Welcome to the Otago branch of the NZIC
The Otago branch covers the Otago and Southland Districts.
25 June 2007
Dr. Penny Le Couteur, public lecture at the Archway 4 Lecture Theatre, 5:30 pm, ‘The Chemistry in history: Silks, Spices and Napoleon's Buttons'
Further details, including a review of the book, are available on the Chemteach website www.chemteach.ac.nz
23 August 2007
High School Quiz Night
29 August 2007
High School Analytical Competition, Chemistry Department, University of Otago .
Sept/Oct 2007
President's Visit & AGM
Evansdale Cheese Factory Tour - 1 May 2007
On Tuesday, 1 May 2007, members of the Otago Chapter of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry visited the Evansdale Cheese Factory, located in historical Hawksbury Village , near Karitane. Proprietor Colin Dennison shared his intricate knowledge of the cheese-making process, including a hands-on demonstration. The Evansdale Cheese Factory uses a combination of Flora danica , synthetic rennet, and proprietary bacterial cultures to produce cheeses of character.
The cheese-making demonstration began with 20 litres of heated whole milk to which rennet and cultures had been added. "It definitely smells like mushrooms," said John McAdam of the rennet.
After holding the milk rennet mixture at 38 C° for about an hour, the curd was ready to be cut (Fig 1). The curd had the sweet milky taste characteristic of young cheese, and was enjoyed by everyone (Fig 2). After more heating and stirring, the curd was transferred into cheese molds, and pressure was applied to give the cheese its characteristic "wheel" shape (Fig. 3).
The newly formed wheel of cheese will be dipped in brine and waxed, then allowed to cure for up to 18 months before it obtains the optimum flavour. Luckily, a variety of Evansdale cheeses were available for the group to sample during a pleasant morning tea in the cheese factory visitor centre. A good time was had by all.
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| Fig 1. Colin Dennison cuts the curd. |
Fig 2. Christina McGraw and Bob Cunninghame taste the curd, while Sarah Song, Kim Currie, and Kat Manno look on. |
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Fig 3. Sarah Song photographs a newly formed wheel of cheese. |
We thank the Dennison Family and Evansdale Cheese for sharing this enjoyable experience with members and guests of the Otago Chapter of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
Steve Rusak
Student Prizes Awarded - 3 March
A prize sponsored by the Otago NZIC branch was awarded to Jennifer Burgass, as the best emerging researcher poster communicator, for her poster ‘the silver-alkene interaction as a supermolecular synthon: vinylbenzene based assemblies' at the Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience - Towards Functional Nanostructures conference held at the University of Otago.
Further details (pdf 248kb)
Chair/Council Delegate: Sally Brooker
Secretary: Jonathan Kim
Treasurer: Kim Currie
Chemical Education Group Representative: Dave McMorran
Student Representatives: Steven Rusak
Student Liaison:
Branch Editor: Julian Eaton-Rye
Committee members
Peter Mace
Enitan Eibisanmi
Guy Jameson
Email: NZIC.Otago@nzic.org.nz
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