New Zealand Veggie Cheeses; Part 2 - Soft & Stinky Cheeses

Rather frighteningly it appears that I can riff on about cheese for rather a long time - and so the New Zealand cheese review became a marathon two-parter.

Taepo Brie and a cheeky bottle of Dom Perignon

Soft Cheese
For a frankly, gorgeous range of soft cheese my pick is Waimata Cheeses. They use non-animal rennet so their entire range is veggie friendly. My favourite is the Taepo Ash Covered Brie. I prefer it slightly younger, because I think the tang of age overwhelms the creamy mushroom flavour. Waimata are family owned and operated and their basic brie and camembert are very good value. Their speciality cheeses, such as the Taepo and the Manuka (rolled in Manuka Honey Leaf powder) are a little more expensive, but utterly worth it!

Feta
Waitmata do some wonderful feta's as do Bouton D'Or. Despite the French sounding name Bouton D'Or is actually made in New Zealand. They have a great range of flavours, such as sundried tomato and garlic and cumin. It's a slightly harder feta good for cutting into cubes and tossing through salad.

Blue
Sadly most of Mainland's cheeses are off menu (they do have a Vegetarian Edam) but also a great blue vein. Blue's in New Zealand tend to be softer and more moist than a Stilton - which unfortunately you won't find outside of specialist cheese shops. Their Special Reserve Blue Vein is as special as promised and as close to the glorious mouldiness of a Stilton as you're going to get.