Pepe Saya has established a solid reputation as chief of the churn, creating incredible cultured with 100% Aussie cream and driving the shift towards using local dairy.
When the first rounds of Pepe Saya butter first turned up at Carriageworks Farmer’s Markets in Sydney back in 2010, local foodies immediately took notice. In the decade since, Pepe Saya has established a solid reputation as chief of the churn, creating incredible cultured with 100% Aussie cream and driving a major shift towards using local dairy.
The difference in this better butter in the process team Pepe go through to make it. “The butter is beurre de baratte (butter of the churn), batch churned from single origin cream, creating a natural and less processed product,” says Pepe rep Georgia Sommerville.
When the cream arrives direct from the farms to the Pepe creamery in Caringbah, the team sets about heating it and inoculating it with a lactobacillus culture.
“We then let the cream culture, allowing for a full buttery taste and slight tang to develop, creating the unique flavour of the cultured butter,” says Georgia. “This is our crème fraiche. The crème fraiche is then churned, which produces our buttermilk and, of course, the butter. Finally, the butter is kneaded and placed into hand pressed moulds, wrapped, and labelled.”
Provenance and transparency have always been of top priority to Pepe Saya and its founder, Pierre Issa. Sourcing some of the very best Australian cream, Pierre is passionate about building direct relationships with farmers.
“The cream regions we source from change seasonally,” notes Georgia. “Our main farms are based in Picton and Wauchope NSW, Gippsland VIC and The Riverina District in WA. The cream for our first wheel of butter came from John Fairley of Country Valley Dairy, in Picton, and we still source cream from John!”
Pepe Saya is always on the hunt for new buttery adventures to take its now famous face on. “We love to create new products that really make our butter shine, like our recent collaborations with Dan’s Pasta and Three Mills Bakery,” says Georgia. We can’t wait to see where the adventure takes Pepe next!