From Fife's Fields

The Stewart family’s dedication to traditional cheesemaking methods brings the distinctive flavour of Anster cheese to life

- JOANNA BREMNER and ERIKA HAY

THE Stewart family have been farming at Falside Farm near Pittenweem — one of the few dairy farms left in Fife — for generations.

Back in 2008, when milk prices fell, the Stewarts looked at ways of adding value to their produce, ultimately deciding to give cheesemaking a try.

“We used to wonder why there weren't more farmers diversifying into cheesemaking,” Jane Stewart explains. “But your basic farming job is very labour-intensive. It takes up all the farmer's time, all his energy, all his money — everything.

“If you're going to diversify, you need a mad family member with enough time and enthusiasm to commit to going down that route — and I am that mad family member!”

Jane spent a week with a cheesemaker in Wales before starting up the fledgling business, with their first product being a crumbly, Cheshire-type cheese, traditionally made using the raw milk from their own herd of home-bred cows. They branded it Anster in a nod to the local town of Anstruther.

A few years ago, they were awarded over £72,000 of funding from the Scottish Government's Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation grant scheme — something that Jane, at the time, said would help them to double their production. Today, Jane and her family are focusing on cheesemaking. They milk their cows and make their cheese all within a few hundred yards.

There is a production facility on the farm, cheese stores where the cheese matures and, of course, plenty of space for their cows.