Leigh Reineke from Mooi River Cheese talks about cheesemaking with the calm precision of someone who knows that milk, timing, temperature and human judgement all have to work together. At the cheese factory on Hidcote Farm, he explains that even with strict guidelines, cheesemaking can never be reduced to a simple recipe.
“ Cheesemaking is an art form, and there is no set recipe for creating the best cheese from the best milk. We have two cheesemakers working for Mooi River Cheese. The first one starts the early-morning shift at about 04:00, and the other starts a bit later in the day to relieve the first. Although they follow exactly the same guidelines, I don’ t even want to call