Gouda day out: Kids enjoy Opoutere cheese factory visit

Cheesemaker Pieter Van Leeuwen shows kids from Hikuai School the cheese-making process. Photo / Jim Birchall

Hikuai School children experienced what goes into making Dutch gouda cheese when they visited an immersive experience in Opoutere last week. They got hands-on learning about the cheesemaking process at the mixed-use facility that converts milk into cheese ready for market.

The children learned that to make the cheese, milk goes into a vat culture and rennet gets added before the milk is cut with manual cheese harps. After the milk sets, the curd and whey are kept in suspension and stirred with a paddle for 30 minutes. Hot water firms up the curd before kawakawa is added. The stirring stops and the curd goes to the bottom.

The junior fromagers and fromageres were given an individual cheese mould to fill with curd and send to the cheese room to be pressed. The curd then compresses down to about half the height of the mould.

The end product is put in a fridge at 7C for three weeks to mature.

Pieter Van Leeuwen and his assistant Thomas Capdevielle prepare the cheese moulds.

Coromandel Cheeses owner Pieter van Leeuwen is originally from a small town in Holland and has been making cheese for the past couple of years. His self-built factory is truly a farm-to-table operation with the milk supplied by his own cows who graze nearby.

Van Leeuwen came with his family to New Zealand in the 1990s and got stuck into farming. He said he had always wanted to make his own cheeses: “I was born on a dairy farm but moved when I was 6 months old. My parents were making cheese all the time.”

According to Van Leeuwen, the enterprise, which “started small but is getting bigger”, is a family affair that involves his children who are responsible for the marketing and promotion of the gouda which has been a hit at local markets in Whangamata - where they sold out in under three hours - and Katikati, as well as shops in Auckland and a blueberry farm in Cambridge where berries are added to the cheese for a sweet and savoury delicacy.

Van Leeuwen said he prefers to make gouda in take-home size as opposed to bigger wheels; “I make the smaller cheeses, we make half-kilo cheese which is made without wax - they are ready to go straight out of the packet.” The gouda is competitively priced: “We sell them for $20 for a half kilo or $40 per kilo. In the supermarket, they sell them for $60-65 per kilo.”

After weathering the Covid storm and infrastructure issues that have plagued the Coromandel, the burgeoning business has eyes on expansion and diversifying into Greek yoghurt and farm-fresh milk.

“What the future brings we will have to see,” said Van Leeuwen who is cautiously optimistic he is onto a winner.

As for the day’s young cheesemakers, they get to celebrate this year’s Matariki by sharing their creations next week with others as part of a community kai event at the school.