Bronze medal for Northland cheese makers

Grinning Gecko wins a bronze medal at a London competition. The team is Zev Kaka-Holtz, left, Marcel Ruedi and Katie Prestidge. Photo / John Stone

Whangarei's Grinning Gecko Cheese Company has added another scalp to its belt, winning a bronze medal for their Grinning Gecko Brie in the soft cheese with or without rind category at the 2016 International Cheese Awards in Nantwich, in the United Kingdom last week.

Akin to the Olympics of Cheese, Nantwich is known as the biggest and best cheese competition in the world. This year there was a record number of entries, just under 5000 from 31 countries.

Catherine McNamara, Grinning Gecko Cheese Company owner, said this was the company's first tilt at an international competition and she was "blown away" with the result.

"This is such a huge buzz - we looked at the size of the show and just thought 'Wow'.

"Winning a medal in our first international competition, and at such a prestigious show, is completely mind-blowing. Our little team is thrilled and so proud to put Northland on the world cheese stage."

Grinning Gecko is no stranger to winning national awards, with its brie taking out the New Zealand soft cheese with or without rind category champion gold medal awards for the last two years.

And this year its Kau Piro, a "stinky" soft cheese with a washed rind, also won gold.

"We won the title of New Zealand Champion Soft White Rind Cheese two years in a row for our brie so we wanted to see how it rated against cheeses from other countries."

She said getting the cheese to the competition was a mission after balking at a quote for $750 just to get a 2kg slab of the brie to Sydney, where the entry would meet up with others from New Zealand and Australia before being shipped to the UK.

"We couldn't justify the $750 shipping cost to send it by refrigerated freight for this leg of the journey so we sent it over by international courier, in a polybin with some ice. It was a bit nerve wracking as it took three days to get from Whangarei to Sydney and we kept imagining it ripening too quickly and not being able to breathe."

Grinning Gecko used organic milk from Scottish Ayrshire cows, renowned as excellent cheese milk and also drinking milk. It produces 50kg to 60kg a week of the award-winning brie a week during the winter but up to 100kg during the summer.

The company produces 13 cheeses (Kau Piro was the latest addition to the range). Grinning Gecko employed a fifth cheesemaker on Monday, bumping staff up to five full-timers and a part-timer.

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