Trevor Hart – Cheese Maker – Inspiration from Italy

By Lisa Blainey-LewinTrevor Hart from Cedar Street Cheeserie attended Terra Madre in Turin, Italy last October as an official Australian delegate.  His invention; Buffalo Haloumi was part of the official Australian dish made by another Sunshine Coast local Matt Golinski.“I had to make the cheese in Italy” said Trevor, “As it is illegal to import it into the country.  Slow Food Noosa and I negotiated for eight months so I could make my signature cheese Buffalo Haloumi for the event.  The Lebanese chefs in the international kitchen loved it so much they included it as a feature in their national dish even though it was made by an Australian in Italy!”Selected early in 2014 as delegate for Terra Madre by Slow Food Noosa, Trevor researched taking a scenic route to the major event via famous cheese areas looking for inspiration.  Receiving a Churchill Fellowship in June towards travel costs Trevor left Australia the day after the Real Food Festival in Maleny, flying straight into Istanbul.“I initially planned to start in Ukraine, visiting a past cheese-making student and researching their traditions, but a civil war in the country stopped that and instead I started in Turkey.”“I was excited” says Trevor, “When I visited Fatih in Istanbul and first saw ‘Tulum’ goats cheese wrapped in goats skin. This was way outside my frame of reference and exactly what I wanted to experience.  When you think of it it’s ingenious.  The skin doesn’t let moisture in, but excretes out the whey and it’s probably extremely hygienic and helps extend the life of the cheese. ” Since returning home from his trip seeing all kinds of cheeses, including some aged in a cave Trevor has made one major change, he now saves the whey from his Mozzarella and uses it as a mother, no longer needing to buy commercial starter bacteria and as he says, “It makes a better tasting cheese.”Trevor would love a local to start farming sheep so he can make short runs of ‘Idiazabul’ Basque inspired fresh cheese and you may find him making a new rectangular white cow’s milk cheese called ‘Stracciata’ soon – stay posted!