It’s feta, but not as you know it

Karen Lindsay and her ‘girls’ work hard to create quality feta loved by chefs and foodies, so when COVID-19 restrictions forced restaurants and some markets to close they had to find a new way to market their cheese.

Little White Goat Cheese at Wamuran is now selling freeze-dried feta, with the help of the team at Boneafide Broth Co who turn fresh feta into a delicious powder with an 18-month shelf-life.

Karen says she makes the cheese in the same way she usually would, using milk from her much-loved goats. She keeps it in brine and takes it to the Sunshine Coast, where the magic happens.

The collaboration is the result of two chance meetings last year – one at a course on the Sunshine Coast and another at the Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival.

The same company freeze dries berries for Luvaberry at Wamuran.

How freeze-dried feta is to be used

It’s not reconstituted, but instead sprinkled over the top of bread before it is baked, on top of pasta, lasagne, soup and pizza, and added to sauces.

“It’s just beautiful,” Karen says.

Karen is working with renowned chef Tony Tierney to discover other uses for it and create postcard recipe cards.

Reducing waste to zero

Karen can now freeze-dry all the feta she makes, taking the pressure off selling fresh feta before its used-by date.

“There’s now zero waste from the dairy. Everything gets used,” she says.

And with such a long shelf-life there’s very little chance the new product won’t be used before its expiry date.

Where it will be sold

Initially, Karen was hoping to sell the freeze-dried feta to high-end overseas restaurants, airlines and cruise liners but COVID-19 has put a stop to that for now. She’ll aim for those markets when the virus threat eases around the world, but is particularly keen to market it to Italian restaurants and taco venues.

In the meantime, she’s promoted it on the Little White Goat Cheese and Brisbane - Bulk Buys & Discounts Facebook pages, and sold out in two days after a mention on the Buy from a Bush Business page earlier this month.

Want to know more about Little White Goat Cheese’s freeze-dried feta? Check out their Facebook page

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