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© 2020, Tarago River Cheese, All rights reserved

Tarago River

Cheese Company

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About Us

Our free-range farm and its 400 cows offer clean fresh milk – 99% of the cheese ingredients. Our staff pays careful attention to detail as they embrace traditional cheesemaking practices.

Farmhouse cheese making is a time honoured way of life that has been integrated in a strict sense as we can into modern cheese making, in a world driven by changing expectations. Seasonal Cropping supports milk quality and nurtures the environment. Crop rotations are a critical part of our regeneration and farm upkeep. Our 35 staff make careful choices during the complex processes where nature often has its way.

Hot, cold, wet, dry and wild seasonal variations make the journey of “farmhouse” cheese making an honourable (but often difficult) one. Self-appointed gurus have confused our beautiful tradition. It is our mission to bring to your dining pleasure. Please call us if we fall short.

We trust that you will join with us as we uncover and discover together nature’s bountiful cheese harvest. The multiplicity of flavours and textures that micro flora in milk have cultivated over eons, are truly a miracle.

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Our Selection

Gippsland Brie

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Jensen’s Red

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Shadows of Blue

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Triple Cream

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Gippsland Blue

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Blue Orchid

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Cellar Door Specials

Our Cellar Door is temporarily closed until further notice.

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Cheese Finder

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Contact us

2236 Main Neerim Rd, Neerim South VIC 3831

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(03) 5628 1569

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Gippsland Brie

    “Chalky curds, to deliciously creamy cheese; the miracle of Camemberti cultures”

    Confusion abounds with brie and camembert. Both are village names where the different cheese styles were made. There is also talk of “stabilized” and “traditional” styles and even in France, different technologies have arisen, and traditional styles are different to what they were 30 years ago. Different levels of fermentation determine the depth of flavour that the cheese reaches. Fermentation produces organic acids which cause greater protein (sponge) breakdown with more flavours. Gippsland brie starts with a faint chalk line (an indication of the traditional levels of fermentation). This is mostly ripened out in our cellars prior to dispatch.

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Jensen’s Red

    “Natures wild one. Brevi-bacterium linens and its yeasty friends out of control”

    Washing the surface of the chalky curds with a light brine solution will encourage the B. linens and LAF yeasts added in the wash. It is a tricky cheese influenced greatly by seasonal milk conditions. Developing a rounded flavour from the many strains of cultures, and washing regularly without “rind slip” is an art indeed. Please continue to pray for our cheese makers.

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Shadows of Blue

    “Uniquely Australian” soft, creamy – a delightfully delicious double cream blue

    Its name implies one of its greatest virtues, “mild blue vein” activity. The placid P. Roqueforti mould shares the stage with a number of wild yeasts seeking supremacy. A cheese makers nightmare, as cellaring conditions are the only tool to keep these warring confederate on track for  texture and flavour excellence.

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Triple Cream

    “A shining star which ages gracefully into a treasure trove of complex flavours”

    Related, but very different to brie, the special fermenting cultures used including P. Candidium grow on the exterior to produce a downy white bloom. Their filaments penetrate deep into the chalky acidic curds and mature with complex yeasty flavours. The fluffy curds soften with age, and become wickedly delicious.

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Gippsland Blue

    “Deeply complex like a “difficult child” demanding great care and attention to mature”

    Naturally rinded, and deeply fermented, it morphs through great biological changes during its cellaring. One of the world’s great cheeses, evolving with nature as the seasons and milk changes interact with complex micro flora that it attracts during the aging process.

    Tarago River Cheese Company’s

    Blue Orchid

    “Like the alpine blue veined sun orchid, a beautiful blossom of natures harvest”

    Cheese mythology abounds, and the most asked question of blue orchid, “do you use copper wires to make it blue? No! In modern times stainless steel is the only metal allowed in contact with the product, which I suspect is a good thing. It is the air holes produced by the wire spike that enable the P. Roqueforti mould culture to break down the milks’ macro components. If the mould strain is aggressive toward lipids (the cream part) sharp burning fatty acids dominate. If the mould prefers proteins, it is more likely that bitter peptides will dominate early in the cheese ripening, and may sweeten as amino acids become dominate in later life. Breaking down proteins  liquefies the texture.