Just for fun, Richard and Helen Dorresteyn started the Clevedon Farmers Market around 10 years ago. Actually, they were also a little bit tired of buying all the manky fruit and veg being dumped in their local stores, especially given that they lived out of town by many of the produce farms supplying top quality fresh food to trendy inner city markets. The community came together around this initial venture to create a thriving local market, drawing out all kinds of interesting stalls (now numbering 70) showcasing the regions best growers and makers. The only problem, as Richard and Helen saw it back then, was that no one was selling any cheese at the Clevedon market. Time for some fun…

Richard was working as an industrial electrician while Helen was teaching art in schools. The couple saw an opportunity to fill the market’s cheese gap and decided to do some research. They both loved mozzarella but wanted to make something special, and one glaring hole they noticed in the NZ cheese world was that no fresh buffalo mozzarella was being produced in their region – or the entire country at that time for that matter. So they decided to have a go at making some. With buffalos, of course.

The first step, obviously, was to fly to Darwin and buy some buffalos from a guy named Bill (Buffalo Bill to his friends). They arrived in remote northern Aussie to what seemed like another planet. Riding roughshod over the red earth they could not escape the rugged landscape, it rose up underneath them in clouds of burnt ochre through the rusted out bottom of Bill’s old truck. During this epic outback adventure they learnt heaps from Bill, bought what buffalo he could sell and then also picked up a few more from another Aussie farming contact. The buffalo were sent to Melbourne in preparation to get them back to Clevedon, NZ. No small task , not only from a quarantine perspective, but also because many of the buffalo were as wild as the landscape from which they’d come. Helen and Richard persisted and, in time, had 18 buffalo back on Kiwi grasslands ready to be milked… and milk ready to be made into cheese. And not just any cheese, it needed to be world class buffalo mozzarella. They knew that such a dream would require an amazing level of cheesemaking craft, so it was time for some more fun…

Off to the 8th World Buffalo Conference for the Dorresteyn’s. They eagerly soaked up all they could and struck it lucky when a couple of kind Italian’s took them under their wing. These gentlemen showed Helen and Richard a few tricks of the trade. Serendipity struck again when their introductions connected them with a phenomenal professor in Naples who’s life study is the making of buffalo mozzarella. Next stop: Naples (for fun of course), where they took a master class with the master. While they were making cheese together the professor was kind enough to share his “make sheet”. He then sent them on their blessed way to a small store in one of Naples’ back alleys where loud talking, chain smoking cheese specialists put together an order of all the intricate gear Helen and Richard would need to make buffalo mozzarella back home.

Over the next two years, while their buffalos were maturing into a herd of well bred, long horned beasts, Richard and Helen spent their time experimenting and perfecting their cheesemaking processes. They got to the point where they were ready for market and, following some initial encouraging feedback, Helen jumped into the Toyota and drove up to Auckland to share their labour with Tony Astle from Antione’s Restaurant,(as you do if you wanna know whether you’ve nailed it). Nervous as all hell she delivered a kilo of their smooth, round, white, cheesy goodness to Tony, who whipped it out, cut off a slice, and responded, “That’s not bad, is it”. He then made an order for the entire year ahead and has been buying, along with a slew of other chefs, from the Dorresteyn’s ever since.

On top of all the fun they’re having, it’s clear to me that some rock solid values underpin their enthusiasm and success. I think the essence of what motivates Richard & Helen is their passion for sustainable Kiwi community; to take their smallish piece of land, along with their formidable talents, and then work hard together to help see NZ truly shine. They want this from the ground up, quite literally – from the grass, to the animals, to the accumulation of craft and techniques, to the ongoing ingenuity, and then, of course, to the people in their neighbourhood and beyond who can now enjoy a delicious NZ buffalo mozzarella. They love standing alongside the 70 other stallholders at the Clevedon Farmers Market these days, looking down the rows at the men and women who are creating the future of this gifted country. It takes special people to see the heart of their community and build something extraordinary within it together. At Raeward Fresh, we take our hats off to the industrial electrician and the art teacher who went around the world and brought back a beautifully fresh buffalo mozzarella for our lucky land.