A goats' milk cheese has taken top honours at the SA Dairy Championships

CHEESE-MAKERS Marianne Joos and Alastair Catto were still stunned when I met them about the news they had received the night before. Their Goat Peter Farm Cheese had taken the top honours at the SA Dairy Championships. It's the first time in the history of these awards, held in Stellenbosch last week, that a goat's milk product has taken the first prize.

"We never ever thought we had a chance of winning. We only entered to see how we would fare next to the other guys," said Catto. There were a record 847 entries (in all dairy categories) for the preliminary Qualité Awards this year, from 74 large and artisanal manufacturers. The top scorers in those awards go on to compete in the SA Dairy Championships.

"We'll have to charge more for our products now," said a clearly chuffed Catto.

What started out in 2000 with 16 goats on their Hekpoort farm, northwest of Johannesburg, making cheese and yoghurt for their own consumption, has grown into a herd of 190 goats and an extended range of commercial products - yoghurt, feta, cottage cheese, goats' cheddar and gouda, haloumi, ricotta and pecorino. Marianne, who has no formal cheese-making training, invented the Goat Peter Farm cheese, a Pecorino style of hard cheese, which is matured for at least three months and covered in an edible rind.

"We only wash it with salt," said Catto, proffering me a slice of the cheese. Velvety smooth, it's a subtle hard cheese with just a hint of goat.

They put their success down to the way the cheese is made. "We make our cheeses in the old-fashioned way, very slowly and patiently. We use no preservatives and no animal rennet. Everything we do, we do with passion," said Catto.

In France there are over 4000 goats' milk cheese producers; but South Africans have been slow to take to goats' milk products. This has started to change in the past few years and there are now 28 producers in the country.

"We've already had calls from some restaurants in Cape Town who want to serve our cheese," said Joos.

ýGoat Peter products are presently only sold at selected Gauteng outlets. They have a stall seven days a week at the organic market at Lifestyle Garden Centre, Randpark Ridge. Contact Alistair Catto on 0721362087.