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Get your free copy12 April 2013, 15:12 PM
- A Kent-based cheesemaker has made the process of both making and delivering a new cheese completely carbon neutral
Winterdale Cheesemakers of Wrotham creates its Cheddar using renewable energy and produces no carbon emissions.
The product is transported to food hall Fortnum and Mason in an electric truck, which is solar powered from the farm.
Robin Betts, owner of Winterdale Cheesemakers, said, “The milk comes straight out of the cow warm and we put it straight into our cheese vat. We don’t need any energy to start the cheesemaking process because it is already warm.
“A ground source heat pump is a series of buried pipes about two metres deep. Those pipes run a water mixture through them and absorb heat out of the ground which always remains around 12 degrees. It is run through a compressor which raises the temperature to about 50-55 degrees.
“We also have solar panels to absorb the sunlight and turn it into electricity. So we can produce all of our cheese without using any energy or emitting any carbon.
“The vehicle will be charged up by our solar panels, so the car will also be carbon neutral and then that will be used to deliver the first batch of cheese. The whole process from making the cheese to plonking it on the counter in Fortnum’s at Piccadilly will be done without emitting any carbon whatsoever. That is a UK first.”
