Dunnstown’s Inglenook Dairy is proving to be the cream of the crop, taking out the Champion Milk Award at the Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards last month.
The dairy company, owned by Troy and Rachel Peterken, won two gold medals at the show – one for their homogenised and another for their unhomogenised milk – and bronze for their cream, qualifying them for the Champion Milk Award.
The couple’s unhomogenised milk brand went on to take out the top prize after passing through blind tasting.
Mr Peterken said the fact they were judged purely on the taste of their milk made the win all the more satisfying.
But the Peterkens’ biggest fans are at home –their three children who Mr Peterken says can’t drink anything but their milk. “Whenever we go on holidays there are five suitcases and a cooler bag with our milk in it,” he said.
The factory, which was built over two years by the Peterkens on their property, has been processing milk for almost three years.
The milk is now sought after by baristas and coffee drinkers, both locally and statewide.
The family has also hired three new staff members in the past month.
Mr Peterken said Australian-owned and family-owned products were becoming a “dying breed” and it was important for the community to support locally grown and produced wares.
He said their role in supporting local farmers and providing the community with a natural product made the hard work worthwhile.
Nationals candidate for Buninyong Sonia Smith said Inglenook Dairy was a great example of why it paid to buy local.
“Inglenook is not only employing local people, it’s a generous supporter of local causes and is a proven quality product.”
