Three Kangaroo Valley women are on the hunt for cheese lovers to join them in a world record attempt for the world's largest cheese tasting.
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The event will take place on Saturday, February 16 with the official record being measured by the number of people who attend a cheese tasting in a single location.
The current record is held by Margaret River Dairy Company. Earlier this year, 560 people helped put the small WA town of Metricup on the map, at the world’s largest cheese tasting event.
Kangaroo Valley’s Kathy Harrington, Rosie Johnson and Jan Watson hope to smash that record with a 700-plus person cheese tasting event at next year’s Kangaroo Valley Show.
“We are hoping to get at least 700 people but we would love to see a lot more,” Kathy said.
“Our goal is to put Kangaroo Valley on the international cheese-making map.”
As well as this, the women hope the event will draw more attention to agricultural shows and the dairy industry.
“Our focus is to attract people to the Kangaroo Valley Show and promote local cheese-makers,” she said.
“We are also trying to support our local dairy farmers and the role play too.”
Participants in the world record attempt will be required to taste three different cheeses; one hard, one semi-hard, and one soft, all sourced from local cheese-making companies including Unicorn Cheese, Bega and Bodalla Cheese Factory.
“Bega is supplying a cheddar, Unicorn is supplying a brie and camembert and Bodalla is supplying cheese infused with native flavours like lemon myrtle, thyme and wattle seeds,” Kathy said.
Each participant will be presented with a box of cheese, which will be opened and consumed at the same.
“People from school age and up are welcomed to take part,” Kathy said.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Kathy, Rosie and Jan began delivering cheese-making workshops three years ago, after all moving to the lush pastures of Kangaroo Valley.
It was through a conversation at a dinner table that they discovered their joint passion for cheese, and, like curds forming in whey, their separate dreams merged into one and the Valley Cheesemakers was born.
“We don’t do it to make a lot of money, we do it because we love it,” Kathy said.
“We enjoy passing on our knowledge and getting other people interested n cheese-making.”
The trio also paved the way for the introduction of the hugely popular cheese and dairy section at the Kangaroo Valley Show.
The section is the only one of its kind to be hosted at an agricultural show in the Shoalhaven.
“2019 will be our third year of the section and we are hoping to see more entries than ever,” Kathy said.
The Kangaroo Valley cheese tasting challenge will be held on February 16 at 4pm. To register as a participant visit https://valleycheesemakers.com.au/world-record-attempt/. Children are welcome to participate but everyone must be happy to eat all three cheeses otherwise they will not be counted.
Madeline Crittenden
Madeline Crittenden is a journalist for Fairfax Media at the South Coast Register.
Madeline Crittenden is a journalist for Fairfax Media at the South Coast Register.
