When a French expert said South Gippsland cheese was as good as he’d tasted, the couple behind the product were thrilled.
Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese is a small South Gippsland business making waves in the food world.
The Fish Creek business was visited recently by French cheese exporters who have been watching the development of Barry Charlton and his partner Cheryl Hulls’ cheeses for several years.
From their small factory overlooking Wilson’s Promontory, Barry and Cheryl produce cheeses that have won more than 100 top awards, including multiple World Cheese Awards and just about every honour in Australian cheese-making competitions. They are also consistent winners at the prestigious Australian Grand Dairy Awards.
For Barry, however, the awards come second to the ultimate reward for any food maker.
“It’s a pleasure to watch people sit down and eat your produce and say: ‘Wow, that’s absolutely beautiful,” he said.
“I love making cheese. It’s a challenge and that’s what I like.
“I lay awake at night thinking ‘what can I produce?’ It has to be something that people will like, but something that is a bit different.”
The cow’s milk come from Berrys Creek – from the same farm where Cheryl grew up – while their buffalo milk comes from near Woodside and their goat’s milk from Yarragon.
“The milk is very important to us, so we use hand-picked farms with high quality milk,” Barry said.
“We look at the herd and the mix of cows to see if they are going to produce the milk we need – and then you rely on the farmer to be very good at what they do.”
While Barry and Cheryl source their cow’s milk from just one farm – Hutchinson’s in Berrys Creek – they recognise that they live in a region with a reputation for producing some of the world’s finest milk.
Dairy Australia’s Legendairy initiative aims to highlight the extraordinary achievements of people like Barry and Cheryl, who are helping to grow Australia’s $13 billion dairy industry.
