Jed is what I like to call a farmers foodie. You won’t catch him waxing lyrical about the nutty Edam cheese notes in a chardonnay but spend a couple of hours with Jed and you might be lucky enough to extract a few nuggets of wisdom on vege gardening, composting, or his new favourite local restaurant which will likely be everyone’s favourite in a couple of months. And I’ve never heard him utter the word’s “rustic” or “low food miles” but he does like to quietly position himself as close to the origin of foods as he can, shopping at the Otara markets, making his own sausages and even experimenting with growing his own wheat for bread.
His latest project? Mozzarella. Cheese making is a daunting task for most but Mozzarella is a 2 hour affair, you don’t need a damp cave and 18 months of self-control. We made it after work one evening with cow’s milk and served it up with some basil sprigs – I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted anything fresher. Bravo Jed, all that’s left to do is to wrangle an Italian water buffalo for some added authenticity. This is his first recipe, hopefully he can pry himslef away from his garden long enough to share a few more with us in the future.