Turning the Jersey Herb Halloumi (with freshly picked, hand-chopped herbs) ensures an even, neatly pressed end product.
The Cheesemaker
Alta Eybers heads up Babylonstoren’s unique, local, award-winning cheese offering. It all starts with a water buffalo.
FOOD / BULLETIN / 31.01.23
Read time / 6 mins
Creative Director
Writer
01
Photographer
[01] Turning the Jersey Herb Halloumi (with freshly picked, hand-chopped herbs) ensures an even, neatly pressed end product.
Alta’s Buffalo Bocconchini won a gold medal at the Aurora International Taste Challenge. “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the cheese room,” she says.
04
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
05
The Babylonstoren water buffaloes are creatures of habit. “You don’t take them out of their routine,” says farmer Kobus Lambrechts from a balcony above his milking station. “The same buffalo will walk in first and the same buffalo will walk in last.” Xina (each buffalo has a human name, the majority in correspondence with farm staff) strolls over from her preferred milking station to join friends in the parlour, an area named in acknowledgement of a meter-long vivid green brush hanging parallel from a dividing wall. Imported from Italy and resembling (albeit much smaller) a drive-through car wash apparatus, it rotates and swivels to provide the sensory equivalent of a scalp massage, exfoliating the buffaloes’ skin and optimising blood circulation. Xina shares the brush with a mildly begrudging Aida, who until then had the device all to herself.
The hundred-strong herd provides milk for Babylonstoren’s exclusive range of dairy products. From amasi to yoghurt, gelato, and a mouth-watering assortment of cheeses, the water buffalo range is for sale at the farm store and on its website, a must-try amongst a trove of farm-fresh treasures. Cheesemaker Alta Eybers may well be the buffaloes’ biggest fan: she refers to them as ‘my babies’ and fantasises about taking a calf home with her because “my landlords say I’m not allowed to have a dog, but they didn’t say anything about water buffalo.” She’d spend more time with them if she weren’t so busy in her cheese room, hand making eight different types every day. “We’ve got a very short shelf life on our products because I don’t use any preservatives—it’s all natural. That’s why we make small batches every single day.”
Alta started at Babylonstoren in 2014 as kitchen manager at The Greenhouse, the farm’s casual restaurant. Four years later, her hankering for a smaller scale, more creative culinary output coincided with the Babylonstoren deli advertising a cheesemaking position. Without prior experience in this specific culinary avenue, Alta’s cheesy pivot was a leap of faith. During her initial training at Grootplaas Cheese Academy in Hartbeespoort, Alta found a mentor in Barbie Pretorius. “Her passion for cheese is contagious,” and gave Alta the confidence she needed to set up the cheese room and build a team. Just as she was hitting her stride, the farm upped the ante, sending Alta to Italy for an artisanal cheesemaking course. Shortly after, Babylonstoren purchased its first water buffalo. Today, Alta with her core team of three (and the occasional casuals) produce up to 100kgs of mozzarella for the Babylonstoren restaurants alone. Last year, they made 1.5 tons of Alta’s renowned Halloumi Skewers.
[04] For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
[05] Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
02
Packaged and ready to sell, Alta’s Jersey milk Halloumi Skewer won a gold medal at the 2022 Food and Home Best in Food Awards.
03
Packaged and ready to sell, Alta’s Jersey milk Halloumi Skewer won a gold medal at the 2022 Food and Home Best in Food Awards.
“I use all my senses when I make cheese,” says Alta, doing a taste test at her custom-made 300l cheese vat.
Alta’s Buffalo Bocconchini won a gold medal at the Aurora International Taste Challenge. “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the cheese room,” she says.
Alta’s Buffalo Bocconchini won a gold medal at the Aurora International Taste Challenge. “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the cheese room,” she says.
04
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
05
The hundred-strong herd provides milk for Babylonstoren’s exclusive range of dairy products. From amasi to yoghurt, gelato, and a mouth-watering assortment of cheeses, the water buffalo range is for sale at the farm store and on its website, a must-try amongst a trove of farm-fresh treasures. Cheesemaker Alta Eybers may well be the buffaloes’ biggest fan: she refers to them as ‘my babies’ and fantasises about taking a calf home with her because “my landlords say I’m not allowed to have a dog, but they didn’t say anything about water buffalo.” She’d spend more time with them if she weren’t so busy in her cheese room, hand making eight different types every day. “We’ve got a very short shelf life on our products because I don’t use any preservatives—it’s all natural. That’s why we make small batches every single day.”
Alta started at Babylonstoren in 2014 as kitchen manager at The Greenhouse, the farm’s casual restaurant. Four years later, her hankering for a smaller scale, more creative culinary output coincided with the Babylonstoren deli advertising a cheesemaking position. Without prior experience in this specific culinary avenue, Alta’s cheesy pivot was a leap of faith. During her initial training at Grootplaas Cheese Academy in Hartbeespoort, Alta found a mentor in Barbie Pretorius. “Her passion for cheese is contagious,” and gave Alta the confidence she needed to set up the cheese room and build a team. Just as she was hitting her stride, the farm upped the ante, sending Alta to Italy for an artisanal cheesemaking course. Shortly after, Babylonstoren purchased its first water buffalo. Today, Alta with her core team of three (and the occasional casuals) produce up to 100kgs of mozzarella for the Babylonstoren restaurants alone. Last year, they made 1.5 tons of Alta’s renowned Halloumi Skewers.
[04] For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
[05] Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
06
The Comat mozzarella machine deposits a round of Water Buffalo Bocconcini balls, each one caught by Alta to ensure quality and consistency. She compares this step to playing a Poppit game, a daily highlight.
Alta’s cheese room is tucked away between the admin building and a small vineyard, flanked by the bakery and gelato room. The space is immaculately curated, a sort of working gallery space with its burnt orange floor and grass green tiles reflecting colour schemes from the farm’s frequented areas. On Johannesburg order days, Alta begins working at 05:00. “Cheese is very scientific,” she says. “You have to measure your milk, the PH, you have to do everything by the book, exactly like baking.” She’s matured her skills with two more artisanal courses in Italy, and has a direct line to Barbie, who sends her tips and ideas via voice notes, often around eleven at night. But even then, a perfect product isn’t guaranteed. Any number of variables, from seasonal temperate changes to what the buffalo are eating may result in an unsuccessful batch. “My cheese didn’t work out yesterday,” says Alta, nervous about today’s do-over. “For the first time in a long time my cheese just… bombed. There’s a lot of tears on that floor.”
Accidents have also lead to great success. “The [Halloumi] Skewer was a huge accident,” explains Alta. A big batch of prematurely refrigerated cheese ended up “a bit bent and warped”—not up to Alta’s standards. Never one to waste, she cut the cheese into cubes and marinated them in a mixture of olive oil, herbs, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper. It sold out over the weekend: “On Monday morning I had people saying, ‘Listen here, is there more? We had it on the braai, we want more’.” Alta’s creative expression is best described, and tasted, in the way she customises her cheeses with seasonal flavour yields from the farm, creating deliciously experimental one-offs for the Babel restaurant. “We made a cheese with sting nettle and garlic the other day. It was awesome!”
You might say working with water buffalo milk was always on the cards for Alta, having grown up on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal named Enyati, meaning Place of the Buffalo in Zulu. This year, Alta’s Buffalo Bocconchini won a gold medal at the Aurora International Taste Challenge. “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the cheese room,” she says, determined to build on her golden momentum. Her next chapter will likely be in product development and quality control, but for now she’s doubling down on her core offering. “I have to put the Buffalo Mozzarella on the map. It’s such a special product.” —
Alta’s Buffalo Bocconchini won a gold medal at the Aurora International Taste Challenge. “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in the cheese room,” she says.
04
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
05
The Babylonstoren water buffaloes are creatures of habit. “You don’t take them out of their routine,” says farmer Kobus Lambrechts from a balcony above his milking station. “The same buffalo will walk in first and the same buffalo will walk in last.” Xina (each buffalo has a human name, the majority in correspondence with farm staff) strolls over from her preferred milking station to join friends in the parlour, an area named in acknowledgement of a meter-long vivid green brush hanging parallel from a dividing wall. Imported from Italy and resembling (albeit much smaller) a drive-through car wash apparatus, it rotates and swivels to provide the sensory equivalent of a scalp massage, exfoliating the buffaloes’ skin and optimising blood circulation. Xina shares the brush with a mildly begrudging Aida, who until then had the device all to herself.
[04] For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
[05] Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”
Creative Director
Photographer
Writer
Photographer's Assitant
04
[02] Packaged and ready to sell, Alta’s Jersey milk Halloumi Skewer won a gold medal at the 2022 Food and Home Best in Food Awards.
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
05
For a more traditional palate, Alta’s team makes butter (pictured here) and cheese products from Jersey milk.
Alta checks on her mozzarella. After cutting the cheese inside the vat, “I look to see how it’s set, monitoring the temperature and the amount of whey I have to scoop off.”