Little Creek Cheese, Wyong, Central Coast

Once upon a time, there was an extended family that visited the Central Coast. Most members of this family loved to do outdoor activities but the gothicky sister in law only loved food so she would join this family when they were having lunch. One place that they stopped by for lunch was Little Creek Cheese in Wyong. With a cute little shop and a lovely area with two picnic tables and a creek below they thought that it was the perfect place for a quick lunch. Started by Sue Parsons and her husband Russell 25 months ago, they hand make all of their cheese using Australian and Hungarian recipes.

The shop had a small but good selection of cheeses including a range of feta, soft fromage, washed rind and an interesting Körözött cheese well worth trying. It's a Hungarian style cheese made with Hungarian spices like paprika and caraway seeds and its creamy texture is a blend of fromage frais or toró and feta. It is said to be ideal for hors d'eouvres and Sue recalled her mum bringing the cheese to work to eat with crackers as a snack. The cheeses use a non animal rennet so that they are suitable for vegetarians. We tried quite a few varieties although some of the harder cheeses like the Wyong Yellow and Wyong Sharp are out of stock after a busy weekend and we settled on our purchases and adjourned to the area outside. We plonked our provisions onto the table which were supplemented with other picnicky goodies and opened the cheeses.

My three purchases were the salad cheese with chilli, garlic and basil. These cheeses are 200g and cost $9.50 which is about norm for boutique cheese makers. Another favourite was the fromage with sun dried tomato paste which packed a punch against the creamy fromage soft cheese. We ate these with tomato paste topped crackers which were white Lebanese bread triangles baked with a tomato topping.

Amaya and Laporello's purchases were the apricot and macadamia fromage frais which we ate for dessert with the plain crackers also sold in the store and the garlic and dill marinated salad cheese or feta which is a silver award winner at the Australian Dairy Producers Association awards. Even though they've only been operating for 25 months, their cheeses have scooped gold and silver awards with their halloumi and feta leading the pack. Alas we didn't buy halloumi as we didn't have a barbecue but this picked up gold at the Royal Sydney Show this past year. Two large tubs of natural yogurt were also bought by Araluen for breakfast the next day (250g for $3.50) and it's a creamy, rich yogurt with a natural sweetness to it as the culture they use is less tart than Greek style yogurts but with a creaminess to them and no added sugar.

Aura discovers another world and is off and running and it's a sweet little distraction for the day and we pack up the cheese that we hadn't finished and take it back home to Sydney. Alas their cheeses are not available in Sydney as distribution proves a challenge for the small company who are looking for distributors. For the next few days I add the feta to salads, sandwiches and on crackers and it adds much flavour and memory of a family holiday away.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like doing the same sorts of activities or hobbies as the rest of your family?

Little Creek Cheese

Building 12 Wyong Milk Factory

141-155 Alison Road Wyong, NSW 2259

Open 10am to 4pm Daily