Natural Pastures Cheese Company makes artisan cheese from two distinct kinds of Vancouver Island milk: cow’s milk and water buffalo milk. Each gives us a very different starting point and allows us to create cheeses with their own colour, texture, flavour and personality.
Our cow’s milk cheeses reflect the place they come from. The milk is produced here on Vancouver Island, surrounded by ocean air, coastal pastures and a temperate maritime climate. We think of that as part of our Island terroir — the combination of place, climate, farming and local milk that gives a cheese its sense of origin. That character has helped our cow’s milk cheeses stand out well beyond the Island, earning recognition and awards in competition with cheeses from around the world.
Water buffalo milk is different again. It is naturally A2 beta-casein milk, with a rich, creamy character and a striking porcelain-white colour. Unlike cow’s milk, water buffalo milk contains very little beta-carotene, which is why cheeses such as Mozzarella di Bufala, Bocconcini di Bufala and Buffalo Brie are naturally so beautifully white.
Together, our cow and water buffalo cheeses tell two sides of the same Vancouver Island story: distinctive local milk, artisan cheesemaking, and a coastal terroir you can see — and taste — in the finished cheese.
