Good Cheese 2011-12

goodcheese 2011-12 EDITION

£3.50

2011-12

Making it, selling it, enjoying it

Blue heaven From Blagdon to Beenleigh, Bob Farrand charts the British blues explosion

CLINCHING THE MEAL Four experts choose their dream cheeseboards

IN THE KITCHEN Delicious cheese recipes from Mat Follas, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Sophie Wright and more

INSIDE: SLOW FOOD LEARN TO MAKE CHEESE VINTAGE CHEDDAR COMTÉ NEWS FROM THE CHEESE COUNTER PAXTON & WHITFIELD PLUS: Knives, boards and other grate accessories!

Organic artisan cheese from the Goodwood Estate Handmade at Goodwood Home Farm using the rich milk from our Organic Dairy Shorthorn herd, our range of the finest hard and soft English cheese is now available.

For wholesale enquiries please call on 01243 755153 or email farmwholesale@goodwood.com

www.goodwood.com 2

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welcome to good cheese cheesewire news from the cheese counter

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Perfect cheeseboards chosen by top buyers Blues revival the British blue cheese revolution Recipe inspirations six must-try dishes

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Slow Food exploring the Ark of Taste Cheese courses going back to school French cheeses understanding Comté Vintage cheddars what’s in a name?

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❝ Creating a stunning cheeseboard is too simple for words – much simpler than cooking❞ Earlier this year, I bought a chef for an evening. Not just any old chef but the chap who cooks for me in our local pub-restaurant. I bid for him in a charity auction – or rather, my wife did. I don’t cook too much and she fancied a night off.

We invited four friends to join us – good food is always improved by sharing – and were presented with scallops with chorizo, loin of venison marinated for 24 hours, and panna cotta served with the best raspberries I’d ever tasted. It was stunning.

Then we had cheese.

Apart from the wine, this was my only contribution to the evening and chef was invited to join us for the final course (and several glasses of a decent Burgundy).

My board was an exclusive selection of champions from previous World Cheese Awards. We had a 24-month vintage West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, a 10-month aged Ossau Iraty from Fromagerie Agour, a 17-month matured Le Gruyère AOC from a tiny dairy that only I and a few others know about, a perfectly ripe Rouzaire Brie de Meaux from my local deli and not prepacked from the supermarket, an Isigny Camembert de Normandie, a Cropwell Bishop Blue Shropshire and the 2010 World Cheese Champion, Cornish Blue – the version made using animal, not vegetarian rennet. Everyone, including chef, was mightily impressed.

I prepared the same board for a corporate dinner in London a few weeks later and together with Radio 2 foodie Nigel Barden guided 150 guests through my cheese and his wine. I lost count of the guests who afterwards revealed they’d never eaten cheese that good. They need to change their shopping habits.

Creating a stunning cheeseboard is too simple for words – much simpler than cooking – but it can deliver as much pleasure as gourmet starters, main courses and desserts. It merely demands a little thought.

This issue of Good Cheese will help. We’ve got world-class aged cheddars (and one or two not quite up to the mark), brilliant blues, great mountain cheeses, winter cheeses, smelly washed-rind cheeses, cheeses protected by an Ark and cheeseboard selections created by real experts. There’s also a list of good cheese shops where you’ll find the quality you’re looking for.

And if, unlike me, you actually can cook, you’ll find some delicious cheesie recipes from leading chefs that certainly got me salivating. So much so, I’m off to find a charity auction to buy another chef for the evening. In the meantime, please enjoy good cheese over the coming months.

Bob Farrand

Bob Farrand is publisher of Good Cheese and national director of the Guild of Fine Food

EDITORIAL Editor: Mick Whitworth Assistant editor: Michael Lane Art director: Mark Windsor Contributors: Clare Hargreaves, Charles Campion, Nick Harman

THE GUILD OF FINE FOOD Membership secretary & director: Linda Farrand Administrators: Charlie Westcar, Julie Coates, Nik Davies Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance

ADVERTISING Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Gavin Weeks Circulation manager: Tortie Farrand Publisher & managing director: Bob Farrand Associate publisher & director: John Farrand

Printed by: Blackmore Ltd, Dorset Good Cheese is a sister magazine of Fine Food Digest. © Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2011

t: 01963 824464 Fax: 01963 824651 e: firstname.lastname@finefoodworld.co.uk w: www.finefoodworld.co.uk

Accessories knives, boards and more Shop directory where to find good cheese

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Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, recipes, photographs or illustrations.

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cheesewire What’s new on cheese counters this season

All gun blazing

John and Carolyn Gunner only started making cheese in May 2011 but already their Goatwood Dairy has won two gold medals in the British Cheese Awards.

Goatwood is an artisan operation based in Langton by Wagby in Lincolnshire, making cheese with milk from the Gunners’ own small herd of goats.

Both the medal-winning cheeses are named after nearby villages.

Langton is a soft, fresh, young cheese with a light creamy taste, which needs to be eaten within a week or so of making. Bardney is a soft blue goats’ cheese with a delicate flavour and not too salty. It has a shelf life of six weeks. goatwooddairy@gmail.com www.goatwooddairy.com

‘BIO’ PARMESAN: Even if your Italian isn’t too hot, the green labelling is a give-away: this new pre-packed ParmigianoReggiano from Consorzio Latterie Virgilio is organic. Virgilio, a major co-operative based in Mantova, already makes conventional versions of Italy’s best-known hard cheeses – Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano – both of which are PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) products, but the new Parmesan is certified organic too.

It was due to launch in the UK as Good Cheese went to press. www.e-virgilio.com

Happy blend

Doublet and Muddlewell are two new cheeses from mid-Somerset maker Wootton Dairy, run by brothers James and Dave Bartlett.

Both cheeses are produced from a blend of sheep’s and Jersey cows’ milk at Sunnyside Farm near Shepton Mallett.

Doublet is described as “a delightful, mould-ripened soft cheese with a ripe, pungent flavour”. It’s ready to eat after three to four weeks, when it begins to soften and release the flavours of the mixed, unpasteurised milks.

Muddlewell, by contrast, is a hard cheese which is mild at three months but develops more flavour as it matures. According to Astrid Bartlett, James and Dave’s mother, Muddlewell has a “lovely dry texture” with a hint of its parent cheeses, the ewes’ milk Millstone and cows’ milk Ringwell. woottondairy@btinternet.com

A hundred grams of pleasure One of the Ireland’s longest established artisan cheese-makers has launched a new washed-rind cows’ milk cheese.

Céad is produced on the Beara peninsular in west Cork, southern Ireland, by Milleens Cheese, a family-run business that has been making cheese for nearly 40 years.

Quinlan Steele, who took over the farmhouse business from his mother, Veronica, describes Céad as a semisoft cheese whose flavour “reflects the seasonal and rugged grazing found in Beara”.

“The body of the cheese varies depending on age, starting as fresh and lactic and quickly developing to smooth

and creamy,” he says. “It’s a surfaceripened cheese, and the flavours have been described as meaty and smokey.”

The name Céad may sound enticingly Celtic to British ears, but its meaning is quite prosaic: Céad is the Irish for “one hundred”, and this is a 100g cheese, sized to be a little more affordable (around €2.99 in shops in Ireland) than the established 200g Milleens Dote.

Samples of the Céad were already on their way to speciality distributors in London as Good Cheese went to press, so you should be able to find it in quality independent stores. www.milleenscheese.com

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Cheese-making picks up speed at Goodwood Goodwood Home Farm in West Sussex was preparing to launch its third organic cheese as Good Cheese went to press, less than a year after unveiling its first, cheddar-style variety.

One of England’s largest lowland organic farms, Goodwood Home Farm is part of the Sussex estate which is the historic home of the Dukes of Richmond and host of Glorious Goodwood and the Festival of Speed.

Its new cheese dairy, set up under the guidance of third-generation artisan producer Christopher Vowles, came on stream in Spring 2011 with the launch of Charlton, a hard, cloth-bound cows’ milk cheese marketed in six-month (mild) and 12-month (mature) versions.

This was followed by the Levin Down, a smaller, younger, mouldripened cheese, aged between six and eight weeks.

Now, Goodwood is launching Molecomb, a blue veined soft cheese, described as having “smooth and creamy texture and a mellow, piquant flavour”.

All three varieties are made using the estate’s own pasteurised milk.

Located in the South Downs National Park, Goodwood Home Farm has a herd of 200 milking cows, most of which are dairy Shorthorn, a breed which originated in the sixteenth century. www.goodwood.co.uk

Maturing nicely Isle of Arran Cheddar is adding an extra mature variety to its range for 2012 after picking up bronze and silver medals for the recipe at the 2011 British Cheese Awards.

Made at farmer co-operative First Milk’s Torrylinn Creamery on Arran in the Firth of Clyde, the cheese is described as “smooth, rich and rounded, with an often crunchy texture”. It’s made in open vats using milk from only three farms. www.firstmilk.co.uk

New image for ‘quality, everyday cheese’ Mull of Kintyre Scottish Cheddar, made at First Milk’s Campbeltown Creamery, has been given a new look designed to highlight the “provenance, quality and heritage of the brand”.

The producer’s mature, extra mature, vintage and truckle varieties all now appear in the new livery.

Mull of Kintyre cheddar is sold in both supermarket and independent outlets. Brand manager Claire Irvine says the cheese is positioned as “a quality, everyday cheese, but one with a rich and distinctive flavour”.

Mull of Kintyre Scottish Cheddar was named Champion Scottish Cheese at the Nantwich International Cheese Awards in 2010 and 2011. www.mullofkintyrecheddar.co.uk

Godminster whips of the wax for anniversary treat Godminster, best known for its purple waxed cheeses, has celebrated its 10th anniversary with the launch of a limited edition farmhouse cheddar produced on its behalf by one of the best-known West Country cheese-makers.

The traditional cheddar truckles were made in 2010 by Green’s of Glastonbury, using organic milk from Godminster Farm at Bruton in Somerset.

Priced at around £45, the two-kilo truckles are not waxed, but wrapped in cheesecloth and packed in an earthy brown box to add to the organic feel. The cheese itself is described as “rich, full-bodied and long on the finish, with a nutty and savoury bite”. www.godminster.com

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Truffled treat Oxford Cheese Co has unveiled a special edition truffled version of its brie-style College White. It’s available to delis, farm shops and food halls exclusively through distributor Cheese Cellar as well direct from the producer.

College White with Truffles has been launched initially for the Christmas season, but will be made year-round if it proves a hit.

Each 350g individual round has a layer of truffle butter sprinkled with truffles running through the middle of it, enhancing the creaminess of the cheese. www.oxfordfinefood.com www.cheesecellar.co.uk

Cellar-ripened in Northumberland

It’s more than 25 years since Mark Robertson set up the Northumberland Cheese Co at Elsdon Hill Farm in the Rede Valley, beginning production with the Redesdale ewes’ milk cheese that is still made today.

Since then, the business has moved to a large cheese dairy on the Blagdon estate, and its range has developed to include cows’ and goats’ milk varieties.

This year the range has grown again with the launch of Blagdon Blue, a creamy cows’ milk cheese, mould-riped in a cellar, that is streaked with blue veins but not overpowering in flavour.

Available for around £5.99 for 225g, this is a handmade cheese using milk from the local Blagdon Estate dairy herd, with an artisan look that will add eye-appeal to the cheeseboard. www.northumberlandcheese.co.uk

Saffron cheese seeks home in UK Austrian cheese-maker Vorarlberg Milch – a Super-Gold winner at the 2010 World Cheese Awards with its rind-washed Ländle Mostkäse – is looking for a UK distributor for a new semi-hard cheese coloured with saffron.

Ländle Safrankäse gets it intense yellow hue from the treatment of its rind with saffron water and saffron threads.

Made with Alpine cows’ milk, it is matured for six to eight weeks, developing a dark yellow natural rind and a mild, slightly tangy taste.

Barwheys boasts of Burns connection It may be one of Scotland’s newest cheese-makers but Barwheys Dairy has been causing quite a stir.

It’s hard, unpasteurised cows’ milk cheese was the only variety on the menu when the Masterchefs of Great Britain held their annual lunch at Turnberry, and the dairy was given its official opening in October 2011 by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore.

Based near Maybole in south Ayrshire, Barwheys was set up by Tricia Bey, who built up a herd of pedigree Ayrshire cattle from scratch before setting out to revive the county’s cheese-making tradition – Robert Burns’ mother, Agnes Broum, was a cheese-maker in Maybole.

Barwheys is a suitably traditional 8

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cloth-bound cheddar-style cheese, matured for 12-18 months, with the variations that come from changing milk characteristics through the year. A few of the 45 truckles produced each week also go for smoking.

Diane Brown of Provender Brown in Perth, the Scottish finalist in the 2011 Olives Et Al Deli of the Year competition, told Good Cheese: “I’ve tried the 14-month-old cheddar, which was creamy and clean tasting with a nice sweetness – not much bite, but very enjoyable. I’ve also tried the smoked cheddar, which is again creamy, balanced, with a good level of smokiness that really lingers on the finish.” www.barwheysdairy.co.uk

The cheese was launched in Austria in Spring 2011 but has not yet found a British distributor, according to export sales executive Günter Suppan. “We’re very interested in establishing our products in the UK,” he says.

Ländle Mostkäse is another semihard cheese, which is rind-washed twice weekly for around three months with a mash of apple and pear, lending it a dark brown-yellow rind and a slightly tart flavour. www.vmilch.at guenter.suppan@vmilch.at

Experience the taste, and taste the experience.

For 175 years, the Barber family has been farming and making cheese in Somerset.

The culmination of all this experience – Barber’s 1833.

Made using only traditional starter cultures and always matured for a minimum of 24 months to provide cheddar with powerful intensity and unrivalled complexity and depth of flavour.

www.barbers1833.co.uk tel. 01749 860666 6

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Cut out for Christmas.

The meadows our cows graze share the mountain-sides with dense woodlands of Spruce (aka the Christmas tree) and the cheese is then matured on boards from their trunks. No wonder ComtĂŠ is so right for Christmas. So sit down with an original white or a classic red, recline with your finest port, or open your presents with a glass of champagne. ComtĂŠ is the perfect accompaniment to them all. Cheers.

comtecheese.co.uk enquiries@comtecheese.co.uk

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comtecheese.co.uk History in the making

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Mistress of all she surveys Shropshire cheese-maker Sarah Hampton has unveiled two new rind-washed varieties made with milk from her herd of pedigree Saanen goats.

One is Dutch Mistress, a full-flavoured gouda-style. The other, Capra Nouveau, is a softer, younger, creamy variety, supplied in a Camembert-style box featuring an Art Nouveau image of Hampton and her goats on the label.

Hampton had just two goats when she began developing her Brock Hall Farm Dairy business at Chelmarsh, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire. But she now has a herd of around 70, using their milk to hand-make her range of four artisan cheeses, which also include fresh and mould-ripened styles. www.brockhallfarm.com

Let’s hear it for the beer As Cheesy Peas-loving Paul Whitehouse might have said on The Fast Show: “If you like beer and you like cheese… you’ll love new Ilchester Beer Cheese”.

In fact, this latest launch from Norseland, the company that now owns Ilchester’s smoky flavoured Applewood brand, is not new at all. It’s a revival of the recipe that inspired Ilchester’s range of blended cheeses many years ago.

Norseland’s Matt Levett tells Good Cheese: “Our Ilchester business was built on the ideas behind this cheese back in 1962, when a local bar owner, Ken Seaton, used beer to make the cheese he served on his bar last longer.

“That was the first of these blended cheeses, with Applewood swiftly following, and from there the Ilchester brand developed into the successful speciality cheese business we see today.”

The revived recipe is made with Fullers beer and a mix of herbs and spices, blended with a similar base cheddar to Applewood.

“It has the subtlest beer taste,” says Levitt. “You’d have to eat a fair few kilos to get you drunk!”

Ilchester Beer Cheese is available year-round in 3kg wax truckles, as well as in smaller 100g, 200g and 400g versions. Norseland aims to sell it through independent stores rather than major supermarkets. “It’s a great way for independents to get their hands on a cheese with a bit of history,” says Levitt. www.norseland.co.uk

Revival of flavours for Ireland’s Coolea Irish artisan cheese-maker Coolea is reintroducing two flavoured varieties of its long-established cows’ milk gouda-style cheese: one with herbs & garlic, the other with cumin seeds.

Unlike the original raw milk Coolea, developed in the late 1970s to a Dutch gouda recipe by founders Dick and Helene Willems, the flavoured versions are both made with pasteurised milk.

Dicky Willems Jnr – who, with wife Sinead, took over cheese-making at the west Cork dairy when his parents retired

– says herbs & garlic was one of several varieties added in the ’80s and ’90s as the business expanded, but it ceased production in 1999. The cumin seed variety was also dropped a couple of years ago. “But everyone that used to buy them kept on at me to produce them again,” he says, “so that’s the main reason we re-introduced them.”

He adds: “The herbs & garlic is lovely young, and as we use fresh garlic it shouldn’t be left to mature beyond five months, preferably. The cumin seed

on the other hand is delicious whether it’s young or matured.”

Both flavoured varieties are currently available only from Coolea direct, but its original gouda-style is now sold throughout the British Isles and overseas too.

Ripened for a minimum of three months, Coolea can be matured for up to two years, at which point it takes on a hard texture and a caramel sweetness. www.cooleacheese.com

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Paxton’s plans more tastings after Jermyn Street facelift Cheese-loving visitors to London last summer might have been disappointed to find the shutters down on one of the capital’s most iconic speciality food stores.

But it was just a temporary leave of absence for Paxton & Whitfield’s shop at 93 Jermyn Street, which is now back in business after a major refit that promises a better experience for customers and staff.

Paxton’s – a Royal Warrant Holder which dubs itself “Britain’s leading cheesemonger for 200 years” – first moved to this spot in 1896, since when it has undergone various cosmetic changes.

The latest incarnation sees the most radical changes to date, including a new take-out food area, a new back-of-theshop display area that includes a doublefronted fridge for showcasing cheeses and accessories together, and improved maturing rooms in the basement.

A better lighting system has been used to create an “open” feel while drawing attention to particular sections.

But managing director Ros Windsor and designers Franklin Design Associates have

been careful to retain some of the store’s traditional features too. “We’ve known for a while we had to improve the environment for our customers, our staff and our cheeses,” Ros says, “but we wanted to ensure we did this sensitively.”

The aim was to appeal to new shoppers who have “different expectations of quality food retailers” while not alienating established clients who value the shop’s old-style appeal.

“I hope we’ve achieved this by reinstating some of the original features of the building, such as exposed brickwork in the middle of the shop, some of our old signage, and by using traditional materials such as oak floors and slate work tops,” says Ros. “We’ve then mixed in more contemporary features such as black display units to present the cheese to maximum effect.”

The store was officially re-opened in October by the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Susie Burbridge, and Cities of London & Westminster MP Mark Field. www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

Atlantic crossing It’s believed that 16th century Flemish settlers were the first to introduce European cheese-making techniques – and European cows – to the Azores.

Four centuries or so later, producers on the mountainous island of Sãn Jorge, in the centre of this midAtlantic archipelago, are hoping to develop sales of their cheese back in Europe.

Sãn Jorge cheese is an unpasteurised cows’ milk variety with a hard or semi-hard paste and a powerful aroma that

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makes it ideal for cooking as well as at the table.

Made using traditional methods on small farms dotted all over the island, it’s aged for at least four month before being released to the market at various stages of maturity.

Portuguese dairy business Lactacores, formed by four Azorean co-operatives, says it is currently looking for a UK distributor for Sãn Jorge, which is regarded as the island group’s finest cheese. www.lactacores.pt

AOC, the sign of special products...

A traditional cheese

The cheese of western Switzerland, with a delicate, distinguished flavour.

Made since at least 1115 AD in and around the small town of Gruyères, today it is still produced by village cheese dairies in western Switzerland according to the traditional recipe.

Le Gruyère AOC owes its characteristic delicacy and flavour to the top quality raw milk produced by cows fed on grass in the summer and hay in winter, coupled with the skill of the mastercheesemakers.

No less than 400 litres of fresh milk are needed to produce a single wheel weighing around 35kg.

During the slow maturation process, which takes several months in special cheese cellars, the wheels are turned regularly and rubbed down with saltywater. The maturing process lasts between five and 18 months.

Each cheese is systematically identified by the number of the mould and code of the cheese dairy. The day and month of production are also noted on the wheel. These black markings are made with casein, the cheese protein. No artificial additives are involved here either.

Le Gruyère AOC takes pride of place on any cheese platter. It makes for a delicious desert and can be used in tasty warm dishes. What’s more, no real fondue would be complete without genuine Gruyère AOC.

From this time on, the name ‘Gruyère AOC’ and the code of the production facility appears on the heel of each wheel of Gruyère AOC as an effective way of preventing fakes and guaranteeing authenticity.

This technique employs branding irons, which give an indentation in the wheel. It is this marking that makes it possible to identify and trace each individual cheese.

The humidity and rind washing process develops the characteristic appearance of the cheese and assists in bringing the cheese into full maturity.

This is what gives Le Gruyère AOC its famous, distinct flavour. It’s no great surprise that this authentic gift of nature is appreciated by cheeselovers throughout the world.

www.gruyere.com ruyere.com Cheeses from Switzerland.

Switzerland. Naturally.

www.switzerland-cheese.com

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Shirley Aubrey

Fresh & deli buyer, Fortnum & Mason

www.fortnumandmason.co.uk Selecting cheeses is difficult because there are now so many good ones to choose from, particularly with the enormous growth of small English artisan cheese-makers.

I often do a one-cheese board, with just one exceptionally good, moreish cheese, such as a piece of 48-month Parmesan, which I serve in splinters, or a baked Vacherin – good at this time of year as it’s easy entertaining with everyone dipping their bread in. When I do a selection it tends to be three large pieces of mature cheese. I find guests will go for one cheese and stay with it, rather than moving around the board, hence the need for big pieces. I always choose the cheese depending on the guests, so my perfect cheeseboard is very flexible and never the same.

Comté One of my favourite cheeses, I like to serve it with a cheese slicer or raclette wire. I tend to hog the cheese and slice it for everyone because I don’t like people cutting chunks; you need the thin slices to melt in the mouth, letting the flavours come through.

Our Comté is 18 months old, and really nutty in flavour.

Cropwell Bishop organic Stilton I’d always include Cropwell Bishop organic Stilton, whether I was serving it with hot mince pies, a large chunk of rich fruit cake, or white celery. Fortnum’s is 11 to 12 weeks old and creamy and rich. It must be cut from a large truckle to get the best, creamy blue flavour.

Tunworth If I was going to stick to an all-English cheeseboard I’d have a Tunworth, preferably at the end of its life.

It’s unpasteurised and has a distinctive

flavour that rivals a good brie. Otherwise it would be a slice of our Brie de Meaux. Sadly, many people have no idea what a good brie style cheese tastes like in both texture and flavour; they’ve become used to cold white chalky “thin” brie that tastes of rind.

The texture should be just on the move.

Don’t let anyone cut the tip of the wedge off – it’s widely regarded as a social faux pas to cut yourself the best bit. As hostess, cut a neat side slice first as a guide for guests to (hopefully) follow.

Winterdale Shaw cheddar I’ve been reviewing all our cheddars, and we’ve recently introduced the Wookey Hole cave aged cheddar and Mary Quicke’s pasteurised mature farmhouse cheddar.

We’ve been running Winterdale Shaw since they phoned me up and told me why we should be stocking it! I like the story (low carbon footprint, dairy close to the herd, cave under the dairy, cheese less than 35 miles from London) and the cheese delivers.

Happy endings Soft or hard? Blue or brie? British or Continental? Everybody has a different take on the final course of the evening. Four experts tell CLARE HARGREAVES about their dream cheeseboard line-up 14

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perfect cheeseboards Paul Kitching

Chef-proprietor, 21212 Edinburgh

www.21212restaurant.co.uk

The cheese is my job – it’s what I’m good at.

Although the other courses at 21212 are quite feminine and dainty, the cheese plate is generous – we give guests at least 10.

Unlike some restaurants, I prepare it in the kitchen. We don’t have a trolley as there’s not space, and it needs a lot of looking after.

It takes an age too. A waiter might spend five minutes explaining all the cheeses, then he has to do it all over again to the other side of the table. People get flustered – they can’t remember a cheese’s name, or what milk it’s from, but being British they’re too embarrassed to ask, so they say: “Give me two hard cheeses.” We take the stress away by choosing for customers. I always tell them that if there’s too much, they can take the rest home for the dog.

There are so many amazing cheeses out there, that it’s hard to whittle it down to a handful. But here are a few I like:

Simon Dougan

www.yellowdoordeli.co.uk

it comes to cheese you’ll see I am biased toward Irish cheeses, which I’m most familiar with. But I also love most British and European hand-made cheeses. Here’s my dream cheeseboard:

I’m chef and proprietor of the Yellow Door Deli, a small chain of deli-restaurants. Our ethos is to only serve food we prepare and cook ourselves, so we bake all our own bread, and smoke our own fish, meat and game. When

St Killian A beautiful creamy brie-style cows’ milk cheese made by Patrick and Juliet Berridge in Co Wexford. It has a molten white chocolate appearance and I love its fluid texture and rich creamy flavour.

Owner, Yellow Door Deli, Bakery & Café Portadown, Co Armagh

St Tola crottin This organic mild goats’ cheese from County Clare has a clean natural flavour - unlike some goats’ cheeses where you can smell the billy goat. I love its richness and subtle complexity of flavours. I enjoy it with Robert Ditty’s smoked oatcakes.

Comté My one French cheese has to be a two-year-old Comté, using milk from Montbeliarde cattle. I’m not sure if its quality comes from the breed of cattle, the large acreage they roam, or their natural diet (no silage or processed feed). Although they make this cheese by the tonne it is still one of the classics.

Bleu de Bresse I discovered this while working at a French restaurant in Canterbury that got all its cheeses from Boulogne. The cheeseboards were my job – there was a French one and a British one. I tasted all sorts of French cheeses, and hated most of them except for Gouda and Beaufort. Then I discovered Bleu de Bresse. It was a lovely little chap – like a brie with veins in it. It doesn’t blow your socks off, and it’s fallen out of favour, but for me it’s a winner.

I’m not talking about the supermarket stuff, of course.

Hereford Hop This cows’ milk cheese appeared on the cheeseboard when I was working at Gidleigh Park. It was pale yellow and looked as if it was covered with crushed Weetabix. It wasn’t hard or soft, just perfect. As the name suggests, it’s coated with dried hops which give it a lovely toasty flavour. It’s handmade by Charles Martell, of Stinking Bishop fame. ➔

Cashel Blue Probably the best known Irish cheese, and still a knockout, this really creamy, rich semi-soft blue cheese is at its peak about four to five months old. I wouldn’t use it younger than three months old – it changes so much in the ageing process. Cries out for crusty bread and maybe a fresh ripe fig.

Ardrahan You need one smelly on every board and this one, crafted

by Mary Burns and her son Gerald in County Cork, is my favourite. Like a lot of strong-smelling cheese the flavour is surprisingly mild and complex. When fully ripe at about 10 weeks, it has a pleasant nutty flavour and aftertaste.

goodcheese 2011-12

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  NEW FROM OUR RUSTIQUE PÂTÉ RANGE 

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  ★ é t â eP s u o erh t r o P

Quee n’s P âté *

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  ild , W rlic, k c a u n, D rter, G s o s i n Po rn - Ve Liver, pperco e s r e Coa r, Pork reen P a Bo & G

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Sm o Chi oth - S cke mo n L ked i Ora ver, G Chick nge inge en, r&

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   ★ *Red Tractor assured Dorset Piddle Brewery Porter                  

    

        

     

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            

perfect cheeseboard Comté When I was sous-chef at Gidleigh, we had an eating-out allowance of £500 a year. So I took my girlfriend at the time to the Waterside Inn, at Bray. For dessert, they brought me an Apricot Jalousie, and with it a fat slice of Comté which they cut off a huge Catherine wheel cheese. This earthy cheese was utterly amazing with the pudding. It costs a bloody fortune, but it has to be the world’s best cheese. Cutting it is a nightmare though.

Admiral Collingwood People bring cheese into the restaurant for me to try all the time. One day a man brought in this cheese that looked like a Yorkshire pudding and said “You’re from Newcastle, you’ll like this cheese – it’s washed in Newcastle Brown Ale.” It’s excellent. People always comment on it.

Roquefort This really is the King of the Blues. It’s a bitch to handle as it always falls apart, but it’s got everything that a blue cheese should have in one mouthful; it’s pungent, salty, juicy, even eggy. The rind is never too firm, and you can eat it, unlike the British ones.

Sonya Kidney

Owner, Soda Deli Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire I believe there should be two kinds of cheeseboard: the board that’s an addition to the dessert where one or two great cheeses should suffice, and the board that might be used as a meal in itself or as an alternative to dessert, in which case you’re looking for an interesting, balanced selection.

The idea of choosing random cheeses just to have a good selection is flawed; cheeses need to complement each other.

I love goats’ and ewes’ milk cheeses. They’ve really improved over the past 10 years so I’ve included quite a few on my cheeseboard.

Berkswell Made with raw ewes’ milk by the Fletcher family at their farm in the Forest of Arden, this is a hard cheese that exudes quality at the first bite.

It’s formed in colanders to give its distinctive shape and markings.

Blu di Bufala This beautiful creamy blue buffalo cheese made by the Quattro Portoni creamery north-east of Milan is well worth seeking out. For those unsure about blues this is a great place to start.

Abondance This semi-hard, raw cows’ milk cheese, made in the Haute-Savoie, is often overshadowed by Comté and Beaufort but it’s a truly excellent cheese in its own right. These alpine cheeses reflect the fragrances of the pastures where the cows graze and their winter fodder is harvested.

Wigmore A soft, English, ewes’ milk cheese created in Berkshire by Anne Wigmore.

Brie-style English cheeses are starting to come into their own but Wigmore has a longer history and seems to have been perfected over the years to give a consistently pleasurable experience.

Harbourne Blue This goats’ milk blue, produced by Robin Congdon at Ticklemore Cheese Company in Devon is one of my favorite blues. Crumbly and fragrant but without any raw goat flavour.

goodcheese 2011-12

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goodcheese 2011-12

british blue cheeses

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blues

With Cornwall’s Philip Stansfield collecting the World Champion Cheese title last year it confirmed that British blues have come of age, says BOB FARRAND

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heese freaks recall in vivid detail moments certain cheeses were tasted for the first time.

We’re weird like that. For those not so severely afflicted, such occasions pass unnoticed.

My first taste of Beenleigh Blue was with Richard Cooper, a cheese professional who spent a lifetime working in top class food halls. Spells running cheese counters in Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Teddington Cheese and Paxton & Whitfield culminated most recently in the opening of his own shop, Cheese on the Green, a cracking cheesery in Bilton, near Rugby. Visit if you can.

I don’t recall the year but it was a weekday morning sometime in the mid 1980s and I’d taken a moment to savour the sights, sounds and aromas of Fortnum & Mason’s ground floor, where the cheese counter resided before the recent refurbishment packed it off to the basement.

Richard and I were chatting about the joy of Roquefort, King of French blues and unarguably one of the world’s great cheeses. He suggested I try a new British unpasteurised sheep’s milk blue cheese made by Robin Congdon, a bank manager turned farmer turned cheese-maker working in a small dairy outside Totnes in Devon.

Several years of trial and error, including a wasted journey to Roquefort to learn from their cheese-makers, finally gave birth to Beenleigh Blue.

“Roll it around your mouth, let the cheese soften and melt on your tongue,” Richard suggested. I did exactly that and marvelled as the sweet creaminess of the ewes’ milk found perfect harmony with a complex acidity and a hint of salty bitterness on the finish for a remarkable experience.

I bought a large wedge to take home but it didn’t make it. My resolve weakened during the journey and Beenleigh Blue became my Desert Island Cheese, the one I would carry with me into solitude.

Blues deliver the widest, deepest range of flavours of any cheese family and since that seminal tasting a quarter of a century ago, we’ve enjoyed a myriad of new blue arrivals. Nowadays, one blue on the cheese board is at least one too few.

Philip Stansfield with his modern-style, soft-onthe-palate Cornish Blue – the 2010 World Cheese Awards champion

The announcement at the 2010 World Cheese Awards that Britain had its first World Champion in a decade was the moment our new blue generation came of age. British blues took first and second place, voted by a jury of experts from 11 different countries.

Top marks went to Cornish Blue, closely followed by Swaledale Blue. As if to underscore the way blue cheese has reinvented itself, neither of these two world-beaters were in production at the time I first tasted Beenleigh Blue.

Ex-Sale rugby player Philip Stansfield migrated from Cheshire to a diary farm in Cornwall after his playing days were over but quickly found that negotiating a fair price for milk from supermarkets was a fruitless quest.

In 2001 he developed Cornish Blue, a hand-made blue pasteurised cows’ milk variety in the more modern style, slightly softer, more rounded, gentler on the palate. He calls his creation “a ladies’ cheese” but that short-changes its wide appeal.

By 2003 it was in regular production, although Philip openly admits it was almost five years before he’d come close to the finished article. The accolades from cheese competitions started rolling in but the 2010 World Champion Cornish Blue was not the cheese Philip had originally created.

This one was made with animal rennet – as opposed to the vegetarian rennet he habitually used.

It was a French affineur running a specialist British cheese wholesale business who suggested that Philip should experiment using animal rennet which, so the affineur believed, might encourage the cheese protein to break down more during maturation and develop a creamier paste and deeper, more intense flavours.

The Awards’ Supreme jury of 15 experts clearly agreed so if you want to taste the actual World Champion on your cheese board, you should visit your local deli or farm shops as they exclusively sell the one made using animal rennet.

Swaledale blue, on the other hand, is an ancient cheese. It was first made

by Cistercian monks way back in the 11th century. The North Yorkshire climate encouraged natural veining in the pure white ewes’ milk curd when stored in humid cellars of local monasteries and the cheese remained in production throughout the region until the beginning of the 20th century.

By 1980, a combination of wartime restrictions, milk quotas and changing consumer tastes had reduced the number of Swaledale makers to just ➔

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How to buy blues Most supermarkets don’t stock local cheeses made by hand in small quantities. Supermarkets also store cheese at 0ºC – close to freezing, guaranteed to kill complex flavours. That’s why delicatessens and farm shops are the places to look for the best blues.

Recently, I’ve taken to conducting comparative taste tests on cheese bought from supermarkets and from delis: two Stiltons, two Cornish Yargs and two Brie de Meaux, each made by the same producer but one sold in pre-pack or from a supermarket deli counter and the other bought from a local deli or farm shop. In 20 such

tests involving over 500 discerning cheese eaters, not one supermarket sample came out best.

Taste before you buy blue cheese and you’ll be sure of relative strengths and I generally ask to examine the rind of each blue cheese. Anything sweating or too sticky probably hasn’t been cared for or is past its best and should be avoided.

Chefs test a steak is cooked by gently pressing the surface. If the finger sinks in, it’s undercooked, if the meat’s too firm, it’s overcooked.

When it gently bounces back it is perfect (try gently pressing a closed eye,

one – a Mr and Mrs Longhurst, of Harkerside above Reeth. Following the death of Mr Longhurst in 1982, production ceased and Swaledale was effectively extinct. In 1987, Mrs Longhurst passed the recipe to David and Mandy Reed who started the Swaledale Cheese Company and along with an aging Mrs Longhurst as tutor and chief taster, one of our oldest blue cheeses was back in production.

Our double success in the 2010 Awards highlights the second major change in British cheese during the last quarter of a century – it’s gone regional. Name a place and it’s almost certainly got its own blue cheese – Exmoor, Oxford, Devon, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Barkham, Blagdon, Bocksberg, Norbiton, Dorset, Isle of Wight, Jervaux (formerly Wensleydale but even better), Shropshire, Berkshire (Two Hoots), and so on until you hit 70 of them. I don’t do nationalist fervour but right now we’re giving the French a real run for their money when it comes to blues.

Which is why two is a minimum for any self-respecting cheeseboard

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it will bounce back in similar fashion).

Gently pressing the top of modern, softer blue cheeses like Oxford, Jervaux and Yorkshire will tell you if the cheese has reached perfect maturity, normally around 16 weeks.

British supermarkets don’t like you doing that, so several have taken to sealing the boxes with cellophane. But it’s something the French know all about. Stand in any of their supermarkets and you’ll see shoppers removing the lid from boxes of Camemberts and pressing each cheese in turn until they find one that gently resists the squeeze.

British blues took first and second place at the 2010 World Cheese Awards, voted by experts from 11 different countries although we need to abide by the rules of engagement. Firstly, select two from different ends of the flavour spectrum.

An in-your-face Stilton should be counter-balanced with a more approachable Jervaux Blue or Oxford Blue. A mild mannered Devon Blue will sit happily with a fully matured Yorkshire Blue – Judy Bell’s feisty creation often develops into a real fullfrontal blue cheese experience.

Robin Congdon’s Beenleigh Blue is seasonal so taste before you buy. Early season cheeses are often flaky, brittle, light in flavour and lacking complexity.

But once into its stride, it is sublimely rich, creamy and intense. Over the years, it has changed a touch, particularly since Robin handed down cheesemaking to the younger Ben Harris, but more significantly, since they began pasteurising the milk. It still makes it into my top 10, though.

If Beenleigh Blue isn’t your cheese of taste, Congdon’s cows’ milk Devon Blue is a cracking alternative and for those leaning towards something a little more goaty, Harbourne Blue from the same stable will likely please.

But hark at me, writing about this treasure trove of British blues and all I do is witter on about those close to my home in the West Country. That’s the joy of 21st century British cheese, wherever you live, you’ll find world beating blues made little more than a stone’s throw from your door. www.ticklemorecheese.co.uk www.cornishcheese.co.uk www.cheeseonthegreen.com www.swaledalecheese.co.uk www.oxfordfinefood.com www.shepherdspurse.co.uk www.dorsetblue.com

Barkham Blue (from Berkshire), Oxford Blue and Swaledale Blue: almost every county now boasts a local option

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YORKSHIRE BLUE • A mild, soft, creamy, blue veined, cows milk cheese. Made to a traditional recipe developed to give the cheese a unique buttery and sweet flavour with no sharp bite.

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recipe inspirations Simon McKenzie

Eriska Goats’ Brie, Black Grape E’spuma, Apple Sorbet & Carrot Cake High up on Scotland’s west coast, north of Oban, The Isle of Eriska Hotel Spa & Golf’s restaurant has held three AA rosettes since 1997, and was named Hotel Restaurant of the Year in 2011‘s Scottish Restaurant Awards. It’s head chef, Simon McKenzie, trained under Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White and went on to achieve four AA rosettes and two Michelin stars before moving to Eriska in 2011.

His recipe is the most challenging in this year’s Good Cheese. The sorbet should ideally be chilled overnight, and Simon recommends making the e’spuma a day early too. The sponge can be made and then frozen.

Simon uses a goats’ milk brie from Highlands cheesemaker Rory Stone. “I am a huge fan of this cheese,” says Simon. “We worked closely with Rory, who now ripens it to our requirements. It’s silky smooth on the palate, has a rich flavour and a good hint of acidity that works perfectly to cut through the fat content of the dish.” www.eriska-hotel.co.uk Serves 4 Carrot cake 100g whole eggs, beaten 50g vegetable oil 225g castor sugar 60g chopped walnuts 325g grated carrot 3g salt 3g ground cinnamon 225g plain flour 15g baking powder

Beat the sugar and eggs together in the mixer with a balloon whisk until they are very light and fluffy and about twice the volume you started with. Add the oil and carrot, then the sieved flour, spice and baking powder and mix gently. Reduce the speed to slow, add the walnuts and fold until evenly distributed. Pour into a tin 20cm x10cm lined with baking parchment and place in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes or until a metal skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and turn out to cool. Once cool cut into 5cm x 3cm pieces.

Sorbet 350g good apple juice 135g castor sugar 50g water Place the sugar and water into a pan and bring to the boil. Cool then add the apple juice. Chill overnight. Place into an ice cream machine and churn. When semi frozen place the sorbet into a suitable container, place in the freezer until required.

Black grape e’spuma 300g black grape juice 4 leaves gelatine (15g) 50g double cream Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft. Place 50g of grape juice in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove the gelatine from the water and dissolve in the hot grape juice. Add the remaining juice and double cream. Place in a cream whipper and seal with the lid. Charge with 2 CO2 gas bulbs and place in the fridge overnight. Shake the whipper vigorously and dispense a little e’spuma to check it is set. Replace in the fridge until required.

Pickled carrot ribbons 1 long carrot 50g castor sugar

75g white wine vinegar Place the sugar and vinegar into a pan and bring to the boil, allow to cool. Peel the carrot and remove the top and bottom. Using your peeler carefully peel ribbons from the top to the bottom of the carrot turning the carrot after each time you peel it until you reach the core, then discard the centre.

Place the carrot ribbons in the cooled sugar and vinegar water for an hour before you need them. They can stay in the liquor overnight if you wish to get ahead.

Garnishes Carrot tops Olive oil Cheese Eriska goats’ brie, or any ripe, slightly acidic goats’ cheese To serve Remove the cheese from the box and wrapper about an hour before you plan to use it. Cut the cheese into six evenly sized wedges. Place a black slate down and lightly brush with olive oil. Place a wedge of the cheese just off-centre.

Take a piece of cut carrot cake and place it adjacent to the goats’ brie.

Remove the carrot ribbons from the liquor and dry on a clean cloth. Roll the ribbons up and place one lying down on the cake, another two standing up neatly either side of the cheese.

Remove the sorbet from the freezer and take a dessert spoon. Dip the spoon in warm water then quenelle the sorbet and place on the slate next to the cheese and cake.

Remove the e’spuma from the fridge and dispense a ‘cap’ onto the top of the apple sorbet.

Garnish the cheese with a neat sprig of carrot top and serve.

Get cooking

Eriska Goats’ Brie, Black Grape E’spuma, Apple Sorbet & Carrot Cake

We all love to eat cheese as nature intended – naked (the cheese, that is) with a glass of wine – but who would be without cheese in the kitchen? Here are six great recipes to add to your repertoire. goodcheese 2011-12

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recipe inspirations Jennifer McLagan

Cheese & Just a Little Brain Fritters We couldn’t resist bringing you this distinctly non-vegetarian dish from Odd Bits, Jennifer McLagan’s new guide to cooking ‘the rest of the animal’. Replete with recipes for shanks and spleens, trotters and testicles, Odd Bits includes this simple idea for an appetizer using Gruyére, Parmesan – and sheep’s brains. It’s Jennifer’s take on a recipe by Aussie chefs Greg and Lucy Malouf, who specialise in Middle Eastern cuisine.

The recipe is simple but it’s essential the cheeses are finely grated. “A microplane is the ideal tool,” Jennifer says.

Ingredients 3 eggs 25g very finely grated Gruyère 10g very finely grated Parmesan 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives Zest of 1 orange, finely grated 1 /2 teaspoon fine sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 3 sets poached lamb’s brains 1 tablespoon cornstarch 200g lard Method Preheat the oven to 200°F/100°C. Place a baking sheet lined with paper towels in the oven.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, then slowly whisk in both the cheeses and the chives, orange zest, and salt, and season with pepper.

Slice each brain lobe into 1cm slices and toss them in the cornstarch to coat. Transfer them to the batter and stir to mix; you will have something resembling a lumpy pancake batter.

Melt the lard in a heavy frying pan over medium heat, you should have about 1cm of fat. When hot, drop a little batter into the oil, it should sizzle and rise to the surface.

Now add a few spoonfuls of brain batter mixture to the fat; don’t overcrowd the pan and adjust the heat so the fritters bubble gently. Cook the fritters for about 3 minutes, or until set and golden on the underside.

Using a slotted spoon, gently turn them over and cook for about another 3 minutes. As they finish cooking, transfer the fritters to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm.

Serve right away.

Rachel Allen

Leek, potato & blue cheese soup This recipe from Irish TV chef and author Rachel Allen (left), featured in her book Food for Living (Collins, £14.99), uses Cashel Blue, a cheese produced by the Grubb family in Co Tipperary and now widely available in UK independents and supermarkets.

Rachel tells Good Cheese: “I adore using Cashel Blue. It has just the right balance between creamy and tangy.

It’s not overpoweringly strong, making it wonderfully versatile, whether it’s enjoyed with honey on toasted brown bread or grilled over a baked potato. In this recipe the cheese really 24

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complements the sweet flavour of the leeks.”

Rachel Allen’s new book Easy Meals (Collins, £25) is out now.

Serves 4-6 Ingredients 25g (1oz) butter 2 leeks (about 300g/12 oz), dark green tops removed, white bits thinly sliced 2 potatoes (about 175g/6 oz), peeled and chopped 2 bay leaves Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 litre (1 ¾ pints) light vegetable or chicken stock 75ml (2 ½ fl oz) single cream 125-150g Cashel Blue, crumbled, plus 25g (1 oz) for serving

Method Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan, add the leeks, potatoes and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and cover. Turn the heat down to low and let the vegetables sweat for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then to ensure they don’t burn After 10 minutes add the stock, increase the heat and simmer for a further 8-10 minutes until the potatoes and leeks are soft. Remove the bay leaves, add the cream and the crumbled blue cheese and transfer to a liquidiser.

Whizz the soup until it is smooth and velvety. Return to the saucepan to reheat, tasting and seasoning if necessary.

To serve, pour the soup into warm bowls and sprinkle with the extra crumbled blue cheese.

Import the passion of America’s finest cheese makers

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recipes & books Sophie Wright

Sweet potatoes, caramelised onions and Tomme de Chèvre gratin with bacon crumble topping One of the new wave of young celebrity chefs, Sophie Wright is also an ambassador for the ‘Easy Cheesey Chèvre’ campaign promoting the virtues of French goats’ cheese to British consumers.

For this flavour-packed recipe, which can be served hot or cold as a main or side dish, Sophie opts for the earthy, rich tones of Tomme de Chèvre, which, she says, complements the sweetness of the caramelised onions and sweet potatoes.

Try to find one that is quite mature, she suggests, as the rind, once hardened, adds a lovely nutty note.

Sophie tells Good Cheese: “You can find different kinds of Tomme de Chèvre – soft and fresh or the more common hard Tomme de Chèvre from Savoie or the Pyrenees.

“Personally, I prefer the harder one such as Tomme de Cléon, a semi-hard cheese with its smooth, hard rind-washed in Muscadet or Jurançon wine, giving an aromatic floral perfume.

“My favourite way to serve it would be with some lightly toasted walnut bread and a few slices of poached pear or plum.

“At the moment, my favourite Tomme is one that I found whilst on holiday in the Loire region last year. It’s by a cheesemaker called Pascal Beillevaire. He makes his Tomme de Chèvre and washes it with Muscadet wine.

“Pascal started making cheese when he was 17 years old whilst living on his parents’ farm in Machecoul, in the western Loire Valley. Now he has a much large production and makes many different cheeses, yoghurts and other dairy products. However, his Tomme de Chèvre is my favourite...for now!” www.frenchgoatscheese.com

Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall Vegiflette toastie

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s recipe for tartiflette toastie, which appears in River Cottage Every Day, was said to have been inspired by “the classic, rich and greedy Swiss mountain dish of cheese, ham, cream and spuds”. This year’s meat-free version, from River Cottage Veg Everyday!

(Bloomsbury, £25.00) is equally irresistible.

The classic cheese for a tartiflette is Reblochon, but Camembert, Stinking Bishop and other well-flavoured washedrind cheeses all work well. And, frankly, so do most goats’ cheeses and even cheddar.

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“Indulgent, creamy, cheesy combinations like this are wellcomplemented by a few bitter salad leaves, and here I’ve actually made them an integral part of the toastie topping,” says Hugh. www.rivercottage.net Serves 2 Ingredients 2 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil 2 smallish, cold, cooked potatoes, thickly sliced 8–10 leaves of chicory, radicchio or other bitter salad leaf, roughly sliced 2–3 tablespoons double cream or crème fraîche 2 thick slices of sourdough or other robust bread

recipe inspirations Serves 4-6 as a side dish Ingredients 300g Tomme de Chèvre, grated 5 large sweet potatoes 75g butter, plus a little extra for greasing 3 tbsp olive oil 3 large white onions, peeled and finely sliced 2 cloves sliced garlic 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 200mls chicken stock 100g stale bread 8-10 rashers cooked pancetta or smoked streaky bacon Method Place a large frying pan on a medium heat and add half the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil.

Once the butter has melted, add the sliced onion, garlic and thyme and allow to cook and caramelise for about 15 minutes.

You want the onions to be very soft and sweet. Make sure you move them around in the pan from time to time so they don’t burn. Season with salt and pepper.

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them as thinly as you can, using a mandolin if you have one. Finally, put the stale bread and cooked pancetta into a food processor and blitz with 2 tbsp of olive oil until you have fine bread crumbs. Season with black pepper and mix well.

To assemble the dish, take a 20cm baking dish and grease the inside with butter. Place a layer of the sweet potatoes in the bottom of the dish before adding a couple of tbsp of the caramelised onions and a layer of grated French goats’ cheese.

Repeat this process twice more, pressing down in between each layer.

Pour over the chicken stock, cover with grease-proof paper and place in the oven at 190°C for 20 minutes.

Once the gratin has started to bubble slightly, remove from the oven and discard the paper. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the bacon and bake for a further 25 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Mat Follas

Cheese soufflé 2009 BBC MasterChef winner Mat Follas didn’t have to look far beyond his Dorset restaurant, The Wild Garlic in Beaminster, for the British cheese in this soufflé recipe. He combines Le Gruyère AOC from Switzerland with an equal quantity of Old Winchester, made by Lyburn Farmhouse Cheesemakers, over the county border in Hampshire and aged for a minimum of 16 months.

“Old Winchester is a wonderful cheese,” says Mat, “not only because it’s British but because when you’re searching for a hard cheese with a strong umami kick, it even beats Parmesan for quality of flavour.

“We initially came upon it because we were searching for a vegetarian alternative to Parmesan, and now it has replaced Parmesan completely in my kitchen.” www.thewildgarlic.co.uk

Serves 4 Ingredients 50g unsalted butter 2 tblsp plain flour 200ml milk, warmed 50g Old Winchester, finely grated 50g finely grated Gruyère 1 tsp anchovy paste 3 eggs yolks 4 egg whites 1 tsp warm water Generous pinch of salt & white pepper Method Preheat the oven to 180°C Begin by making a roux. Melt the butter in a pan and whisk in the flour; it should become a crumbly mixture.

Continue to gently whisk while slowly adding the warmed milk, until a paste has formed that is the consistency of double cream (you may not need to use all the warmed milk).

Add the cheese, anchovy paste, salt and pepper and whisk all together

until the cheese has melted. Take off the heat for 5 minutes.

When cool enough to touch, add the egg yolks and a teaspoon of warm water, then whisk together.

Prepare 4 ramekins, or 1 large dish, by rubbing the edges with butter, then chilling them in the fridge.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until peaks form and hold (stiff peaks).

Fold a quarter of the egg whites into the mixture and mix thoroughly (this will bind the egg whites and the mixture together). Then, very gently, using a wooden spoon, fold the remaining egg whites into the mixture, taking care to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

Pour the mixture into the ramekins up to approx two-thirds deep.

Place ramekins onto a preheated baking tray and, using a blow torch, quickly and lightly brown the tops before placing in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately.

About 50g (3-4 slices) cheese Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Method Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes, turning every now and then, until starting to turn golden. Add the sliced chicory or other salad leaves and cook for a minute or so, until they are starting to wilt.

Add the cream and let it bubble and reduce for a minute or two, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the grill and toast the bread lightly. Heap the mixture from the pan on to the toast. Lay the cheese slices on top and grill until bubbling.

Serve straight away.

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Award winning Scottish organic cheeses and Christmas cheese boxes that every cheese lover will enjoy Connage is an organic dairy farm selling a boutique collection of farmhouse cheeses. Our Dunlop (Scottish Cheddar) won ‘Best Scottish Cheese’ and ‘Best Traditional British Cheese’ at the British Cheese Awards 2010 and our Clava Brie has been called ‘the best Brie in the world’ by Lady Claire Macdonald.

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19/10/2011 10:55

slow food By welcoming British artisan cheeses on board its Ark of Taste, Slow Food UK says it’s not just highlighting their quality but helping protect our food culture

Cultural D ambassadors espite decades of welldocumented neglect, Britain’s artisan cheese-makers arguably have more going for them than ever before.

Bolstered by our growing love of all things local, new cheeses are springing up nationwide. And our indigenous varieties seem more valued than ever by delis, farm shops, food halls and their shoppers.

More than a dozen British cheeses are now recognised under the EU Protected Food Names scheme, from Stilton (PDO) to Exmoor Blue (PGI), ensuring their original recipes have some legal protection and the right to make them remains in their original locale. And cheese-makers nationwide are supported by a busy, well-publicised awards calendar too, helping raise quality across the whole sector.

But according to food writer and broadcaster Matthew Fort, survival remains a serious challenge for many artisan producers. Matthew has recently been elected to the board of Slow Food UK, where he is championing the cause of British farmhouse cheeses as part of the organisation’s wider campaign to protect our food culture and promote ‘good, clean and fair’ food. He told Good Cheese: “I don’t think the life of an artisan cheese-maker is made easy in this country. They’re more open to the squalls of financial circumstance than bigger producers, they often live quite solitary, and they face a constant battle against bureaucratic indifference at best or interference at worst.”

Seven traditional cheese varieties considered particularly significant, including Dorset Blue Vinney and double curd Lancashire, have been given space in Slow Food UK’s Ark of Taste, the UK’s section of the global ‘endangered list’ set up by the international Slow Food movement.

Worldwide, the Ark covers a huge range of threatened animal breeds, vegetables and food types, from Austrian waldschaf (forest sheep) to roasted and smoked goby from Japan’s Nagatsura bay.

Entry into the Ark doesn’t ➔

Artisan Red Leicester Crumblier than cheddar, Red Leicester is a russet red, hard-pressed cheese that will be sold at anything from 3 months to 12 months of age. Unpasteurised Red Leicester is a world apart from the plastic orange cheese that we’ve come to associate with the name. The distinctive colour is a result of annatto, a natural vegetable dye. This was used to dye the cheese in order to set it apart from other county cheeses such as cheddar, as it suggested the use of milk with a high cream content.

Pictured here is Jo Clarke of Leicestershire Handmade Cheese who, with partner David, revived artisan Red Leicester production in the county with the introduction of Sparkenhoe in 2005.

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slow food Artisan Cheshire guarantee indigenous specialities will survive, but it helps raise public awareness of threatened foods. In the UK, northern supermarket chain Booth’s has got behind the Ark project as a sponsor and has begun featuring these foods in-store and telling its shoppers the stories behind them.

The Ark cheeses described on these pages all fulfill a set of criteria that includes small-batch production using raw (not pasteurised) milk from a single herd. In each case, the cheese has strong historic and cultural links to its region and has played an important part in the local economy. You might think other cheeses deserve similar recognition – and you’d be right.

Matthew Fort says: “There’s a fairly

careful selection process, but we shall be adding to the list.”

For Matthew, the Ark offers another tier of support for small producers alongside that offered by other bodies.

“I’m not saying there aren’t other important organisations helping small producers, not least the Guild of Fine Food. But the Ark isn’t in competition – it’s working alongside them.”

He adds: “What’s different about Slow Food is that it’s part of an international organisation that’s highly active in countries all over the world.

So as a cheese becomes part of the British Ark of Taste it becomes part of the wider Ark too, which gives it an international showcase.” www.slowfood.org.uk

Cheshire is a hard cheese with a light, crumbly texture and salty-sweet flavour said to be due to salt under the soil. (This can also be detected in the Cheshire area by the suffix ‘wich’ to the names of towns such as Nantwich, where the famous cheese show is held).

The traditional Cheshire cheese area is the west coast of England around the Mersey estuary, which extends not only through Cheshire but into parts of Lancashire to the north and Shropshire and Staffordshire to the south. At present there is only one producer making raw-milk cheese from its own herd: Appleby’s (pictured), which makes about 80,000 kg a year.

Artisan Single and Double Gloucester The original Gloucester was a coloured cheese made from full-cream milk from the local cattle breed. Today it has two versions, Double and Single Gloucester, which are linked by history and a common ancestor but have evolved over two centuries into quite different products.

The cheeses were so named because the Double is a richer, full cream product, while the Single was frequently made of part-skimmed milk or when the cows were on inferior forage.

Double Gloucester was designed for durability. It was made from full-fat milk and sold nationally. The Single was the cheese that the poorer, local people ate, made in thinner forms from partially skimmed milk after the butterfat had been taken off for butter.

This is a hard but crumbly cheese with an exceptionally mild, sweet flavour. It is unique, certainly in the UK and possibly in the world, in being made partly or entirely with Matthew two- or two- and three-day-old curds.

Fort: ‘The life This method probably developed because many of the of an artisan farms in the traditional area were very small. If a farmer cheese-maker only had about six cows, it would take several days to is not made accumulate enough milk for a whole cheese and, in the days easy in this before refrigeration, turning it into curds served as a means country’ of preservation. The main traditional production area is the rich, undulating coastal part of Lancashire.

Blue Vinney Dorset Blue Vinney is an example of the skimmed-milk cheeses once made with the milk left over from buttermaking virtually all over Britain. Although the cheese is sometimes very blue, it is not overwhelmingly strong, since the mould has a relatively mild herbal taste. It’s not only very good on the cheeseboard, perhaps with pears or fresh figs, but is good toasted or as a flavouring in cooking.

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Somerset Cheddar Cheddar is one of the most famous cheeses in the world but also one of the cheeses most often produced industrially. Barely 5% of the 400 producers who made cheddar in its Somerset homeland a half-century ago remain in business. The introduction of rindless block cheeses and frequent use of pasteurised milk further reduced the unique characteristics of cheddar made in south-west England.

But artisan, handmade versions still exist, made in the rich dairy pastures near the town of Cheddar by the likes of Montgomery’s, Keen’s and Westcombe Dairy.

monkeybusinessimages/dreamstime.com

Artisan Double Curd Lancashire Cheese

Traditionally, Gloucester cheese was produced with milk from Old Gloucester cows, which contained small fat globules and high protein content exceptionally well suited to cheese-making. Sadly, as production of Gloucester cheeses boomed, the animals could not compete with the specialist dairy breeds for gross milk production and their milk was gradually replaced by Longhorns, Shorthorns and, finally, the black and white Holstein Friesians.

By 1975 only one viable herd of Old Gloucesters remained, yet today through the concerted efforts of the Gloucester Cattle Society the breed is hanging on, with close to 400 breeding females now surviving. Appleby’s makes a single-herd Double Gloucester from its own herd, which is well worth seeking out.

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LITTLE SUSSEX Little Sussex is a small cheese of 80 - 100g, made from sheep milk, with a bloomy white coat. Little Sussex has a mild delicate flavour and fluffy texture when young, but becomes stronger and more flavoursome as it ages. Delicious served with crusty bread, or try it grilled and served with a salad.

Reece’s Creamery was founded in 1886

by Samuel & Frank Reece in Malpas, Cheshire. Today we make a variety of delicious, quality territorial cheeses including award-winning Cheshire, Caerphilly, Lancashire and Wensleydale.

anniversary To celebrate our 125th delicious range of we are introducing a ndmade cheeses. three traditionally ha

“

Just one of the delicious range of Award Winning organic sheep milk cheeses made on the farm in Sussex, which also include; Duddleswell, Sussex Slipcote, and Halloumi, and from organic cows’ milk; Saint Giles, Ashdown Foresters, and Sussex Cheddar.

”

Please contact the Dairy for further information.

High Weald Dairy, Tremains Farm, Horsted Keynes, Snowdonia ad_Layout 1 18/10/2011 West 16:41Sussex PageRH17 1 7EA. Tel; 01825 791636. email; info@highwealddairy.co.uk www.highwealddairy.co.uk.

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Hampton Blue

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Whitefriars Cheshire

01745 357070

For more information please contact us at reeces@milklink.com

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Cornish Brie Gevrik

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Cornish C

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training courses

Back to school

School of Artisan Food

Welbeck Estate, Nottinghamshire What’s on offer?

A wide range of courses for both amateurs and professionals, ranging from a half-day tasting session to a one-year diploma: • Dairy Short Courses: Range from half-day Beer & Cheese partnering course to one- and two-day hands-on Introduction to Cheese-Making courses.

• Dairy Professional Courses: In intensive three to five day hands-on workshops, students learn the production methods of dairy products such as blue, washed rind, or soft cheeses.

• Advanced Diploma: Foundation degree level course condensed into one intensive year.

Ideal for Both hobby and professional cheese-makers.

Hands on?

Yes, apart from the half-day beer and cheese course. The diploma is a mix of practical and theoretical.

Cost Wide range – see website for details www.schoolofartisanfood.org

Rob Wicks/Eat Pictures/Cheese School

Whether you want to go into production, refresh your cheese-making knowledge or just learn more about what to drink with it, there is a cheese course out there for you, says CLARE HARGREAVES

Cheese School Bristol

What’s on offer?

A cheeseboard of different goodies. As you nibble away, you’re taught how one simple substance – milk – can end up as so many different cheeses.

Some courses also look at matching cheeses with beer and wine, or how to make cheese.

The main emphasis, though, is on having a memorable day out (October’s course was held at the beautiful Walled Garden in Wrington, near Bristol), during which you are plied with top nosh, great wines and beers, and of course, first-rate cheeses. Its organisers call it the ‘ultimate experience for cheese lovers.’

A key draw is the star-studded line-up of tutors. The courses are run

by Jess Trethowan, whose husband and brother-in-law make Gorwydd Caerphilly at Trethowans Dairy in Wales. On previous courses they’ve been joined by Joe Schneider – producer of Stichelton (unpasteurised blue) – and Charlie Westhead, who makes goats’ cheeses on the Welsh borders.

Expertise on how to match cheeses with wines and beers is provided by Fiona Beckett, The Guardian’s wine writer, while Bristol cheesemonger Ben Ticehurst gives handy tips on how to keep your cheese and how to assemble the perfect cheeseboard.

Ideal for Anyone who loves cheese and wants to learn more Hands on?

No – unless you count all the cheese and wine you handle during the day before devouring it.

Cost £125. Includes tuition, lunch, wine, beer and cider and all the cheese you can eat. www.cheeseschool.co.uk

Ribblesdale Cheese

Hawes, North Yorkshire What’s on offer?

One-to-one one-day course with an explanation of the science of cheese-making as you go. It’s taught by ex-accountant Iona Hill, who runs artisan cheese-maker Ribblesdale Cheese in the Yorkshire Dales. The company specialises in goats’ cheeses but also makes sheep’s and cows’ milk cheeses. Last year, the company won Great Taste Awards for three of its cheeses, all sold in its shop in Hawes. On the course you make a cows’ milk Wensleydale cheese using the company’s award-winning recipe. At the end of the day you take home your pot of curd to press at home – or you can leave it with Iona and collect your cheese a few days later. Unlike many cheese-making courses, this one tells you what to do when things go wrong.

Ideal for Total beginners through to professionals who want to improve their techniques. As the course is one to one, it can be tailored to your needs.

Hands on?

Totally – you’ll be up to your arms in curds for most of the day.

Cost £75-100 www.ribblesdalecheese.wordpress.com

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training courses AB Cheesemaking Nantwich, Cheshire

What’s on offer?

Courses are taught at Reaseheath College in Cheshire by one of the doyens of cheese-making, Chris Ashby.

Chris, who has over 40 years of experience, also offers tailor-made courses.

• Basic cheese-making: Two and a half day course dealing with technicalities of making hard cheeses like cheddars.

• Soft cheese-making: Two and a half day course on soft cheeses. Can be done as stand alone, or as bolton to the basic course.

• Grading: One-day course on grading cheddars and territorials.

Ideal for Enthusiasts or anyone involved in the cheese industry.

Hands on?

Over half each course is practical.

Cost Basic: £456; Soft: £516; Grading: £216 www.abcheesemaking.co.uk

Duchy College

Stoke Climsland, Cornwall What’s on offer?

The college’s flagship course is the threeday Cheese Making Theory & Practice workshop, which includes one day covering the principles of cheese-making and two days of practice. The course covers making a range of cheeses, from Double Gloucester to ricotta. The third day focuses on how to prepare cheeses for maturation, as well as how to grade them.

The college also offers a two-day soft cheese-making course, and it is considering launching a one-day introductory course.

Ideal for People involved in, or wishing to be involved in, commercial cheese production.

Hands on?

Yes, for two out of three days.

Cost £450, includes lunch. www.foodinnovation.co.uk 34

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Regional Food Academy Harper Adams, Shropshire

What’s on offer?

Whether in a large creamery or a small farmhouse unit, being able to gauge a cheese’s quality and intended use is fundamental to running a successful dairy business.

This eight-day cheese grading course is divided into four two-day units spread over four months, and covers all types of cheeses. Units can be done as standalones or combined. Completion of all four courses leads to a University College Foundation Certificate in cheese grading.

Ideal for Those wishing to go into cheese grading, or those already doing it and wishing to improve.

Cost £495 per two-day unit www.regionalfoodacademy.org

River Cottage

Park Farm, Devon What’s on offer?

New one-day course teaching you to make a variety of cheeses, including camembertstyle and mozzarella. And you get to take the results home with you. The day focuses on soft cheeses, but hard cheese is also covered in theory.

Ideal for Complete beginners.

Hands on?

Mostly.

Cost £180 www.rivercottage.net

The Truckle Cheese Co is home to our evermore famous Vintage Mature Cheddar truckles and our range of delicious cheeses in truckle form, including our creamy blue Stilton, our gold award-winning Oak Smoked Cheddar and our Fig & Honey Wensleydale to name a few.

Not forgetting our twice gold award winning Onion Marmalade and our range of mouth watering chutneys, great with cheeses and many other foods. New out this year is our Revelation Cheddar (Mature Cheddar infused with a dark chocolate curl) which is proving really popular for us and with Gregg Wallace’s exceptionally positive words in the Daily Mail was the icing on the cake. Also this year we have launched our Chilli & Pineapple chutney, our ‘Foot of Fudge’ clotted cream and honey (great to serve alongside your cheeseboard or in our ‘self designed’ hampers). We have lots of fantastic new items, which all make great Christmas ideas and presents.

The Truckle Cheese Company • Fare Acres Farm • Dry Drayton Road • Oakington • Cambridge CB24 3BD Tel: 01223 234 740 • info@trucklecheese.co.uk

www.trucklecheese.co.uk

Along with our continued success at the renowned World Cheese Awards for our Extra mature, we have been awarded The Farmhouse Champion Cheddar Trophy at the Nantwich Cheese Show

KEEN’S CHEDDAR Traditional, unpasteurised, award-winning Cheddars from Wincanton Somerset For details call 01963 32286 or email keenscheddar@hotmail.com. www.keenscheddar.co.uk goodcheese 2011-12

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SUE PROUDFOOT’S WHALESBOROUGH CHEESES 01288 361317

seproudfoot@aol.com or info@whalesborough.co.uk Whalesborough, Marhamchurch, Bude, Cornwall, EX23 0JD

www.whalesboroughcheese.co.uk

A Family of Five Distinctive Cornish Cheeses Trelawny Traditional Farmhouse cheese.

Miss Muffet Washed curd sweet continental style.

Smuggler Orange & white marbling, stunning.

Keltic Gold Pungent cider washed a real stinker.

Cornish Crumbly Delightful Zingy young cheese.

Little Wheal Creamy rustic round & soft.

BRINDISA SPANISH CHEESES From large and small dairies, Brindisa’s diverse cheese range brings you

rare breeds and Spanish classics.

We enjoy helping you make the most of Spain’s cheeses.

Winners of 3 Great Taste Awards in 2011

WWW.BRINDISAWHOLESALE.COM

Carron Lodge Ltd.

Suppliers of British & Continental cheese to the wholesale, catering, retail and manufacturing trades.

Extensive Product Range Rapid Reaction Time Competitive Prices Bespoke Products Friendly Service Comprehensive Product Knowledge Customer Support Award Winning Cheese Makers Dairy Farmers Three Depots Th Free Deliveries (See Map)

Tel: 01995 640352 Fax: 01995 641040 email: orders@carronlodge.com Park Head Farm, Carron Lane, Inglewhite, Preston PR3 2LN 36

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For a real Farmhouse cheese made in the New Forest, Hampshire.

Makers of Lyburn Gold, Stoney Cross and Old Winchester.

training courses

West Highland Dairy Achmore, Scotland

What’s on offer?

Kathy Biss has been working with cheese for 40 years and makes her own cheeses using local milk. Several of these – like her Cuillin and her Highland Blue – have won prizes in the World Cheese Awards. So you won’t find a better tutor in the mysteries of cheese. As her courses are held in the heart of her dairy, you get a good idea of just how a dairy runs. But if it suits you better, Kathy will bring a course to your premises.

Courses last three days and are designed to suit all levels of experience from novice to basic to advanced. Bring your own milk if you wish. The dairy is in one of the loveliest areas of Scotland, so it’s worth lingering for a few days after the course to explore you’ll have some fine cheese, made by you, to nibble as you go.

Ideal for Everyone from smallholders and enthusiasts with no previous experience to those wanting to start commercial production. The courses attract a good number of dairy farmers wishing to diversify.

Food Technology Centre

Anglesey, North Wales What’s on offer?

Two-and-a-half-day introduction to making hard and soft cheese. Learn how to classify and evaluate cheeses, find out about stages of manufacture, and master practical cheese-making.

Ideal for Anyone considering starting cheese manufacturing or anyone involved in the production, quality assurance, purchase or sale of cheese.

Hands on?

Just over half is.

Cost £450 www.foodtech-llangefni.co.uk

What’s on offer?

One-day courses in making the farm’s awardwinning Dancy’s Fancy soft cheese. You’ll also learn about the cultures and methods used to make different types of cheeses.

The course is taught in the creamery by the farm’s resident cheese-maker Clive Curtis.

What’s on offer?

Regular courses throughout the year to help speciality food retailers source, merchandise and sell the best cheeses and ensure their shops remain the first stop for serious foodies.

The Guild of Fine Food – publisher of Good Cheese and organiser of the World Cheese Awards – has been running these accredited courses for more than two decades, training hundreds of shop staff and managers each year.

Blending stacks of factual information with around two hours of cheese tastings, each course covers the basics of how different styles of cheese are made with practical guidance on storage, maturing, selling skills and customer care.

Delegates get to sample standard supermarket cheeses alongside carefully matured artisan varieties, learning the influence of seasonality and terroir on ‘real’ cheeses.

The result: staff and management who can talk intelligently to customers about the cheeses they offer, as well as creating attractive counters, minimising stock wastage and increasing sales.

On completion of a comprehensive workbook, delegates will be awarded the UK Cheese Guild diploma.

Hands on?

Handling – and tasting – is compulsory!

Cost Guild of Fine Food members £65 plus VAT, non-members £90 plus VAT. www.finefoodworld.co.uk

Cost £330 plus VAT www.westhighlanddairy.co.uk

Cirencester, Gloucesteshire

Countrywide

Ideal for Deli and farm shop owners, foodhall buyers, counter staff and anyone working with cheese in retail or marketing.

How hands on?

Totally – this is the antithesis of a theoretical classroom-based course.

Abbey Home Farm

UK Cheese Guild

➔

Ideal for Beginners and smallholders.

Hands on?

Definitely.

Cost £85, including two-course organic lunch and some cheese www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk

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When it comes to exceptional cheddar, the old ways are still the best.

Our award-winning, traditional truckles are wrapped in muslin and allowed to breathe as they slowly mature, resulting in a creamy complex flavour with a long finish.

Stuff of legend

Gold winners at EES ISH CH E AWARD RIT

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B ES

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British Cheese Awards (Best Cheddar, Best Goats Cheese & Best Export Cheese) World Cheese Awards, Great Taste Awards, Nantwich, Royal Bath & West Great Yorkshire, Devon County Show, Taste of the West and Frome

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T OF CATEGORY

Home Farm . Newton St Cyres . Devon . Tel 01392 851222 . www.quickes.co.uk

Stoneyford Co KilKenny ireland www.KnoCKdrinna.Com tel 00353 86 8597716 38

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french cheese

Wheels within

wheels

Producers of Comté have begun a campaign to educate British buyers about the breadth of flavours and aromas hidden within those giant 60cm wheels of cheese, as NICK HARMAN reports

I

’m gazing at cows through a car window laced with October drizzle here in the Comté region of France.

In a month’s time the snow will return and this landscape of green will assume its winter mantle of white.

These Montbeliarde cows won’t mind, they’ll exchange their rich pasture for warm barns and summer-stored hay. No time for a rest though, as twice a day they’ll be milked to make Comté cheese.

Instantly recognisable, Comté is a versatile semihard cheese – served as cubes it makes pre-dinner nibbles, added to cooked dishes it melts well and in France no cheeseboard is complete without at least one example of Comté. The French like to first break their Comté and savour its diverse aromas. Its nutty, creamy flavour varies between summer and winter-made Comtés, the amount of ageing and its terroir.

Comté is the biggest AOC cheese in France, perhaps literally as well as figuratively, as each 60cm wheel can weigh up to 40kg. Governed by rules that specify the breed of cow, the amount and type of pasture, the maximum distances between milking shed, dairy and ‘affinateur’, where the finished cheese is matured, it’s a cheese of strong tradition. A best-seller all over France, its presence in the UK is, however, still small.

“This we hope to change,” says the man from the Comté Comite, screwing himself around in his driving seat to face me, while ignoring oncoming lorries abruptly appearing from around the Alpine bends.

“Your Waitrose already stocks four types, as do some independents.”

I’ve been invited here to be part of the committee’s big push to get more of the 55,000 tons of Comté produced each year sold over the Channel. Passionate about their product, they feel we Brits haven’t cottoned on yet, still mistaking Comté’s unassuming looks for blandness. That’s why they’re spending a large but undisclosed sum to spread the word in the UK. As the sun breaks through, we walk over to see the Montbeliardes on their small farm, one of hundreds in the area. Brown and white and remarkably friendly, they graze in high meadows containing not just tasty grass but also up to 56 aromatic wild plants and flowers too, one of the secrets of Comté’s flavour

variations. The AOC rules require that each cow has access to two acres of this land to graze in and no fermented feed is allowed.

The milk travels twice a day to a small local ‘fruitiere’ or dairy to be made into Comté, with ageing then taking place in the massive ‘caves’ we go to next. Here the cheeses are racked on spruce boards, the rough grain of the wood helping create Comté’s unique rind.

Each day the rounds are washed with a saline solution and turned over. “It used to be done by hand,” says the Chef du Cave at Entre Mont, Sylvain Esselin, “but it really did your back in. Nowadays we use robots.” Ahead of us one is trundling down the line, regularly reaching up to the cheeses that are shelved up to the heavens.

“They don’t get bored,” he adds eyeing it warily, “but they do break down a bit.”

Sylvain inserts his testing ‘sonde’ into a nearby wheel and hands me a bite. The cheeses pass through the rooms in gradated temperatures, cool, warm, then cold for no less than four months and often up to 18 months to encourage the microflora in the cheese to do their work. He constantly checks for taste and aroma and hammers on the outside to hear how each cheese is forming inside.

Eventually he will grade the cheeses on flavour, texture, shape and rind, the best being labelled Comté Extra, the next Comté and the rest set aside to be grated for general cooking.

We go and sit outside and sample various ages of Comté. “Some prefer the more mature, some the younger flavours,” Sylvain says, rolling a cube between his fingers, “but wherever you might use Emmental or Gruyère, you can use Comté and it works as well and I think better. Raymond Blanc has said how much he likes Comté and so has Gwyneth Paltrow!”

I may be biased, having met the cows and consumed an awful lot of Comté in all its variants, but I think it’s a cheese the Brits should warm to. A long shelf-life cheese, multi-purpose and blessed with layers of flavour, Comté is cheese you can count on. www.comtecheese.co.uk

The French feel we Brits haven’t cottoned on yet, still mistaking Comté’s unassuming looks for blandness goodcheese 2011-12

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Winterdale Cheesemakers award winning...

Kentish Handmade Cheese A traditional unpasteurised, cloth bound cellar matured hard cheese from the county of Kent.

Discover the mysteries of Blacksticks Blue and marvel at its smooth and creamy taste and subtle blue tang

www.butlerscheeses.co.uk

One of the most local farm produced cheeses to London and soon achieving carbon neutral production.

www.winterdale.co.uk +44 (0)1732 820021 Winterdale, Platt House Lane, Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 7LX

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taste test: vintage cheddar

Oldies but goodies?

Are you left underwhelmed by some pre-packed ‘vintage’ and ‘extra mature’ cheddars? Food writer CHARLES CAMPION teamed up with Dorset deli owner Charlie Turnbull and our own Bob Farrand to see how supermarket options stack up against the real thing.

E

ven a glance at cheddar packaging in supermarkets, delis and cheese shops will tell you that a good many cheesemakers think the word ‘vintage’ is a magic one. They have shamelessly appropriated the V word from wine makers and while describing a wine as vintage has some legitimacy, labelling a cheese as a vintage cheddar is merely marketing – particularly as the term has no offically defined meaning.

You’ll find ‘vintage’ emblazoned on all manner, and ages, of cheddar. ‘Mature’ and ‘extra mature’ have currency with generations of cheese-graders and along the way they have acquired some meaning for the rest of us but anyone who only shops for cheese occasionally must be mystified by what is written on the packs.

Deciding to explore this further, I set up a round-table tasting alongside Good Cheese publisher and Guild of Fine Food chief Bob Farrand and Shaftesbury deli owner Charlie Turnbull, and together we tried 12 cheddars. Three were described as ‘Mature’, one as ‘Extra Mature’, several were described as ‘Vintage’ but with no age given; one was a 15-month cheddar, one was an 18-month cheddar and three were 24-month cheeses.

As a benchmark, we had a piece of Montgomery’s West Country Farmhouse Cheddar from the Turnbulls cheese counter – made on April 24 2010.

When asked to define what he took the V word to mean when applied to cheese, Charlie’s view was: “I’d expect it to be over 15 months and probably 18, and I want to taste something significant, whether it’s a whole cheese, pre-pack, or block.” ➔

Our ‘control’ cheddar: a 15-month Montgomery from Turnbull’s deli

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taste test: vintage cheddar This is how the tasting unfolded: Montgomery West Country Cheddar Our ‘control’ cheese had good body and texture but, in the end, was somewhat short of complexity. A balanced finish, but the cheese not quite reaching Montgomery’s usual high standards. With palates suitably fine- tuned it was time to try the rest of the supermarket sweep…

The Co-operative Somerset Mature Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese There was no age given. The cheese had a very high moisture level, a pappy texture, little or no flavour but a slight acidity on finish. Not a good start.

Morrisons Farmhouse Mature Cheddar Cut at the counter. Sulphur notes and an eggy taste. Loud and unsubtle – leaves you with an unpleasant taste. This cheese improved a little after being unwrapped for some time.

Morrisons ‘The Best’ Farmhouse Mature White Cheddar Pre-pack. This was a wetter cheese than the counter cut version. Sharp and unbalanced.

Asda Extra Special Lye Cross Farm West Country Farmhouse Extra Mature Cheddar (Special Reserve 12 month mature) This cheese carries the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) logo. Not unpleasant but a little shallow.

Quite well made but this should not be called ‘extra mature’ – our joint view was that this cheese is ‘mature’ at best.

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Pilgrims Choice Vintage Cheddar – Hand-Made West Country Farmhouse Cheddar This cheese has the PDO logo. The pack copy says that it has been ‘naturally matured for around 15 months’ which is disconcertingly imprecise. Eggy and curdy in flavour. Good body and texture but the flavours are unclean. I got a distinct whiff of mushrooms – not very pleasant.

Morrisons The Best West Country Farmhouse Vintage Cheddar This is described as a “strong, full flavoured cheddar from the award winning Brue Valley Farm” If so, why is there no PDO logo? Bizarrely (this cheese is the same as the previous Morrisons cheese) this was a great deal better than the other version.

Good nose, balanced acidity and a pleasant lingering finish. Perhaps a little unsubtle for some tastes.

Sainsbury Taste the Difference Vintage Reserve West Country Cheddar Has no PDO but was described as ‘complex and powerful’ and ‘matured for around two years’. Made by Barbers. Good body, better made than many of the others, but the flavours were a little unapproachable.

Somehow doesn’t come together. Not as refined and powerful as you would expect.

Sainsbury Organic Vintage Cheddar “Fresh from our counter but pre-wrapped”?

I thought there was a very strange texture to this cheese. A touch of grittiness but not in a good, crystalline way. It had a thin flavour and no real ‘vintage’ flavour. We did not like this.

Tesco Finest Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar This cheese carries the PDO logo and a picture of Neil Baker – “our finest farmhouse cheddar supplier”. It’s also a silver medal winner from Nantwich Cheese Show but no age is given. This is quite an interesting cheese – but should it be called a “vintage” cheese? Good grassy notes and a balanced finish, erring on the sweet side.

Waitrose West Country Farmhouse Cheddar Hand-made on Denhay Farm using its own milk. Typically matured for 18 months, this cheese carries the PDO logo. Bob liked this cheese a lot and for once we all agree although Charlie wondered whether it deserves to be called ‘vintage’. I loved that long grassy creamy finish.

Barbers 1833 – Vintage Reserve 24 month Made with their MT26 starter. We all liked this a lot. Full-on Bovril notes. A well made, complex cheese in a modern style but not buying into the awful quest for sweetness.

Long savoury finish. Why not just call it 24-month cheddar when ‘vintage’ adds so little?

Quickes Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar We bought our piece of this 24-month matured cheese from the Waitrose cheese counter. What a cracking cheese to complete the tasting. It received the highest accolade from Charlie, who started muttering about stocking this himself. Excellent depth of flavour and delightful crunch to it. Such depth of flavour – round, full-on but subtle and a long, long finish. Charlie said he can’t eat too much of this but Bob and I don’t have that problem, tucking in at will.

The Verdict • The word ‘vintage’ means nothing and is applied to many different cheddars whether they deserve it or not.

It’s no guarantee of a complex or characterful cheddar.

• It is hard to rely on PDO labels, which are meant to protect West Country Farmhouse Cheddars, as a guarantee of quality. Sometimes the symbol gets prominence and sometimes it doesn’t.

You would have to bet that few customers know what the tiny red and yellow seal on the packaging means.

• Simple age is no guarantee of increased complexity.

A good eight-month cheddar will often be better than a less well made 12-month cheddar. The time of year in which the cheese was made also has a bearing on the final cheese. A cheese made in the autumn may well be very different from a cheese made in spring. Both have their merits but the cows will have been fed differently and that will change the composition of the milk and the cheese made from it.

• There is a good deal of indifferent cheese that is pre-packed and plonked on the shelves relying on marketing speak like ‘vintage’, ‘mature’ and ‘strong’ to help it sell.

• In the end, there is no substitute for trusting your taste buds.

Try before you buy and when you find something you like don’t worry what it‘s called!

Godminster Vintage Organic Cheddar, our flagship product, is unusually creamy and made from the milk of Somerset’s finest organic dairy herds. Using a 70 year old recipe, our cheese is allowed to mature for at least 12 months, before being coated in our distinctive burgundy wax.

In 2009 we launched our 200g oak smoked Godminster Cheddar. We use the same 12 month matured cheddar as in our waxed truckles and cold smoke it over oak chippings sourced from local sustainable woodland. These are then wrapped in muslin.

Godminster soft cheeses are ripened in the traditional way. The interior is a bright golden colour with a soft creamy texture. The taste is full and rich, similar to but stronger than brie. There are four varieties of soft cheese – Goldilocks (Plain), Indian Blanket (Smoked), Black Eyed Susan (Peppered) and Vipers Grass (Chives and Garlic).

All our soft cheese is made using 100% Organic Jersey milk.

www.godminster.com

The Cheesemakers of Canterbury - Home of the award winning Ashmore Farmhouse Cheese and Kelly’s Canterbury Goat Cheese.

Our cheeses are available at the Goods Shed, Canterbury, where we have our own retail outlet, as well as other select retailers and restaurants.

Please visit our website to find out about our handmade cheeses and follow the process from milk through to the presses and to the finished, prizewinning cheese. In addition, you can discover both our history as cheesemakers and the history of Ashmore cheese, originally a cheese recipe in a Scottish hand book, which we mow make from local Canterbury farms’ unpasteurised British cows and goats milk.

PRODUCED IN

KENT

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Handmade sweet and savoury preserves and condiments

Winner of 14 Great Taste Awards

Miller Park, Station Road, Wigton, Cumbria CA7 9BA Tel/Fax: 01697 345974 Email: claire@claireshandmade.co.uk

www.claireshandmade.co.uk

2 010

Our awards: Goats’ Cheese★★★, Light in Fat Soft Cheese 16%★★, Yeats Country Organic Creme Fraiche★★, Greek Style Yoghurt★, Yeats Country Organic Sour Cream★, Sour Cream★, Paneer★, Soft Cheese with Sweet Chilli★

GOLD

GOLD in the category «Any Hard Cheese that has been awarded a Denomination of Origin (PDO/PGI/AOC)» For more information, contact Jerome Reignier jreignier@entremont.com - Tél. 07929418672

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Green Pastures (Donegal), Creamery Road, Convoy, Co. Donegal, Ireland Tel +353 74 91 47193 www.yeatscountryfoods.com

gifts & accompaniments

Everything but the cheese If you love cheese, you’ll love all the things that go with it. MICHAEL LANE goes shopping.

This bamboo cheese chest with a hinged lid and meshed sides, ideal for keeping your supper safe at cheese-friendly temperatures, has a removable base that doubles as a cheese tray.

It’s available to the trade from WBC and is stocked by retailers including Greens and La Crèmerie. www.wbc.co.uk delieryourgreens.co.uk www.lacremerie.co.uk

The Conran Shop has a set of four Milky Way Minor cheese knives (£65 for the set), designed by Anna and Gian Franco Gasparini.

The steel-bladed knives have thermoplastic handles with each one designed for a different hardness of cheese. www.conranshop.co.uk

Swings and Pretty Things sells these handcut slate cheeseboards at £24.95. Each rectangular board (35cm x 25cm x 8mm approx) is treated with oil and comes with plastic feet to protect tables. www.swingsandprettythings.co.uk Dorset’s Four Seasons Preserves produces a range of hand-made, small batch condiments that are well suited to cheese, including a spiced medieval pear jam and Bengal apple chutney. www.four-seasons-preserves.co.uk

This stainless steel novelty cheese grater, known as Roosty, is available from ilikechickens.co.uk for £9.95. Its coarse, fine and super fine grating surfaces make it adaptable to a wide variety of cheeses. www.ilikechickens.co.uk

Seek & Adore is stocking pewter cheese knifes made by Sheffield-based pewtersmith Fleur Grenier.

The 25cm knife, which is made from lead-free pewter, comes in a leather presentation pouch and retails for £65. www.seekandadore.com

Wineware describes its ceramic cheeseboard, the Ring, as a “real centrepiece for the table”. The board, priced at £29.60, features a shallow depression for strained and runny cheeses. Wineware also stocks a collapsible cheese cover (£9.30) and a duo of cheese knives – featuring an extra strong and a fine cutter (£56.95). www.wineware.co.uk

Cacomo Gourmet marble cheeseboards (£18) feature a wire cutter and are available in mocha, black or white. The online retailer also has a range of cheese accompaniments including a sweet onion confit. www.cacomo.co.uk Uncle Roy’s fruit-based condiments can accompany a variety of cheeses.

The Scottish firm’s Extra Special Condiments range, including a new gooseberry & horseradish sauce, are available in 8oz jars at around £2.75. www.uncleroys.co.uk

The latest creation from Chef on the Run Foods – a combination of tomato & red pepper chutney and red chilli relish – could prove popular with lovers of chilli and cheese. Welsh Red Cherish is in shops at around £3.50 for 340g. www.chefontherunfoods.co.uk

For the environmentally conscious, Swanky Maison is stocking cheeseboards made by Lazy Daisy Glass from recycled wine and spirit bottles.

The boards are, naturally, bottle shaped and are available in clear, green, or brown glass. www.swankymaison.com www.lazydaisyglass.co.uk

For those looking for a more rustic way of presenting their cheese, Rough Stuff offers an array of hand-made wooden boards for food. The firm’s 30” long shovel (RRP £55) is one of the grander products it offers while smaller boards start at £12. www.rough-stuff.co.uk

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where to buy good cheese NORTH OF ENGLAND Arcimboldo’s Delicatessen 146 King’s Road, Harrogate, HG1 5HY t 01423 508760 w www.arcimboldos.com Little deli filled with an array of British and Continental farmhouse cheeses, quality pastas, olive oils, balsamic and aged wine vinegars, chocolates, freshly ground coffee and local preserves.

Delifonseca 12, Stanley Street, Liverpool L1 6AF t 0151 255 0808 Dockside, Brunswick Quay, Brunswick Way, Liverpool L3 4BN t 0151 255 0808 w www.delifonseca.co.uk Two stores stocking a wide range of local, national, and European cheeses, served with a smile by knowledgeable staff.

Drewton’s Farm Shop The Drewton Estate, South Cave, Near Brough, East Yorkshire HU15 2AG t 01430 425079 w www.drewtons.co.uk High quality, locally-sourced produce.

Delicatessen, café, butchery, grocers and luxury goods department.

Godfrey C. Williams & Son Corner House, 9-11 Market Square, Sandbach, CW11 1AP t 01270 762817 w www.godfreycwilliams.co.uk Family business since 1875. Extensive selection of British & continental cheeses including speciality blended cheeses made by owner David Williams. Former Delicatessen of the Year, Best Cheese Shop of the Year and 2010 regional winner Countryside Alliance Awards Local Food category.

Bespoke hampers, gift packs, port and Stilton packs, corporate hampers, cheeseboards and accessories The Cheeseboard 1 Commercial Street, Harrogate, HG1 1UB t 01423 508837 w www.thecheeseboard.net One of the most respected cheese shops in the region, stocking over 200 cheeses including a wide range of local varieties.

The Cheese Hamlet 706 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, M20 2DW t 0161 4344781 w www.cheesehamlet.co.uk More than 2,500 different products, including over 200 English and Continental cheeses.

Largest display of Swiss cheeses in the North.

The Cheese Shop Nottingham 6 Flying Horse Walk, St Peters Gate, Nottingham NG1 2HN t 0115 9419114 w www.cheeseshopnottingham.co.uk Now stocking over 200 British and 100 Continental cheeses. Fine local Stiltons from Colston Bassett & Cropwell Bishop, Montgomery’s cheddar, Lincolnshire Poacher, Stinking Bishop and more.

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Weeton’s 23-34 West Park, Harrogate. HG1 1BJ t 01423 507100 w www.weetons.com Renowned for its cheese expertise, Weeton’s sources from some of the best artisan producers in Yorkshire and around the globe, many of them award winners. Check out its cheese club and online shop too.

SOUTH WEST Arch House Deli Arch House, Boyces Avenue, Clifton Village, Bristol BS8 4AA t 0117 974 1166 w www.archhousedeli.com The 2011 Olives Et Al Deli of the Year, Arch House Deli is known for a great range of local cheeses as well as fantastic French favourites.

MIDLANDS Capers 10 High St, Pershore, Worcs WR10 1BG t 07767 250314 w www.capersfinefoods.co.uk Stocks a wide range of local and speciality cheeses and supplies cheese celebration cakes.

Define Food & Wine Chester Road, Sandiway, Cheshire CW8 2NH t 01606 882101 w www.definefoodandwine.com Constantly changing range of farmhouse cheeses from the North West and beyond, as well as a wide range of French, Spanish and Italian greats. The team will also advise on wines to go with specific cheeses.

Deli on the Square Castle Square, Ludlow t 01584877353 w www.delionthesquare.co.uk Over 150 cheeses including locally produced artisan gems and a wide range of goats’ milk, sheep’s milk and Continental varieties.

Farndon Fields Farm Shop Farndon Road, Market Harborough, Leics, LE16 9NP t 01858 464838 w www.farndonfieldsfarmshop.co.uk Fantastic range of local cheeses including Long Clawson Stilton and Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, along with high quality deli meats and patés.

La Crèmerie, 1 Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hertfordshire, HP1 3DA t 01442 870508 w www.lacremerie.co.uk La Crèmerie, a runner-up in the 2011 Best New Cheese Retailer competition, stocks artisan cheeses from across the British Isles, matured to taste their best , including award-winners such as Stichelton, Tunworth, Ragstone and Ardrahan. Online orders delivered by overnight courier.

Ludlow Food Centre, Bromfield, Ludlow, SY8 2JR t 01584 856000 w www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk Unique venue epitomising all that is great about British food, with 80% of its products coming from its locale and 50% made in-store.

The Melton Cheeseboard 8, Windsor Street, Melton Mowbray, Leics. LE13 1BU t 01664 562257 w www.meltoncheeseboard.co.uk Two local Leicesters and fine Stiltons specially matured and selected from Long Clawson Dairy and Cropwell Bishop Creamery are among 130 cheeses in stock.

Munch Deli Café 16a Waterloo Street, Weston Super Mare, Somerset BS23 1LN t01934 425 843 w www.munch-deli.co.uk Family-run local deli café, offering breakfast, lunch, hampers, artisan cheese and bread counter, home-cooked takeaway dishes and soups, as well as outside catering.

Nelson’s Delicatessen 71 High Street, Fordingbridge, Hants SP6 1AS t 01425 650500 w www.nelsonsdeli.co.uk Specialising in local and British cheeses, Nelson‘s has over 40 cheeses in stock at any time, along with cooked meats, paté, fresh olives, coffee and homemade cakes and flapjacks and other locally sourced products.

Online shopping also available.

The Digey Food Room 6 The Digey, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1HR t 01736 799600 w www.digeyfoodroom.co.uk Over 30 cheeses mainly from Cornwall, Spain and Italy as well as a wide range of the finest products from these areas.

Town Mill Cheesemonger Mill Lane, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3PU t 01297 44 26 26 w www.townmillcheese.co.uk Multi-award winning cheese shop, specialising in fine and artisan cheeses from the West Country and beyond.

Turnbulls Delicatessen 9 High Street, Shaftesbury SP7 8HZ t 01747 858575 w www.turnbulls.co.uk Charlie Turnbull invites you to share a collection of fabulous cheeses sourced on his cheese odyssey throughout Britain and Europe.

LONDON & SOUTH EAST Foxbury Farm Shop Butchers & Café Foxbury Farm, Burford Road, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire OX18 3NX t 01993 867385 w www.foxburyfarm.co.uk A complete local food shop with 100% British cheese including Oxford Blue, Windrush Valley Goat, Crudges, Simon Weaver and Charles Martell and a wide range of other products, including the county’s largest local meat counter.

Harrison’s Delicatessen 60 Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QY t 020 8998 7866 w www.harrisonswines.co.uk Stockists of over 70 varieties of quality

farmhouse cheese from around Europe, including 20 British specialities.

Perfect Partners Cheese & Wine 7 Stone St, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3HF t 01580 712633 e ppcheesewine@btinternet.com Cheese and wine are a natural pairing, and Perfect Partners says it offers a selection that includes the local, the traditional and the ‘truly inspired’, selected on taste, not label.

Roots Delicatessen 33 Crendon St, High Wycombe HP13 6LJ t 01494 524243 w www.rootsdeli.co.uk Specialising in farmhouse cheeses from Great Britain and the Pays Basque, including the 2006 World Cheese Awards supreme champion Brebis.

The Cheese Harp 37 High Street, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1JD t 01732 452277 w www.thecheeseharp.co.uk In its quaint shop, thought to date back over 400 years, The Cheese Harp offers a selection of fine British and Continental cheeses as well fresh artisan bread, chutneys and many other products to complement your favourite cheese.

Priory Farm Shop Sandy Lane South Nutfield Redhill RH1 4EJ t 01737 822603 w www.prioryfarm.co.uk Priory Farm Shop reflects the changing seasons, offering something new and interesting every time you visit fresh produce, handmade food, speciality groceries that you can’t buy in the supermarkets, and a large butchery and deli.

Summerhill Farm Shop Cople Road, Cardington, MK44 3SH t 01234 831222 w www.summerhillfarmshop.co.uk A great range of British cheeses and the best from overseas, plus local charcuterie, cold meats, pies and quiches, patés and antipasti and a butchery counter including grass fed beef and award-winning sausages.

Umami Delicatessen 13 Newbury Street, Wantage, Oxon OX12 8BU t01235 766 245 w www.umami-deli.co.uk Stocks a large range of farmhouse and Continental cheeses. Whole cheeses, gift packs and cheeseboards also available yearround.

EAST ANGLIA H.Gunton 81-83 Crouch St, Colchester, Essex CO3 3EZ t 01206 572200. w www.guntons.co.uk H Gunton says it stocks the largest range of cut cheese in the Colchester area, with over 100 varieties. Gift packs and baskets are available in the festive season, and you can buy online too.

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