How Big Cheese Australia Became a Leading Brand in the Dairy Industry

Located in the dairying village of Bodalla, New South Wales, Australia, the Big Cheese serves as a monument to the Bodalla label that can be found all over the country. With a population of just 1,000, Bodalla is an old village that is still spotted with timber houses and a granite church built in the early 1800s. Bodalla, in addition to being known for its cheese, is recognized for its surroundings, all lakes, forest, and dairy pastures.

big cheese australia

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In its heydays, the Bodalla Dairy Cooperative was known for its butter and cheese in the entire region. Unfortunately, the business closed shop in 1987 after losing its local suppliers to a competitor.

Many years later, the new Bodalla Cheese Factory took over the old one. It now produces dairy products as well as cheese. Visitors can watch the cheese-making and milk pasteurization process at the factory and learn a thing or two about it.

Australia's next big thing is here - The Big Cheese XL Mac & Cheese Bowl.Australia's next big thing is here, The Big Cheese XL Mac & Cheese Bowl. Quality durum wheat macaroni covered with lashings of delicious cheddar cheese flavoured mix for the perfect comfort food snack.

Hello Friend Food currently sells three cheese products: The first plant-based haloumi in Australia (RRP A$15 / US$10.94 for 200g), mozzarella (A$14 / US$10.21 for 200g) and cheese sauce (A$18 / US$13.13 for 400g).

How much cheese to serve on a cheeseboard? And how many styles?The main thing to consider before deciding how much cheese to buy, according to Sutton, is what time you plan to serve it.

For the most part, Sutton is against pairing seafood and cheese, particularly in pasta, but acknowledges that this is really a matter of personal taste. She also recognises there are several pairings that actually taste pretty good, such as salmon and cream cheese or mozzarella with anchovies.

It was tough in the early days but the Saputos were not afraid of hard work, and in 1954 Lino Sr convinced his father to use his experience to start his own cheese-making business. The Saputos set up a small shop, using $500 to buy some basic equipment and a bicycle for deliveries, but within a few years their business began to take off as Americans developed a love for pizzas and mozzarella cheese. They grew the business further through the 1960s, with Lino Sr taking over as chairman and president in 1969, and in the 1970s set up a national distribution network, acquiring several manufacturing plants along the way.

The Saputos made further acquisitions through the 1990s and in 1997, under the stewardship of Lino Sr, the family made the decision to take the business public. With extra capital the company went on a new acquisition spree, buying another major cheese-making group and a large milk processing operation within a matter of months.

Visitors to this distinctively South Australian foodie experience will be able to enjoy all the delights of the South Australian and Australian cheese, drinks and food scene in one location, and learn from famous chefs and food personalities, or just kick back, enjoy the live music and relax in the park.

And yes - this post is titled "how to make a cheese plate," but you can follow these basic steps to make allllll kinds of party platters! Our cheese plate today has a bit of meat included (cheese and charcuterie FTW!) and I also like to round things out with crackers, fruit, sausage, or whatever seasonal produce I have on hand (more on that later!)

I'll cover things like building seasonal cheese plates, what to include on your cheese plate, and how to make a cheap cheese plate (because BUDGET) later on - but let's start with the ASSEMBLY. Cheese plates can look very proper and fancy, but I'm going to let you in on a secret: It is SO. EASY. to build a fancy cheese plate - you just need to follow this basic order of operations.

A lot of people like to start with the cheese, but I prefer to start by placing some little bowls around my cheese board. Why? Because it helps me make part of the cheese plate ahead of time. If I know I'm making a cheese plate for a party, I'll set out the cutting board (I'm using a 15"-ish wood board from Target - it's no longer in stock but I found a similar one here) and place the bowls the night before so it's ready to go. You can skip the bowls if you like, but I like using them to hold dips and smaller items - plus, the height and round shape helps break up the cheese board to make it more fun to look at. (PS - Swap small store-bought jars of jam or honey, roasted red peppers, or pesto for the bowls here if you like!)

Next, add the cheeses. Cheese should really be served at room temperature, which means you should take it out of the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour before serving (learn more in this post). You can do this two ways: One, take the cheeses out of the fridge, throw them on the counter, and come back later to add them to the cheese plate. Or two, unwrap and cut the cheeses straight out of the fridge, then place them on the cheese plate and let them come to temperature on the board (pro tip: cover the cheese with beeswax wrap or plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out).

I like to serve cheeses in a variety of shapes to add visual interest. Soft cheeses, like the brie and goat cheese in this photo, can be served as is. For hard cheeses, like the cheddar and parmesan, I prefer to cut them into slices or cubes and stack them up on the board - this makes it easier for guests to grab a piece without having to saw through a hard cheese with a cheese knife and makes the cheese plate more interesting.

Next, the bread! Because I want to devote as much real estate as possible to the cheese, I put just a handful of of crostini or crackers on the plate and set out a bowl full of extra crackers for those who want them. Fan out crackers or crostini along the edges of the cheese plate to make them easy to grab.

Now that the big pieces are on our cheese plate, it's time to have some fun and start filling in the gaps! This is where a cheese plate really starts to come together (and where you get the WOW factor that will have your party guests asking you to teach THEM how to assemble a cheese plate!)

First, add some fruit. We used grapes here, but you can use any fruit (or veggies!) you have on hand. I like to break the fruit into relatively small pieces and scatter it in a few places across the board - I put grapes on either side of this cheese plate to help it look balanced (and make it easy for guests to grab a grape from either side!)

If you're using olives, add them now! You can place them anywhere you'd like; to assemble this cheese board, I opted for some green olives on the board itself and some black olives in one of our small bowls. We have a love-hate relationship with olives in my house, so I include them on cheese plates about half the time.

YOU'RE ALMOST DONE! At this point, you have alllllllll the good stuff ready to go and have assembled a great cheese plate (WOOT). All that's left is to fill in any remaining teeny gaps to make your cheese board look full and inviting.

I ALWAYS opt to fill any last little spaces with something green. I find it helps break up the color since cheese plates tend to lean very red/white/brown. For this cheese plate, we chose fresh arugula, but you could also use fresh herbs (I love adding rosemary sprigs to a cheese plate!) Arugula is my go-to because it's almost always in my fridge, and the leaves are small and flexible enough that I can really tuck them into small spaces (plus, a crostini + brie + arugula + walnuts + a grape + honey = THE BEST BITE EVER).

There are SO many choices when it comes to building your cheese plate - and there's really no right or wrong way to do it! I'll outline my basic guidelines below (including how many varieties from each category to include) and some ingredient lists for inspiration, but don't be afraid to make it your own!

As a general rule, I like to include the following categories on a cheese plate (keeping in mind that I want about a 50/50 mix of hard and soft cheeses, and that some cheeses might hit two of these bullet points!)

Those distinctions can be useful, but in the case of cheese plate building, I find it's easier to think about cheeses in just two groups: HARD (cheeses that you need a sharp knife to cut easily & that you'll likely cut before putting them on the cheese plate) and SOFT (cheeses that are often somewhat spread-able and easy to cut with a butter knife or cheese spreader).

My best advice for choosing cheeses, though? Make friends with the people at your grocery store cheese counter! We haven't always lived by a store with a great cheese selection, but the last few years we've been lucky to live by a Wegmans with allllllll the cheese you could ever dream of.

My strategy is to grab a few cheeses I KNOW I want to include - usually a sharp white cheddar and a good goat cheese - and then pop by the cheese counter and ask them what's new and delicious (if I still need an out-of-the-box cheese for my cheese board, I ask them to show me something totally wild. They always deliver).

But enough about cheese! (JK we all know we can never talk enough about cheese) Let's talk accompaniments! This is a short(ish) list, because this post is getting loooooooong - refer to the how-to instructions and the seasonal cheese plate lists for more ideas and suggestions!

If you're serving a cheese plate as an appetizer, plan to have 2-3 oz. of cheese per person. If you're serving a lot of accompaniments (like charcuterie, crackers, and fruit) alongside the cheese, people will eat a little less cheese. Fewer accompaniments? Plan for people to eat a little more.

If you're making a cheese plate for dinner (*raises own hand*) plan for 4-5 oz. of cheese per person and load that plate up with plenty of fruits and veggies (because, y'know, BALANCE). 2ff7e9595c