The SA Cheese Festival, which celebrates its 18th anniversary from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 April 2019, is once again highlighting alternative products that will accompany cheese for exceptional taste experiences. One of the ever-innovative highlights of the festival is the Cape Made: Taste the Alternatives initiative.
It is here that visitors to the SA Cheese Festival can learn more about niche and alternative products such as pomegranates, chillies, abalone pie and insect ice cream. In the Cape Made Mall, about 50 exhibitors offer their unique products directly to the public to taste and buy, thanks to a partnership between the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) and Agri-Expo, the organisers of the SA Cheese Festival.
"It is important that agricultural role-players unite in these challenging times and therefore we are grateful for the partnership between two anchor partners working side by side to promote agriculture," says Johan Ehlers, CEO of Agri-Expo.
"This partnership provides the Western Cape Government with a valuable platform to fulfill its responsibility to provide exposure to producers of both primary and processed agricultural products," says Joyene Isaacs, Head of the WCDoA. "The real good news about alternative crops is how it fits in with the essential adjustments to production patterns in addressing climate change."
Kitchen and recipe book will inspire
An exciting addition to the Cape Made Mall is the Cape Made Kitchen where chefs of The Private Hotel School (PHS) daily demonstrate specially developed recipes during three free sessions, pairing cheese with bread and alternative products such as berries, persimmons and figs.
More than 30 recipes are included in the exclusive Cape Made recipe book illustrating the versatility of these exceptional products, as well as how they complement dairy, and more specifically cheese. Visitors to the Cape Made Kitchen will receive this recipe book as a gift thanks to a partnership between the WCDoA, Hortgro, the Milk Producers Organisation (MPO), PHS, Grain SA and Agri-Expo.
Anton Rabe, Executive Director of Hortgro, says alternative crops are an important focus area: “Continued investment by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the alternative and traditional fruit crops within the Hortgro umbrella, is essential for continued job creation, food security, stable and vibrant rural areas, economic development, and land reform, as well as exports and the resultant foreign exchange earnings."
Taste it here!
Some of the interesting products to taste and buy include: Sauceress Sauces' brand new “Wicked Garlic Dip” with a splash of brandy; Gourmet Grubb's insect ice cream made from EntoMilk™; Supersprout's organic seed-in-a-slab; Blinkwaters Cooperative's abalone pie, pickled seafood and ginger beer; as well as kefir water, kombucha vinegar, Turkish coffee, rooibos vodka, kudu salami, buchu limoncello and gin, free range chicken biltong, and beeswax and hemp skin products.
Date, time and ticket details
The SA Cheese Festival takes place from Friday 26 April to Sunday 28 April 2019 at Sandringham Estate outside Stellenbosch. Tickets are available at any Computicket outlet, Shoprite or Checkers store at R180 per person per day. Senior citizens pay R120 and children between 2 years and 13 years pay R20 per person per day. No tickets will be sold at the gates. The festival times are from 10:00 to 18:00 daily. Sandringham Estate is conveniently located next to the N1, Stellenbosch turn-off (exit 39), between Cape Town and Paarl.
Visit www.cheesefestival.co.za, contact Agri-Expo on tel 021-975 4440 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information. For programme highlights, follow the SA Cheese Festival on Facebook (SA Cheese Festival), Twitter (@SACheeseFest) and Instagram (sacheesefest
