to the success of Debra’s range of cheeses and dairy products, including cultured butter, kefir, yoghurt, soft, white-mould, semi-hard, hard and blue cheeses. Debra also sells her Jersey milk and cultured buttermilk, which is in high demand, at the farmers’ market.
‘Our cows are beautiful Jersey cows that produce high-fat content milk, which makes everything creamier and it’s also high in good bacteria. It really is a superior milk.’
But it’s not just the quality of the milk that sets Debra’s products apart from their mass-produced counterparts found in supermarkets.
‘The beauty of me working half an hour down the road from the market is that I’ve made the products that week with milk that’s come straight from our cows – it’s still warm and contains all the good bacteria,’ she says.
‘And I don’t add salt to extend shelf life because I want people to be able to experience the full flavour. Supermarket products also add cultures that contain preservatives to extend shelf life. I don’t have to do that because I make small batches that are sold that week at the market, or within two weeks.’
You can find Deb and her range of locally made dairy products at Byron Farmers Market every Thursday morning.
Byron Farmers Market is held every Thursday from 7 to 11am at Butler St Reserve and Bangalow Farmers Market is every Saturday from 7 to 11am behind the Bangalow pub.
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