Laverstoke Park Farm THE BEAUTY OF BUFFALO CHEESE
L
averstoke Park Farm is spread over 2,500 acres of rolling Hampshire countryside near Overton
and is owned by ex-Racing Driver
and Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter. He wanted to create a farming environment that would follow nature as closely as possible, combining 21st century science, together with the most environmentally friendly farming methods available.
Once the land and soil were up
to scratch, the next thing was to consider the breed of farm animal to populate it with. The key was finding an undeveloped Bovine species, a world apart from the overbred and commercially driven dairy cow. The answer lay in the Asian water buffalo, a slow-growing, rare breed buffalo known for its rich and deliciously creamy milk. The Water Buffalo were originally imported from Italy and today the Laverstoke Park herd numbers over 1,500 and is the largest in the UK. These friendly, curious animals are reared in large straw bedded yards, or grassy paddocks. They are fed on a completely natural diet, no growth hormones or antibiotics are used and unless it’s very cold, they spend their time outdoors in the fresh air, sunshine and muddy wallowing pools. Laverstoke Park Organic Mozzarella is very much the farm’s hero product and is the only fresh mozzarella produced in the UK.
WE TRAVEL TO THE UK’S ONLY PRODUCER OF FRESH BUFFALO CHEESE TO HEAR THEIR STORY SO FAR AND GO BEHIND THE SCENES TO SEE HOW IT IS MADE.
milk and at Laverstoke the Buffalo are fed on the unique bio-dynamic pastures with over 30 different herbs, grasses and clovers that directly contribute to the quality of the milk these animals produce. After the milk is pasteurized it goes
Jody Scheckter appointed Luca De Rosa, perhaps the most respected Italian mozzarella specialist, as a consultant and sent the farm’s Dairy team to Italy to be trained and learn the craft of producing the best mozzarella in traditional artesian ways. Armed with these skills, the Laverstoke dairy team set about building the perfect machinery for producing the best possible Mozzarella. Of course it starts with the
into a1000 litre vat where cultures are added, after about 50 minutes the rennet is added and the milk starts to coagulate. When the curd has set it is cut into small pieces and left until the PH value has gone down, this usually takes about 5 hours. Now it is time to see if the curd is ready to stretch. The curd is ready when it can be stretched out without breaking and has a shiny, smooth texture, next it is ready to be put
through Laverstoke’s custom made Italian stretching machine. This machine holds 90C hot water and has 4 ‘arms’ that
uniformly stretch the curd. It is a gentle process and the cheese maker has to watch very carefully that the hot water does not burn the curd and that when it goes into the moulding part of the machine, it is shiny and smooth with a stringy and spongy feel on the inside. The balls are then cooled and now the mozzarella is ready and can be packed to go out the same day. What ultimately makes Laverstoke Park Farm mozzarella so special, is the quality of the ingredients, the artesian process and ultimately its freshness. It really is the best Mozzarella in the UK because it is made and dispatched on the same day and has far less ‘food miles’ than imported products. All of this painstaking effort and
following of nature’s course has led to an unrivalled finished product. Over the past decade Laverstoke’s Organic Mozzarella has won countless awards and most recently was awarded the
gold medal at the 2015 International Cheese Awards. l
The Delicatessen Magazine 39
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