Welcome to Mount Eliza Cheese

In the hills behind Katikati, we have created Mount Eliza Cheese –
a small artisan creamery where we have revived the age-old art of making cloth-ripened hard cheeses.

Cloth-ripened cheese

Our aim is to bring back the real cheeses – handmade with care, wholesome, down to earth, local and fresh.

Our inspiration comes from the use of traditional recipes and methods that date back centuries.

Handmade from small batches of fresh full-cream farmhouse milk, the cheeses are matured in calico (rather than plastic or wax). The cloth allows the cheese to ‘breathe’ naturally and excess whey is evaporated through the cloth.

The result is a matured cheese with a beautiful natural rind, rich sweet-earthy flavours and a texture and moisture balance that can only be achieved with cloth-ripening.