Indonesian homegrown firm produces its own unique cheese

Lately, there is a growing interest by local companies and even governments in ASEAN to take up local production of highly processed dairy products like cheese. As locals have developed a love relationship with cheese, demand for cheese has grown at healthy double-digit rate over the years.
With the strong demand, many smaller local companies are exploring into this category. In Indonesia, homegrown cheese company, Moon River Dairy based in Banyuwangi, East Java is utilising local produce, from the Margo Utomo Eco Resort complex in Kalibaru, Banyuwangi. The cows in their in-house farm are milked daily and this milk is then processed in a cheesemaking facility just a few blocks away. Meanwhile, a tropical plantation nearby supplies herbs and spices which add a distinctive taste to Moon River Dairy’s cheese.
Moon River also uses locally-sourced equipment to process its cheese and has adopted sustainability practice with the manure from the cows and other dairy processing waste converted into biogas that powers the eco-resort and cheesemaking factory. The remaining waste is then recycled into bioslurry fertilisers, enhancing the growth of corn and grass to feed the cows.
Moon River Dairy is challenging the notion that cheesemaking is largely a European tradition. Currently, it has produced 2 types of cheese namely Anagata Cheese, the first Alpine-style cheese in Indonesia, and Amaya Cheese, which is a Cheddar-style cheese.
Fiona Farody, Co-Founder of Moon River Dairy said, “The Moon River Dairy cheese that we produce only uses local raw materials that we plant ourselves, such as local spices that can represent and show the taste of Indonesia. So that the flavor is not owned by imported cheese.”
The company is also looking into adding new range of cheese products.