Tough times for boutique companies, champion cheesemaker says

The market has never been tougher for a boutique cheesemaker, says Karikaas owner Di Hawkins.

Di and Alan Hawkins have been making cheese out of their Loburn factory since 2004, when they bought the Karikaas cheese business from Dutch transplants Karin and Rients Rypma.

Their Dutch and New Zealand cheeses have won many awards - including this year where they took out prizes for best Dutch cheese and best NZ original cheese.

But after 20 years in the business, the market has never been tougher, she said.

"Over that time the entrants to the New Zealand cheese market who've come and gone are probably 10 to one to those that have survived.

"People come and they get started, and there's lots of enthusiasm, and then the reality and the work and combination of circumstances means that they just can't keep going," she told RNZ's Nine to Noon.

It was not the making that was difficult, Hawkins said, it was the selling - because supermarkets called the shots.

"The New Zealand Cheese Makers' Association have put in several submissions recently associated with the code of conduct for the supermarkets, for suppliers, and also the potential merger between North and South Island foodstuffs.

"So they advocate for us because individuals don't necessarily want to put their names forward because fear of retaliation, whether that fear is a reality or not, no one's really prepared to risk."

The Commerce Commission was toothless, she said.

"They can recommend all they like, but because they've got no teeth. Government have to make changes, and whether governments are prepared to do that is a different issue."

The first principle for making good cheese is having good milk to start with, Hawkins said.

"When it comes to making dairy products, if you don't have beautiful milk, you will not get beautiful dairy products."

And Hawkins had evidence to support the happy cow, happy cheese claim.

"We actually collected the morning after the September earthquake in 2010 and turned it into cheese, as we would normally do, and the cheese was absolutely terrible. Really, really terrible.

"The cows were clearly, very unhappy. They've been perfectly happy up until that point, but they at that stage, they were very, very unhappy when they were milked, and they produced absolutely awful cheese."

A large dose of instinct goes into knowing when a cheese is ready, she said

"We get what the cows give us, which means it varies every day according to what the cows have eaten, the season, the weather, all of those sorts of things feed into what we get on that day."

As well as the traditional Dutch-style cheese it makes - gouda, maasdam and leyden - Karikaas has recently won best original New Zealand cheese for its Pumahana.

"The pumahana is an aged cheese. It's got peppercorns and a hint of chili in it. And pumahana means warmth. So, it's not a hot cheese like chili would suggest, but it's got a kind of warmth going through it," Hawkins said.

And with October designated New Zealand Cheese Month, there was no better time to sample a locally made cheese you have never tried before, Hawkins said.

"Just one, just to see what it's like. And then you never know. You might find your new favourite."