Lyburn Gold
Stoney Cross
Good news. We have for some years used an ingredient called Lysozyme in our cheese to help protect our cheese from late blowing and since mid-May we have not used it, we can use an alternative. The problem with Lysozyme, was that the enzyme needed was derived from egg white, and this then necessitated a declaration that egg had been used in the production. As a result we needed to declare this as an allergen or our labels, and the downside of this is that consumers could not understand why we were using eggs to make our cheese. This is the case for the Lyburn Gold, Stoney Cross, Garlic and Nettle, and the Lightly Oak Smoked, labeling will change during October. However this is not the case for Winchester and Old Winchester, as they are much older and we will have to wait a while until we declare them egg free.
Pumpkin lined up ready for packing.
Pumpkin season, is now in full swing and demand is very strong. The wet weather has held us up a little, but we have had a good few days and we have pressed on well. The pumpkin are keeping well with little or no rot.There is a good supply of Crown Prince and Kabocha at the moment, but demand is strong.
Update 18/10/24
Due to continuous rain, ground conditions are now terrible and it is very difficult removing the pumpkin from the fields. However, we did get going early, more luck than judgement and with 10 days to go, all we have left is Mars,2-3kg and Crown Prince.
Organic, split milk!
There is some discussion in the market place regarding the absence of organic milk on the shelves of supermarkets, and where has it gone? There are two answers to this question. Milk tends to go short July August and September, this is because a number of farms are autumn calving and the cows go dry in July /August, and have their rest period before calving and starting to produce milk again. However this is made worse by retailers not paying the going rate for organic milk. In recent times a number of organic producers called it a day because the price being paid was not covering the cost of production. To get production back, money has to be put on the table on a long term basis. Dairy farmers need long term planning and confidence in a price going forward that leaves them with a profit, producing organic milk is tough! Retailers think they can get milk on the cheap, but they can’t anymore, it has to be paid for.
