Tag: champion cheese

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Take your cheese board to the next level!

Winter at Jannei Goat Dairies: A Season for Aged and Marinated Goat Cheese

As winter settles in, our goats take things a little slower — but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on delicious cheese. At Jannei Goat Dairies, we’ve prepared plenty of cheese made during the warmer months, ready for you to enjoy through winter and into spring.

Seasonal Cheese Selection

Our Lidsdale aged goat cheese and marinated feta are two of our favourites for the cooler months. The Lidsdale, a semi-hard artisan cheese, offers a rich, layered flavour that pairs beautifully with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc or even a drizzle of honey. The marinated feta, made from our own goat’s milk, brings a creamy, tangy note to salads, grazing boards, and warm winter dishes.

You’ll also find fresh curd and pressed curd available year-round — perfect for those who enjoy lighter, more delicate cheeses.

Buying Local and Supporting the Herd

When you order directly from our online shop, you’ll receive cheese with long best-before dates and the best delivery value. It’s an easy way to keep your fridge stocked with Australian goat cheese for any occasion, while helping to support our goats through the quieter winter months.

Each purchase goes directly toward feeding and caring for our herd as they raise their kids — ready to provide fresh, creamy milk again in spring and summer.

Delivery and Local Stockists

We deliver refrigerated orders to homes in Sydney’s CBD for a flat freight rate of $25, and we’re working on expanding affordable delivery to other areas.

If you’re in the Blue Mountains, you can find our cheeses locally at:

  • Springwood IGA – LLOYD’S
  • Katoomba Co-Op

You can also visit us directly on the Castlereagh Highway, where our farm factory and cellar door are open for purchases.

Fresh Milk and Kefir

Supplies of fresh milk and kefir are limited during winter, so we recommend placing your orders early. Your ongoing support helps us continue our work as local farmers and cheesemakers — keeping traditional, small-scale goat dairying alive in regional New South Wales.

Enjoy the warmth of winter with a touch of Jannei flavour.
Discover our range of Australian goat cheese online, and bring a taste of the farm to your next gathering.

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SYDNEY CHEESE AWARDS October 9, 2010 Gold Medal Winners

In recent news all three of our White mold cheese have now won a Gold at a cheese show! Jannei’s Miette took out he gold in Category 3 – Fresh Curd Matured at the Sydney Cheese Awards.

here’s a link to the website

Also our Bent Back Chèvre, Prairie Cream and Buche Noir all received gold at Melbourne Cheese Show.

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A visit to Jannei Goat dairy

WE’RE LATE. It’s a grey rainy day in November as we head west along the Great Western Highway past Lithgow heading for Jannei Goat Dairy at Lidsdale. However all is well when we do eventually arrive at Jannei, as Neil and Janette Watson are too busy packing up their cheeses for the following day’s Pyrmont Growers Market in Sydney to be concerned about our late arrival.
The Watsons started their cheese making here in 1995 when Neil decided he wanted a change from teaching agricultural science at a school in Portland. When looking for an alternative income, it’s not surprising that Neil would be thinking milk. He grew up on a dairy farm in that wonderful, rain-blessed dairying country around Wauchope on the NSW central coast.
Initially they intended to sell their fresh goat milk into the Sydney market but found this was not profitable in the volumes they could produce. So Janette supported Neil’s experiments with cheese making.
He started with hard cheeses in 1996, but soon found that what his customers in Sydney really wanted was fresh curd. Just about the only goat curd available in Sydney at the time was coming from Gabriel Kervella in Western Australia. So local chefs and retailers were delighted to have a truly local product. From this base product, Neil has added many award winning cheeses such as their Bent Back Chev, Buche noir and Chevrotin.
Cheese making takes place six days a week and while Neil is busy with the curd, Janette uses her background in advertising and design to market their cheeses to an ever-increasing number of customers.
Jannei milks around eighty goats (mostly Saanen) from a herd of one hundred producing about 130kg of cheese a week. Ninety percent of this is delivered weekly into the Sydney market where Simon Johnson is the main distributor.
Diet for the goats is very important to Neil who goes to great lengths to ensure that every goat in the herd is in peak condition, thus ensuring the highest quality milk for cheese making.
In June 2007 Neil had major heart surgery. During his hospitalisation and subsequent recovery Janette took responsibility for all aspects of the business, including the cheese making. So now they often work together in the cheese making room. The weekly trips Janette makes to the Growers Markets she says are hard work. With the long travel time, some days are barely profitable. Jannette says she looks past the sales and considers it important to be there, as it is their only regular marketing exercise.
If you would like to visit the dairy for a tasting or purchases of their cheese, phone first to check that either Neil or Janette are available. Blessed are the cheese makers.

article by – RF. Russell Smith, www.regionalfood.com.au