Five Outstanding Boutique Cheese Makers From Safed to the Negev
Shavuot advertising from Israel’s big food companies keeps growing, but this article argues that the country’s small, high-quality dairies deserve attention instead. It notes that some leading makers have disappeared in recent years, including cheese master Shai Zeltzer, HaHar HaRuach, Ya'aran, and Mical Mor-Melamed’s Shirat Ro'im, yet several excellent boutique dairies are still thriving.
Flora, in Lotem in the Galilee, opened just over a year ago in the former Shirat Ro'im site opposite the Lotem organic winery. It was founded by former Strauss gastronomy chief Michal Banishti and cheesemaker Uzi Mitrani, formerly of Ein Kammonim and Havat Rom. The dairy serves simple food and wine in an elegant space, and the recommended cheeses include Saint Maure, Cendre, Saint Nectaire with coriander seeds, Pont l’Évêque, Moravia with blue veins, and goat tomme.
Kornmehl, run by Anat and Daniel Kornmehl near Talalim on Road 40 in the Negev, was founded on Rosh Hashanah 1997 and helped pioneer what later became the Negev Wine Route. The article praises its feta, soft cheese with spots, Camembert-style Hagar, Edna, Michal, and hard cheeses Tom, Adi, and Tamar, served with simple dishes in a small caravan. It calls the operation a model of desert pioneering.
HaRuach Dairy, near Yodfat in the Western Galilee, is described as a hidden hippie-like farm run by Dalya and Amnon Zeldstein-Spiegel, with outdoor seating among the trees, organic food, and exceptional cheeses, including Shabriya wrapped in vine leaves, Pahima coated in charcoal, Eisavela, Caprino with peppercorns, ricotta, yogurt, and labneh. In Kfar Yehezkel, Baraknit, founded in 1978 by Michal and Avinoam Barkin, is presented as one of the oldest boutique dairies, known for blue cheese, Saint Maure, Trifle, sheep’s cheese, walnut cheese, Manchego, and tomme.
The article also highlights two historic Safed dairies: HaMeiri, founded in 1840 and famous for Bulgarian cheese, and Kadosh, founded in the 1920s and best known for its Safed cheese. Both are presented as essential stops for traditional Israeli cheese.
