KING Valley Dairy starts the New Year in good shape with strong demand for butter nationwide and new projects in the pipeline.
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Co-owner of the Moyhu-based butter factory Naomi Ingleton said the worldwide shortage of butter – particularly butter sheets – had created new opportunities for them.
“The shortage of good, high-quality, pastry butter made in France made import prices rise in Australia, which made our product prices in line with them,” she said.
“We gained more pastry chef clients across Australia.
“Everyone was talking about the doom and gloom of the butter shortage but it’s been great for us!”
South Yarra bakery Tivoli Road Bakery moved from French butter to Australian after months of experimenting with different samples from King Valley Dairy.
“[The butter shortage] has been a really big thing for a lot of the bakers I know,” owner Michael James told Good Food.
“It's always bugged me using French butter and I think we'll be seeing a lot of the key artisan bakers moving onto local butter now.
“Maybe, in fact, it's really a good story.”
Ms Ingleton and her partner David Taylor opened King Valley Dairy in November 2016 after outgrowing their premises at Myrtleford in late 2015.
King Valley Dairy produces milk, natural yoghurt, buttermilk, butter, ghee, creme fraiche and a line of Fancy Butter.
Ms Ingleton said all of their products were derived from the butter-making process, making it a sustainable business operation.
She said they were setting up the Moyhu property along permaculture lines.
“We’ll teach propagation, seed-saving, soap making, basic bread making, cheese and small goods’ workshops,” she said.
King Valley Dairy will offer a series of butter-making workshops for children and adults as well as other classes this summer.
Kids’ Butter Making workshops for children aged 5-12 will be held on January 11, 18 and 25.
Children will learn how to make butter using two different methods during the hour-long, hands-on workshop.
King Valley Dairy will offer Kids’ Biscuit Decorating workshops on January 9, 16 and 23.
An Adults’ Cultured Butter Making workshop will be held on January 20 with a Milk Soap Making workshop the next day.
Daylesford venture The Fermentary will host I Can Pickle That (without vinegar) workshop on Saturday at 11am.
Bookings are essential for the workshops.
King Valley Dairy is at 107 Moyhu-Meadow Creek Road, Moyhu.