Meet the Locals: Awassi Cheesery
Our love for cheese has few limits. In fact, I’d go as far to say we have a slightly unhealthy obsession (although can we be honest, is there really such a thing?).
So, when we heard about Awassi Cheesery, and what is quite possibly Grantham's best kept secret...well, we casually stopped by (multiple times) to ask Di & David Piggot some questions and ahh ‘sample the wares’, as it were.
Published 10 April
Written: TFG Staff
Photography: Daniel Somervaille
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU?
Where to begin! Well, we’re farmers, artisan cheese makers, ice-cream enthusiasts and in general. . . a little bit of everything – I think as a farmer you kind of have to be!
(Di) I'm actually a third-generation dairy farmer and a second-generation cheese maker, although I spent many years in retail management (that’s actually where David and I met) – but I think farming has just always been in my veins.
David didn’t come from a farming background – so farming was very new to him; learning about sheep, milking, avocados and of course the ‘joy’ (dread) of never-ending fencing…
On the day-to-day, we'll milk in the morning and I'll be making cheese or icecream or one of our other products (I'm our chief food-tech), whereas David is often on the buggy, moving the sheep between paddocks and taking care of the stock. Then on weekend's he'll head to the Cobb & Co farmers markets or to speciality events like the Murphy's Creek Chilli Festival (we make a chilli icecream and a chilli fetta which are both really popular).
WHAT IS THE AWASSI STORY?
(Di) I do think this was something that was always going to be. I grew up around cheese and cheese factories (all be it cows), my Dad was a Dairy Food Technologist and I remember as a young child sitting on my dad's knee eating cheese like a piece of cake. I love everything about farming.
In the early 2000's I had a property west of Toowoomba for a few years, where I learned the ins and outs of sheep farming, and about lambing and nutrition, wild dog management and those kinds of things (but that was breeding sheep, not milking sheep).
Fast forward a decade later to 2013, when we were moving back to a little bit of land; we really wanted to create something unique!
There were many a night when David and I shared around a plate of cheese and wine - and that's when the idea was inspired and became our dream; which (with a lot of hard work) developed into our reality.
We bought our first Awassi Sheep, which is where the name comes from, that same year.
Then, I spent six months designing the cheese from the milk - there were no recipes to use, so I made our own. . .with lots of fails until we got it just right (thankfully we had lots of very willing friends who were our tasters!)
We just kept developing more and more traditional cheeses from our amazing milk….. and then I put a little Di Piggott twist on things and that's how we developed the Grantham - our signature cheese (like a cheddar).
WHY AWASSI SHEEP? & WHY SHEEP's MILK CHEESE?
There's so many reason's why Awassi are the perfect breed! (I'm a huge advocate and wish more people knew about them!).
Being a middle eastern breed and coming from the desert they do extremely well in the dry conditions, and they are generally considered to be the best milking breed and produce the most milk. But they have so many qualitites - their milk, meat, tail fat and the fleece are all really good. I can honestly say the best lamb I have ever eaten.
I'm also a huge traditionalist at heart and what I love, is that being a heritage sheep (not crossed with any other breed) from the Syrio-Iraq region - they are actually considered by many to be the 'original sheep'! The heritage of making cheese from a breed that dates back to Biblical times is pretty exciting and rewarding.
Sheep's milk is also the perfect milk for cheese (and icecream) because it's so high in fats and protein - which is exactly what you need to make high quality dairy products. Another benefit, without getting too technical, is the lactose differs in sheep's milk to that of cows. We generally say that 99% of people that are lactose intolerant can have sheep milk products (but we always suggest you check with your dietician first). Our icecream has been a huge hit with visitors for that reason - now they can have the ‘real deal’!
I get pretty passionate about it - I really do think it's the perfect milk - pure and simple. We don’t modify the milk - how the girls give it to me is how I make the products, and the fact that it is milked on the farm and made into dairy products in the factory on the farm – you just can't get a more simple process, especially in such a modern world of food processing. So the milk is full of tradition and authenticity…The word dairy used as it should, the word cheese used as it should. We like to keep things artisanal, so using tradition methods, working with natural products and doing as much by hand as possible (hand salting pecorinos is one of my [favourite] parts of being a cheese maker).
WHAT ELSE DOES THE FARM PRODUCE?
The farm is 160 acres, and on it we have our sheep and our orchard of fig and avocado trees. We grow almost 100 tonnes of avocados per year, which we sell locally, and the figs we use to make our fig balsamic, fig and ginger jam, and fig and ginger icecream.
We make pretty much everything-cheese from our beautiful sheep milk, from a traditional aged pecorino, ubriaco (our drunk pecorino), our signature ‘Grantham’ cheese, feta, labneh, yoghurt.
And then of course there is the ice cream with a whole range of regular flavours as well as a few bespoke gourmet favourites.
We also make a number of seasonal products and do Awassi sausage, Awassi Tail fat and a range of lip balms and soaps.
There’s a lot going on!
YOU SEEM TO RUN A LOT OF EVENTS AT AWASSI, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT’S ON?
Our Awassi events have really become such a special part of the farm, and we love it! We do a lot of events but we prefer to make them ticketed and keep numbers to a minimum to so that everyone has the full experience on the farm.
This year we are running our monthly owl show, 'An evening with the Owls, where we have trained wildlife handlers host an educational show with some of the animals in their care - this has been really popular and always sells out in advance. Then, every third Sunday of the month we also have llamas visit from a local farm that guests can meet and walk around the orchard.
We're currently running a full-day cheese-making experience for people who want to get hands-on learning about the how, where and why of cheese-making and cooking with cheese. And then of course there's all the usual things we do like lunches, and cheese and icecream tastings, and our really popular 'High-Cheese'. We have regular tours that visit from Brisbane and groups bookings and the occasional private functions and weddings.
Then, we're also about to start a few more events coming into Winter too! (because of course that wasn't enough).
We're excited to be re-starting our monthly 'Big Fat Lamb Feasts' in July (which is as amazing as it sounds). We used to run these but with the flooding last year we had some stock losses and so haven't been able to do these for over 12 months.
We're starting a new monthly Tyromancy event in June which will walk people through the history of cheese all the way back to the 1500's and then we're also going to be doing some specialty events like an upcoming Cheese Fondu Day for Winter!
Really, we just love to share our beautiful farm with our visitors, and more importantly, we get excited to excite customers about the Awassi farm experience.
-
Di & David are two of the most genuine people you will meet, and if you visit, (and you definitely should) you’ll find them talking about their love for all things Awassi, out amongst the seating in the orchard, often sharing a glass of wine with visitors, and taking the time to share about their passion.
Awassi is open Thursday - Sunday for visitors, as well as for events and private bookings. You can also find them at the weekly Cobb & Co Farmer's market.
To learn more about what they do, visit awassicheesery.com.au or @awassicheesery.
