When Holy Goat announced it was saying bon fromage to its dairy earlier this year, foodies rushed to stock up before it ceased production. But now there’s a worthy contender to take the crown of the best local goat’s cheese.

Tongola is a finalist in the delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards. Its cheeses are handmade on the farm in Tasmania, using the milk of Swiss Toggenburg goats.

The farm operates with a strong sustainability focus. The aim is to decarbonise the farm and at the moment, it sequesters more carbon than it emits.

In keeping with the artisan focus, the cheeses are seasonal and only available between October and June. So mark your diaries because the season is about to begin.

Co-owner Iain Field says the goats are only milked at night.

“We work with the lactation cycle of the goats, we only milk once a day and leave the kids with the mums until they wean naturally. We get the night milk and the kids get the day milk,” he says.

“Because we are seasonal, we try to use warm milk which means we make cheese every day for nine months of the year. Using fresh milk gives us better flavour and texture.”

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Field believes that because of the quality of the milk, Tongola’s cheeses rival raw milk cheeses.

“Most cheesemakers pastursie milk before turning it into cheese, with a few exceptions. Even though our cheeses are pasturised, the quality of the milk is reflected in the final product,” he says.

“The goat’s milk is an expression of the Tasmanian terroir, what the goats are eating and the terrain. We don’t get the native cultures from within the goat’s udders, but you can taste the fats and proteins of the region and the minerality of what they’ve been eating.”

Tongola’s herd is around 300 in the peak of summer and about 70 of them provide milk.

“The milk, and the cheeses, are highly dependant on what the animals are eating. The season starts in September/October and ends in July. During that time there are changes in the milk’s fat and protein content, it’s richest at the start of the season rich, lightest around January and in winter it gets richer again,” Field says.

“We try to make the cheeses relatively consistent in texture while also embracing seasonality.”

The Zoe is a lactic set, white mould rind cheese that’s not quite a traditional French chevre.

“A French cheesemonger described it as a little cloud of joy that makes the mouth sing,” Field says.

“Zoe is really rich and silky at the start of the season; at the lighter part of the season it ripens a little quicker and then it goes back to being rich again.

“It has a peppery rind and mildly acidic core. It gets more peppery as the cheese ages; the flavours intensify and will start to have a very oozy core.”

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