Over the Moon founder, Sue Arthur's love for cheese began as a little girl when her dad would make her fried cubes of cheddar wrapped in bacon as a treat in the weekends- her cheese obsession begun.
Founded in 2008, Over the Moon utilises its prime position in South Waikato as the dairy capital of New Zealand to turn quality milk into award-winning cheese. Over the Moon creates New Zealand's widest range of specialty cheeses and has won more than 150 medals and trophies for their excellence.
Alongside their collection of awards, Over the Moon has recently won silver at the prestigious International Cheese and Dairy Awards in the UK, as well as 3 gold and 6 silver medals at the NZ Cheese Awards, including a trophy for their Black Truffle Brie.
Sue was inspired to start Over the Moon during her travels across Europe where she experienced a wide variety of cheese flavours, nothing like she had seen before. She had lived in New Zealand's largest and oldest dairying area for 30 years and realised there was an opportunity to innovate new cheese flavours with the quality milk available on her doorstep.
"One of the things that make our factory very different is that we take four different kinds of animal milk," says Sue.
Over the Moon's boutique factory is located in the heart of South Waikato town of Putaruru and is one of the only factories to have locally sourced goat, cow, sheep, and buffalo milk together.
"I have traveled a lot and been to a lot of cheese factories around the world and I have never found a cheese factory that does that."
Over the Moon specialises in innovation and unusual cheese combinations and is known for blending the different kinds of milk to create new flavors.
With Over the Moon stores being located in Putaruru and Cambridge, Sue is passionate about keeping it local by sourcing milk from farms spread around Waikato.
"What's important to small cheesemakers is keeping it local by employing local people and using local ingredients, "says Sue. "We do appreciate the support a lot of locals show us, it has been phenomenal over the years during the pandemic."
Outside of Over the Moon, Sue operates The New Zealand Cheese School in conjunction. The Cheese School grew out of frustration that there was nothing available here in New Zealand for specialty cheesemaking training. The school provides education and support for anyone interested in cheese and cheesemaking or who wants to extend their knowledge of the process from start to finish.
Sue is also the custodian of The Cheese Cartel, a monthly subscription of locally made artesian cheeses dropped to your doorstep.
Over the Moon's future looks gouda with many new flavors and training opportunities ahead. Sue looks forward to focusing on providing professional cheesemaker training at The New Zealand Cheese School.
Over the Moon Dairy really is everything it's cracked out to brie.
