Cressida McNamarra at the Kiama Farmers’ Market

Pecora Dairy, a founding and continuing stallholder at the Kiama Farmers’ Market, has taken out the national Trophy for the From the Dairy category at Australia’s most prestigious food awards.

The Delicious Harvey Norman Produce Awards are the only chef nominated awards in the country, meaning only the highest regarded food gets to the judging table, which is a who’s who of the Australian restaurant industry.

Michael and Cressida McNamarra’s Pecora Dairy has been awarded Delicious Gold Medals before, but this year their raw sheeps milk fetta was judged the national winner.

“We are truly thrilled to receive this recognition, particularly in relation to our work with raw milk cheese,”says Cressida.

“It’s an exciting time to be involved in cheese in this country and we have many outstanding cheesemakers.”

Last year the pair won a Delicious scholarship to learn more about raw milk cheese making in France.

The Trophy shows the scholarship has already reaped benefits.

On the day following their time on the red carpet at Sydney’s State Theatre, the couple were back to work in the busy lambing season.

The day after that, Cressida was back at the Kiama Farmers’ Market, selling her top cheese to appreciative locals.

Their sheep farm is perched up on the north western edge of the Kiama Municipality, near the Illawarra Fly.

Another Farmers’ Market stallholder, Fitzroy Falls’ Moonacre Farm, received a Gold Medal for its seasonal fresh produce. The Pines’ hard cheese, Pearl, was earlier announced as a finalist.