Do you dream of Roquefort?

From July you may not need to dream any more. New Zealand is finally allowing raw, unpasteurised, soft cheeses to be imported.

Good news indeed. Soon we will be able to enjoy full flavoured brie, camembert, Roquefort, Gouda and Edam without having to pay for that ticket to the other side of the world. We will also be able to buy New Zealand crafted raw milk cheeses, possibly as soon as next year.

It will be wonderful to savour the full taste of the cheeses ; all the complexities given by the cheese's flavour-giving bacteria, which is destroyed by heating and pasteurising milk. The contraction of listeria from unpasteurised milk products appears to only be a threat to elderly, pregnant or immunodeficient people. Outbreaks of Listeria have also been linked to raw vegetables, poultry, fish and deli meats - and we don't worry about eating those things, do we?

Come July, look at for imported unpasteurised cheese at Truffle in Wellington and Canterbury Cheesemongers in Christchurch.