King Island Dairy is of course the famous Tasmanian cheese and dairy company. I'll say it's the most well-known of the "boutique" or probably more correctly, "specialty" dairy companies in Australia, I think mainly due to their wide availability. I think there is nothing wrong with that as long as they produce great products.
Taste
Instead of me making it up, here's the description from their website: A natural rinded blue cheese with a rich creamy texture and even dispersions of blue mould throughout. A subtle blue cheese with a developed blue character and clean aftertaste. I'll say I pretty much agree with that. King Island blues are one of their best products (yup, I've just about tried them all!). This cheese is great because it's a softer blue, great to pair with dried apricot or to eat plain.
To add to my claim, here's the list of awards it has won:
- 2003 - Gold Medal, The Royal Melbourne Dairy Show
- 2002 - Champion Blue Mould Australian Grand Dairy Awards; Champion Fancy Cheese Royal Agricultural Society New South Wales Show; Australian Cheeseboard selection Royal Agricultural Society New South Wales
- 2001- Gold Medal, Royal Agricultural Society New South Wales; Gold Medal, Australian Specialist Cheesemakers Show
Rating - 8
Look
One thing is for sure though, blue cheeses are ugly. The company is not known for their packaging, but I do like the wooden boxes that some of their cheeses come in (yes I was guilty of buying some of the cheeses just for the box). Sadly this one only comes in the foil wrapping. But like they say, don't judge a book by its cover!
Rating - 0.5
C-factor
I got mine for $27.99/kg. Ok price to pay for a blue. I'm sure this price varies depending on where you buy it. It's not really cool to buy something that's so widespread now is it?
Rating - 0.5
Swiss Points - 9
Ingredients
pasteurised milk, salt, mineral salt, enzyme (renet), cultures.
Available At
Harris Farm Markets
Website
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