Over the Moon Cheese (Putaruru, New Zealand)
According to Over the Moon Cheese, “Cheese is an adventure!” Indeed, it was and we experienced that adventure when we visited this place after we had an early morning in Blue Springs on our way to Alphra Lavender and Blueberry Country. This was not on our initial plan but after looking at points of interest that we might pass by I discovered this place.
Over the Moon Cheese is located in Putaruru midway between Blue Springs and the Lavender Farm, this place delivers New Zealand’s widest range of cheese from four different types of milk, so selection won’t be a problem and definitely there is everything for everyone. Every single cheese is handcrafted they even have a cheese making school on site where they can experiment in delivering special edition cheeses to the market regularly.
The show is quite small but it was packed with varieties, they also offer free cheese tasting and we tasted the most unique cheeses at this place. They also have tons of cheese products of most have New Zealand and International cheese awards for you to buy and take home and other non-cheese products like pickles, aioli, vinaigrette, prunes, figs, jelly and chutney to name some.
Let me now run you through what happened on the tasting where they showcased which I guess their most awarded cheeses. Let’s start with the Goat Blue awarded with NZ Champions of Cheese Award Bronze Medal 2010. A well-balanced blue cheese, creamy and funky, moist and sticky this is not your average blue cheese.
Next up is the Galactic Gold Washed Rind, the awards of this specific cheese can’t be counted by hand grabbing the NZ Champions of Cheese Award Champion Artisan Cheese 2009, NZ Champions of Cheese Award Champion Washed Rind 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 plus NZ Champions of Cheese Award Gold Medal 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014; Silver Medal on 2008, 2012 and Bronze Medal on 2011, 2016. This is a serious cheese, made with high quality cow’s milk, this one is rich and complex, pleasingly pungent, sticky, creamy, soft and supple like a Camembert but tastier, definitely melts in your mouth. Good with salads, quiche or just on its own.
Then we had the Aroha Camembert Raw Milk Style another awardee of NZ Champions of Cheese Award Silver Medal 2016 as well as Bronze Medal on 2015. A Camembert style with a French raw-milk flavour! Very tasty earthy nutty and mushroomy with hints of caramel and fruits. Best served warm or even baked.
Another NZ Champions of Cheese Award Bronze Medal on 2010 and 2011, this O.M.G. Oh my goodness!! Triple Cream Brie was one of my favourites, very creamy, soft and rich in flavour, mushroomy and buttery, one of those cheese that melts in your mouth and seeps through all the crevices which leaves a very pleasant taste and texture.
Tomme Buffalo and Goat Milk was next with the following awards: NZ Champions of Cheese Award Gold Medal 2010, Silver Medal on 2015 and Bronze Medal on 2010, 2011, 2012. This cheese is a nice blend of buffalo and goat’s milk and made like Gouda in style. Very rich, firm and creamy, I bet this would go well with a nice grilled cheese sandwich.
Then this one, Just Kidding Goat’s Milk, no awards yet but I this will win sometime a rindless semi-hard 100% goat’s milk cheese slightly crumbly with a very nice subtle aroma, sweet with bit of aromatic spices which is great for those boring green salads.
Finally, the best of the bunch Black Truffle Brie by Neil Willman where it won not just several NZ Champions of Cheese Awards like Gold Medal on 2012, Silver Medal on 2013 and Bronze Medal on 2014 but it won the prestigious
International Cheese Awards Gold last 2017. It’s one of the signature cheeses of the Cheese Master Neil Willman. This cheese is made with buttery brie that is compensated with layers of black truffles which makes it very musky, earthy and nutty. This is a star and best to be consumed on its own, in fact you can just place this one on your cheeseboard with nothing else. A great cheese indeed! Very unique, very delicious.
It was a good experience, like I said to top it all up this experience was free and if you are visiting or passing by near this town, I highly recommend you to pay this place a visit. We grabbed several cheeses on our visit like their Creamy Blue, Meyer Vintage Gouda and the Black Truffle Brie. I wish we had bought more!
Over the Moon
Address: 33 Tirau St, Putaruru 3411, New Zealand
Phone: +647 883 8238
Website: https://overthemoondairy.co.nz/
