A Northland family firm has pulled off an extraordinary hat-trick by winning the nation's top artisan cheese award for the third year running.
Mahoe Farmhouse Cheese at Oromahoe, south of Kerikeri, took out the Cuisine Champion Artisan Cheese Award for its Very Old Edam at the New Zealand Cheese Awards this week. The prize is for the best cheese in the country made by producers of up to 25 tonnes a year.
The accolade continues an astonishing run of success for the Rosevear family.
Last year head cheesemaker Jake Rosevear, then aged 34, won the Champion Cheesemaker Award, the first person to do so two years running, while their Very Old Edam was named champion artisan cheese and their Mature Gouda the champion Dutch-style cheese. In 2012 Jake won the top cheesemaker title for the first time and the Very Old Edam started its reign as the supreme artisan cheese.
Brother and fellow cheesemaker Jesse Rosevear put the win down to the family's 28 years of experience, his brother Jake's meticulousness and dedication, and quality milk from brother Tim's low-stress herd of 55 cows.