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BRING ON THE CHEESE

Farmhouse cheeses with individual flair are nibbling away at the foundations of those market monoliths, Cheddar and Gouda.

How South Africa has changed. A few years ago, yellow, bland and rubbery was the norm. Only the more exotic and food- focused cultures offered diversity. In 2002, yellow still has a following- attitudes don't change overnight - but there's a revolution going on that is slowly undermining cheddar and gouda's absolute supremacy.

Moira Hobson doesn't look like a revolutionary, but she is with her postage stamp farm, 16 well- fed cows and handmade Wellmont- branded cheeses. She's introduced South Africa's only Stilton- type double cream cheese and an English Derby, dramatically marbled with merlot or studded subtly with sage.

Butterfly Dairy- named after Moira's first cow- is where you'd like to think cheese came from if our urban lifestyles hadn't wiped out the memory of cows being milked, and milk being churned into curds and whey.

Cows with names like Lace and Jupiter ruminate contentedly on the hillside overlooking the magnificent Wellington valley in the Cape winelands. When Moira calls them, they turn their heads lazily and look at her, apparently aware that she owns them for love, not money, although they have to earn their keep like everyone else.

Every morning at 6am, Moira milks each one with assistant Frans Kellerman's help. Moira started making cheese five years ago during a slump in the demand for milk, but now she's hooked. Mass- market manufacturers may have mastered the science, ambient temperature and bacterial behaviour, but for the farmhouse cheesemaker with more passion, the passion is full of surprises.

"Cheese is like wine - it's a living thing," says Moira. "It's not a case of, if I follow that recipe I'll get exactly that result. Weather conditions, whether a cow is a Jersey or an Ayreshire, what she eats or even the number of phone calls you take during the cheese making make a difference! You constantly adapt as you go along. It's hard work, but making a product for the pleasure of other people is very satisfying. I suppose it's partly an ego thing, a desire for appreciation."

Appreciation is irresistible when you think that Moira starts out with a large quantity of a highly perishable substance and, through expertise and effort, ends up with a small quantity of a product she stores carefully for six months before thinking of releasing it to the outside world.

One man appreciates her commitment is Patrick Faict, well- known supplier of cheese to the catering industry. "We stock cheeses from big and small producers, but the small guys like Moira are much more dedicated to producing a good product," he says. "The nice thing about a farm cheese is that it will be 90 percent the same each time, with a 10 percent variation in texture and flavour, which gives the cheese character. "

With the exchange rate making imported cheeses so expensive, the market has exploded. Patrick says the balance of power in his business has changed from 70 percent imported to 70 percent local. And he says he could make up a cheese board of over 40 new South African cheeses that would hold their own against the imported versions.