Good Cheese 2010

goodcheese £3.00

Winter 2010-11

Making it, selling it, enjoying it

Charles Campion

takes a fresh look at classic recipes

Great Britons

plUs: CeleBriTY CheFs

Mark Hix, Richard Phillips and Nigel Haworth reveal their regional favourites

How to choose the perfect British cheeseboard INSIDE: Why aGe Matters YORkSHIRE GOATS’ CHEESE BEER & CHEESE MATCHING explorinG roquefort la froMaGerie NEWS FROM THE CHEESE COUNTER PLUS: YOUR GUIDE TO THE BEST CHEESE SHOPS IN BRITAIN

The finest, cave-aged Swiss cheeses have KALTBACH written all over them.

The mineral-rich air of the KALTBACH caves near Lucerne provides the perfect climate for maturing wheels of Emmi Le Gruyère AOC and Emmentaler AOC. The cheese is nurtured for a minimum of 12 months, allowing it to develop an incomparable tangy flavour and a natural, dark brown rind. During the ageing process, water droplets and white crystals often form - these are known as ‘tears of joy’ and enhance the unique KALTBACH flavour. Always look for the KALTBACH label as our guarantee of quality. For more information contact Emmi UK Ltd +44 (0) 20 8875 2540.

Nantwich Gold Award Winners 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010.

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welcome to good cheese

by Bob Farrand

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❝Every meal shared with friends should end on a high note❞ I’ve just finished reading the final proofs for this edition of Good Cheese, and I’m stilll salivating. Every page offers something different for confirmed cheese-o-philes.

A visit to Roquefort by delicatessen owner Charlie Turnbull brought back vivid memories of my trip to the region a decade or so ago. It’s one of those places every cheese lover must see before it’s too late and also proves that one Roquefort is rarely, if ever, enough.

Andrew Eliel meets cheese guru Patricia Michelson, who reveals her 16 most-loved seasonal cheeses along with the secrets of running one of Europe’s best cheese shops.

Clarissa Hyman takes a leisurely stroll around God’s own county, Yorkshire, in search of great goats’ milk cheeses and discovers there’s more than just rhubarb cultivated in the famous triangle.

Restaurant critic and food writer Charles Campion has busied himself tasting cheeses of different maturity and concludes that, as with wine – and some people – the older they get, the better they become.

Charles also nobly agreed to join a few like-minded souls in the pub – or rather, West Country bar-restaurant The Clifton Sausage – to spend an afternoon matching bottledconditioned ales with his favourite English cheeses.

As for me, I’ve been revisiting the very best British varieties to help you create stunningly original cheeseboards throughout this winter and well into next spring.

There’s no excuse now – every meal shared with friends should finish on a high note, with a taste of cheese heaven. Which pretty much sums up this magazine too.

Bob Farrand

know your cheeses why age matters french blues roquefort rediscovered choosing cheeses great british cheeseboards

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

goodcheese EDITORIAL Editor: Mick Whitworth Page design: Richard Charnley Art director: Mark Windsor Contributors: Charles Campion, Andrew Eliel, Charlie Turnbull, Clarissa Hyman ADVERTISING Advertisement sales: Sally Coley, Becky Stacey Circulation manager: Tortie Farrand Publisher & managing director: Bob Farrand Published by: Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd, Guild House, Station Road, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9FE United Kingdom

GUILD OF FINE FOOD Membership secretary & director: Linda Farrand Director: John Farrand Administrators: Charlie Westcar, Julie Coates Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance Printed by: Advent Colour, Hants Good Cheese is a sister magazine of Fine Food Digest. ©The Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2010

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

recipes classic cheese dishes directory britain’s best cheese shops

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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

‘Intense and harmonious flavour’ Italian dairy cooperative Virgilio, headquartered in Mantua in Lombardy, says its over-20months Grana Padano Riserva has been specially selected to provide an “intense and

British alternative to membrillo West County chef Jay Allen created his range of handmade fruit pastes for the cheeseboard after a request from Country Cheeses, one of the region’s best known specialist retailers.

Country Cheeses wanted an alternative to the familiar Spanish quince paste dulce de membrillo. Allen came up with a number of options that he describes as “less sweet, with highly concentrated fruit flavours, and softer in texture than other fruit complements”.

Since cheese is so often enjoyed with a glass or two of wine, Allen says his recipes are also “kinder to the palate” than chutneys, in which a high level of acidity can interfere with subtle flavours.

Allen has set up Hillside Speciality Foods in Exeter to make the range in small batches, using fruit and other all-natural ingredients sourced locally wherever possible.

He suggests matching his apple & cider paste with a hard, strong variety like mature cheddar, his plum & Port paste with blues like Stilton, and rhubarb paste with soft white cheeses.

Not to be outdone by the Spanish, Hillside makes its own quince fruit paste as well as a seasonal range using crab apple, greengage and pink gooseberry. And for Christmas, it’s using red wine from Sharpham Estate near Totnes to create a cranberry, orange & mulled wine fruit paste. w www.hillsidespecialityfoods.co.uk

Camembert for Christmas?

Petit Camembert with truffles and Petit Camembert with olives (both 150g) are among a range of limited edition Christmas products from French dairy cooperative Isigny Sainte-Mère, based in the Isigny region of Normandy.

The others include crème fraîche with morels (20cl) and a set of three flavoured 25g butter packs with ceramic butter dish.

Earlier this year, Isigny Sainte-Mère scooped eight medals at the prestigious Concours Général Agricole awards in Paris, winning two gold, two silver and four bronze medals. w www.isigny-ste-mere. com

‘Cheese with no name’ goes on sale in Harrods Three cheeses from artisan maker Somerset Cheese Co were introduced into Harrods in London in September with help from retailer and distributor Paxton & Whitfield.

They include two hard pressed mature cheeses: the goats’ milk Pennard Vale and the unpasteurised cows’ milk Six Spires.

“The third cheese was one that we’d only just developed,” says Somerset Cheese Co’s Anita Robinson. “It hadn’t even been given a name or, in fact, sold anywhere else. So it was thrilling for us to sell it into Harrods as its first point of sale.”

Known in the Knightsbridge store as the “cheese with no name”, it’s a semi-hard cheese made with unpasteurised Channel Islands milk. All three cheeses are presented as naturally rinded wheels.

Based at Ditcheat Hill Farm near Shepton Mallet, Somerset Cheese Co was set up by veteran cheesemaker Philip Rainbow along with long-time colleague Anita Robinson and her husband Nick.

They make six cheeses of their own using goats’, ewes’, buffalo and cows’ milk, and also work with farmers who want cheeses made with their own herds’ milk. w www.somersetcheese.co.uk

harmonious flavour” for cheeses connoisseurs.

Good for use either grated or as a table cheese, Virgilio Grana Padano Riserva is available in portions from 200g to 1 kg.

Look out for in-store tastings of Grana Padano in independent delis and farm shops across Britain this winter. The producers’ consortium is running a big promotion in conjunction with Buon Italia, an Italian government-backed programme that aims to highlight authentic speciality foods from Italy. w www.e-virgilio. com

Bright start for Cumbrian creation John Natlacen of Kirkby Lonsdale retailer Churchmouse Cheeses is ‘thrilled’ with the reception given to Bright Blessed Crest, a new ewe’s milk cheese he has developed with fellow Cumbrian business Appleby Creamery.

The rich, creamy creation was named Best New British Cheese at this year’s British Cheese Awards.

Appleby only made the first batch of Bright Blessed Crest for the cheesemonger this summer and it wasn’t officially launched until September.

A smooth cheese with a rich creaminess, Bright Blessed Crest is described as “mild and slightly firmer when young, yielding to a buttery paste when fully mature”. w www.churchmousecheeses.com

Somerset Cheese Co makes six varieties of its own, as well as producing for local farmers

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Carmarthenshire’s newcomer is the White stuff

Specially selected for Jamie Jamie Oliver’s Parmigiano Reggiano, brought to the UK by Avilton Foods and currently available in Sainsbury’s, is made using milk from a single dairy in the hills of Parma in northern Italy to ensure consistent flavour and crumbly texture. The cheese, which is matured for 24 months, is sold in 200g wedges. w www.avilton-foods.co.uk

Taste the history at expanded Wensleydale visitor centre The Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, has been busy creating a new-look visitor centre this year, with a new specialist cheese shop, deli and coffee shop forming part of a £800,000-plus expansion.

Tripling the size of its popular cheese shop has given more room to display its traditional-style, waxed and muslin-bound cheeses and to run cheese tastings.

The deli’s offering includes more than 100 regional food products, sourced from local suppliers. The new ‘1897’ Coffee Shop, with views of the surrounding countryside, can now seat 72 guests. It was named in celebration of Edward Chapman, a Dales corn and provisions merchant, who in 1897 began buying up local milk to make Wensleydale cheese.

In September, the creamery’s new Jervaulx Blue was named joint Best English Speciality Andrew in the 2010 Great Taste Elphic (foreground) Awards. and Richard Cloughton in the expanded w www.wensleydale.

Wensleydale cheese shop co.uk

Little and large Gourmet Thins, the slender Scandinavianstyle wholegrain crispbreads, are now available in larger 250g boxes containing six portion-packs, each with six slices.

There are two varieties – wheat & oats and sesame – distributed in the British Isles, USA, Canada and Europe by Waissels. w www.waissels.co.uk

The new goats’ milk Carmarthenshire White is a semi-soft cheese with a white mould rind that’s described as “young and fresh with fresh lemony hints and lactic flavours”.

Developed by the Carmarthenshire Cheese Co for summer 2010, it has already caused a stir of interest locally and picked up a silver at the British Cheese Awards.

This follows a string of successes for Carmarthenshire’s established brands, with their Llangloffan Garlic and Chive awarded gold at both the Nantwich and Bakewell shows, and a cheeseboard selection of the entire range picking up another first at the Royal Welsh. w www.carmarthenshirecheese.co.uk

Bramble has designs on your dinner table British artist Richard Bramble, well known for his designs on porcelain, has created a new cheese platter and two new cheese plate designs: Parmesan and ewes’ milk cheese.

The latter join Bramble’s blue, cheddar, wash rind, bloomy rind, Alpine and goats’ cheese designs to make a set of eight plates, ideal for dinner parties.

Made from hard wearing porcelain, all the pieces are dishwasher, microwave, oven and fade-proof.

The new plates are now in stock at the artist’s stall at Borough Market in London and his studios in Sherborne, Dorset, as well as in select shops.

The 21cm cheese plates retail at £14.95 each, with offers of any four designs for £55 or eight for £105. The new 32cm cheese platters cost around £39.95 each.

Bramble’s journey as a ceramicist began in 1997 when Gordon Ramsay commissioned him to design a dress plate for his restaurant Aubergine. Bramble has since worked alongside many Michelin starred chefs, creating ingredient and wine paintings and handmade limited edition prints. w www.richardbramble.co.uk

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Step up to the wedge Spain’s Quesos el Valle de Almodóvar brand is hoping a new readyto-serve ‘mini wedge’ format for its sheep’s milk, goats’ milk and blended cheeses will take off throughout Europe after enjoying a good reception from Spanish shoppers. Quesos el Valle began life as an artisan cheese-maker in 1975 but now operates from a huge creamery in Almodóvar del Campo, a little town in Ciudad Real, central Spain, producing cheeses in a variety of age profiles and packaging styles.

It recently obtained Halal certification for all its cheeses. The new mini-wedges are available in two sizes: a 250g consumer pack providing ready-to-serve tapas and a 600g catering pack. e exportqualia@quesoselvalle.com

Smoked over oak

Named ‘Best in Scotland’ by Nantwich judges What’s the best cheese currently being made north of the border? According to judges at this year’s Nantwich International Cheese Awards it’s Mull of Kintyre cheddar, named Best Scottish Cheese 2010.

The brand, owned by First Milk, the UK’s largest farmer-owned dairy business, is made at Campbeltown Creamery on the Kintyre peninsula, where plentiful green grass produces a rich, creamy milk and a cheese that’s described as having “deliciously strong, yet sweet notes and rich crunchy character”.

After the summer’s success at Nantwich, the popular Mull of Kintyre cheddar truckle was also re-launched in new packaging in time for Christmas.

Its new black tin bears an image of Campbeltown Creamery, along with oldfashioned whisky barrels in the foreground – the creamery was once a distillery. w www.highlandsandislandscheese.co.uk

Dorset cheese-maker Ford Farm launched a smoked goat’s milk cheese this summer – and immediately took gold at the British Cheese Awards. Billie’s Smokey Goat was also named Best Flavoured Cheese 2010.

“We’ve been smoking cheese successfully here at Ford Farm for some years now and have two successful varieties as a result – Dorset Red and Oakwood,” says Greg Parsons, commercial director at Ford Farm, based on the Ashley Chase Estate near Dorchester. “We send the cheese to the local Dorset Smokery where they smoke it slowly over traditional oak chippings, and we decided to try out the technique on Billie’s to monitor the effects.

“When we tasted the result, we were surprised how much the mellow flavour of the cheese was complemented by the sharpness of the smokey oak.” w www.fordfarm.com

The right tools for the job

Mellow alternative Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses has launched a milder, creamier version of its award-winning Blacksticks Blue. It says the handmade Blacksticks Creamy is a “soft cheese with an exceptionally rounded smooth flavour and a subtle blue cheese tang”.

Like Blacksticks Blue, the Creamy is handmade in small batches at Butlers’ farm in Inglewhite, Lancashire, using milk supplied from farms within 14 miles of the dairy. w www.butlerscheeses.co.uk

A Cheese Lover’s Tool Kit containing a hand-forged knife and Stilton scoop and a three-piece cheese knife set with distinctive Pakkawood handles are among the new accessories available from top cheesemonger and wholesaler Paxton & Whitfield.

Set up in London more than 200 years ago, P&W today has stores in Bath and Stratford in addition to its famous flagship in London’s Jermyn Street, “Cheese accessories have been a strong theme with our customers over the last year,” says trade and corporate sales manager Jeremy Bowen. w www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

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J&L Grubb opens window onto its Irish blue cheese

East meets west

Irish producer J&L Grubb has given its Cashel Blue a packaging facelift to celebrate winning gold stars at both the Great Taste Awards and Nantwich International Cheese Awards for the second year running.

The simple new design includes a large rosetteshaped window on the front to showcase the cheese and highlight the many awards it has achieved.

Launched 25 years ago on the Grubb family’s farm in Co Tipperary, Cashel Blue was the first commercial blue cheese to be produced in Ireland. It was named Best Irish Cheese at last year’s World Cheese Awards. w www.cashelblue.com

Parmesan plan for Ludlow Ludlow Food Centre in Shropshire, where shoppers can watch artisan food producers at work in small kitchens surrounding the popular food hall, is expanding its range of six cheeses to include a Parmesan-style variety. Dudley Martin (above right) and Paul Bedford, the Centre’s cheese-makers, have developed a recipe for a vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese that will reach maturity at Christmas. Martin says he is ”still apprehensive” about how the finished product will taste but the early signs are positive. Next on the list is a soft, smoked cheese, using the Food Centre’s recently installed meat smoker. Martin currently makes two soft cheeses – The Cheese With No Name, and Croft Gold – but plans to develop a new recipe for the smoked variety, which will be available in 2011 w www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk

Cheddar and fruit cake?

It’s a gift, says Godminster Godminster Vintage has launched a new gift box combining 400g of its mature cheddar with a large slice of moist fruit cake from The Simply Delicious Fruit Cake Company “for those that love the combination of sweet and savoury”.

Godminster has been making organic cheddar using milk from its farm in Bruton, Somerset, for 10 years, using a 70-year-old recipe.

Its cheese is presented in a distinctive purple wax coating in heart and round shapes. The New Discovery fruit cake from Simply Delicious is made in small batches with ingredients that include apricots, stem ginger and a tot of brandy. The gift pack is in shops at around £26. w www.organic-cheese.co.uk 10

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Anjum Anand’s Clawson Paneer tikka masala

Tikka Masala is usually served with chicken, but it can be adapted for vegetarians by using paneer cheese. The texture and buttery flavour of the paneer compliments the lightly spiced, tangy tomato sauce for a tasty meal with a fusion of flavours.

Serve it with with rice or naan.

El Pastor looks for UK distribution

Spain’s El Pastor Cheese is hoping to find a UK distributor for Las Tapas Del Pastor: a range of sheep’s and goats’ milk cheeses pre-cut for easier use in tapas or salads.

“The tapas culture is growing worldwide,” says export area manager Pablo Cando, “so we’ve selected and cut the most important Spanish cheeses for ease of serving.” Products available include a mature sheep’s milk cheese, a medium goats’ milk variety, and soft, medium and mature cheeses made with blended milks.

Also new from El Pastor is a range of sheep’s, goats’ and blended milk cheeses with added flavours including rosemary, red wine, garlic and chilli, which Cando again says are idea for tapas.

The Spanish company has also combined two of the most important Mediterranean products in a format that’s less familiar in the UK: a 3kg round of El Pastor sheep’s milk cheese, cut into wedges and then canned in olive oil. The product is supplied to retailers complete with 12 plastic packs, enabling them to create 250g portions of cheese in oil. “It’s traditional in Spain to present cheese in oil,” says innova Cando, “but this innovative packaging makes it easier to transport and we’re looking to increase consumption of this type of cheese.” w www.elpastor.com

Indian cookery specialist and TV chef Anjum Anand has come up with six exclusive recipes using a paneer cheese from Long Clawson Dairy.

Paneer is most commonly used in Asian cooking to provide protein and calcium in meat-free dishes, but Anand has created six exclusive recipes with Clawson Paneer to demonstrate its versatility by using it in a variety of both Indian and Western dishes.

She is pictured below with her Clawson Paneer tikka masala dish and is shown demonstrating the recipe on the cheese-maker’s YouTube channel. w www.youtube.com/user/ClawsonPaneer

Ingredients 1 packet Clawson Paneer cheese, boiled for 20 minutes and cut into 2cm cubes 5 tbs vegetable oil 6 green cardamom pods 1inch cinnamon shard 1 medium onion, made into a paste 3 garlic cloves, peeled and made into a paste (I use a fine microplane grater) 1¼ inch ginger, peeled, made into a paste 3 medium-large tomatoes, puréed 1 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin powder 1¼ tsp garam masala Salt to taste ¼-½ tsp red chilli powder or to taste 4 tbs double cream 2-3 good tbs butter ½ tsp sugar or to taste 15 cashew nuts blended with some water Method Blend the onion until smooth. Boil paneer in plenty of water on a low flame for 20 minutes.

Heat the oil and 1 tbs of the butter until hot, add the cardamom and cinnamon stick and follow 10 seconds later with the onions. Cook on a moderate flame until the excess water has dried off and the onions have turned golden.

Add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté over a gentle flame for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, powdered spices and salt. Cook over a moderate flame for 20-25 minutes or until well reduced and you can see oil coming out of the sauce.

Turn the heat up and fry this paste for a further 3-4 minutes. Add the paneer, butter and cream and 400ml water. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 5-7 minutes. You may want to add a little more water, depending on how thick you like your sauce.

Taste and adjust seasoning and serve. Garnish with a swirl of cream and a little fresh coriander.

All sales enquiries to OXFORD BLUE CHEESE COMPANY LTD 01844 338055 www.oxfordfinefood.com

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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.

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From Cornwall with love Cornwall’s Lynher Dairies brings some romance to the cheese counter with a limited edition heart-shaped 750g version of its famous Cornish Yarg. Hand-made in Ponsanooth, Yarg is a semi-hard, slightly tangy cheese that is creamy under the rind but yet crumbly nearer the core.

The cheese is pressed and brined before being shaped by

hand into a heart and then carefully wrapped in local nettle leaves. It’s also available as a 2.8kg cake-sized cheese for those who like to share their affections around. w www.lynherdairies.co.uk

Appleby’s makes a match with malt While cheese and whisky are regularly offered at the end of a good meal, they’re not always portrayed as the perfect match.

But at this year’s Ludlow Food Festival, Shropshire-based Appleby’s teamed up with local retailer Pure Spirit Drinks to suggest some quality cheese and single malt pairings that it says are ideal for dinner parties.

Appleby’s supplied its Cheshire, Double Gloucester and smoked Cheshire at various age and taste profiles to savour alongside Tullibardine 1993, Scapa 1993, Glenturret (10 year old) and Glengoyne (17 year old.)

The tasting, organised by Slow Food Ludlow Marches, was held in the Beacon Rooms of Ludlow Castle.

Cheese-maker Christine Appleby says: “We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and hope this may encourage cheese eaters to experiment with slightly more unconventional accompaniments”. w www.applebyscheese.co.uk

Welcome to the ‘Loire Valley’ of Welsh cheese Five cheese-makers have joined forces to highlight the Teifi Valley in west Wales as the Loire Valley of Welsh artisan cheese-making.

Carmarthenshire Cheese Company, Caws Cenarth, Hafod Welsh Organic Cheddar, Sanclêr Organic and Teifi Farmhouse Cheese have set up Teifi Valley Cheese Producers with funding from the ‘Discovering Ceredigion’ Rural Development Plan project.

All five producers are regular award winners at national and international level, with Caws Cenarth’s Golden Cenarth named Supreme Champion at the 2010 British Cheese Awards. w www.teifivalleycheeseproducers.com

How a hobby became serious fun Claire Burt (pictured left) began cheese-making at her home in Cheshire as a bit of light relief from her day job with bulk food ingredients supplier Dairygold.

Eighteen months on, her blue cheese has just picked up gold in the Specialist Cheese-Makers class at the 2010 Nantwich International Cheese Show.

Burts Blue is a semi-soft blue with a mild, creamy flavour. “It’s made in a small vat, making every cheese a labour of love,” says Burt, whose first customer in the fine food trade is her local deli, Goose Green in Altrincham. e claireburt@rocketmail.com

Beating the green drum Based near Stromness with views over to the island of Hoy, Orkney’s Island Smokery has been producing smoked cheese in mild and dark versions for four years.

Given its location, it’s no surprise this artisan producer puts a premium on protecting its environment, promoting a no-waste policy where it can. And that policy extends to its suppliers – who include a maker of traditional celtic drums.

“Our smoking medium comes from a local craftsman who makes bodhrans,” says the smokery’s Callum McInnes, “which makes his factory almost zero-waste too as we use most of his wood shavings.” t 01856 850840

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International Cheese Awards

GOLD

Nantwich Show 2 010

British Cheese Awards

GOLD Cardiff 2 010

Organic award-winning cheeses from Park farm

Free samples on request Visit www.parkfarm.co.uk to see where to buy.

Free samples available on request to registered resellers. Please quote ref: GCSamples 10 The Bath Soft Cheese Co. Following Magazine: Good Cheese Guide - Fine Food Deadline: 11 November ’10 Size: Half Page 204 x 141.5mm Prepared: Hugh Padfield

Gold Winner

R ougette has the appearance of a washed rind cheese. Its reddish rind

The Bath Soft Cheese Co. Park Farm, Kelston, Bath BA1 9AG Telephone: 01225 33 1 6 0 1 Email:sales@parkfarm.co.uk www.parkfarm.co.uk Facebook: Bath Soft Cheese

our continued success at Nantwich International Cheese Show and the prestigious World Cheese Awards, here are some details of our Award winning cheeses of outstanding quality.

Give your customers a real treat Gold at Nantwich 2010

Cambozola, with its unrivalled creamy soft texture and a subtle blue tone, has established itself as the UK’s most popular Blue Vein Brie.

Gold Winner and Supreme Champion Continental Cheese

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is achieved by the use of red cultures.

It has a unique flavour that develops while maturing.

Highly Commended at Nantwich 2010

ontagnolo Affine with its greyish rind and the unrivalled creamy blue flavour is a cheese for the connoisseur. Once cut into, this cheese is pale cream with blue veins that give an intense blue flavour which deepens as the cheese ages.

D

orblu, a firm blue vein cheese, ideal for portion control application and can even be sliced. In 2007, Dorblu won the title “Best Single Blue Vein Cheese in Show” at Nantwich.

For more information about our products or to find your nearest wholesaler, visit our website: www.elite-imports-limited.co.uk Contact: Tel: 020 7819 9704 – Email: info@elite-imports-limited.co.uk 14

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la fromagerie

ANDREW ELIEL talks to the great Patricia Michelson of La Fromagerie and discovers her favourite cheeses for every season

A cheese for

all seasons

La Fromagerie was recently named one of the top 10 cheesemongers in Europe

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pending two hours in the company of grande dame de fromage Patricia Michelson and listening to her talk so passionately and with such joy, clarity and knowledge about her favourite subject, it’s unsurprising her enthusiasm for cheese becomes infectious. Her journey has been remarkable. It’s less than 20 years since she returned from a French skiing holiday with a wheel of Beaufort and sold it from her Highgate garden shed.

A short-lease barn in Highbury was followed by a stall at Camden Lock market, and she now runs two London cheese shops, in Marylebone and Highbury, that were this year named among the best in the Europe.

Recently she has opened a new warehouse too, with office, wholesale facilities, maturing rooms and storage.

Her Marylebone outlet is much more than a cheese shop – it’s a veritable treasure trove of fine food goodies, every item personally selected by Michelson herself, whether green tea (her tipple, with honey, throughout our interview) from Robert Wilson’s Sri Lankan estate, honey from a Pyrenees farm or an aged balsamic vinegar from Modena.

It’s more than just a delicatessen too, with a tasting café (check out the special events and workshops), a shop floor offering seasonal fruit and vegetables, and a vast selection of wines, breads and more – a grocer’s in the truest sense of the word.

When Michelson started out in the early 1990s, having given up her job as a freelance theatre assistant, cheese specialists were few and far between.

There was the monocled Patrick Rance, a retired major who took over Wells Family Grocer at Streatley-on-Thames and became a crusader primarily for our traditional farmhouse cheeses, and Randolph Hodgson, who had recently started Neal’s Yard Dairy, also > promoting cheeses from the British

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Isles. From across the Channel, Philippe Olivier was one of the first independent suppliers to restaurants. He became a mentor to Michelson, who was also encouraged in the early days by the late James Aldridge and by Devonian cheesemaker Mary Quicke.

Simplicity of operations has been Michelson’s motto from the outset, and provenance is key – visit producers to see how their cheeses are made, their environment, appreciate the region and soil (terroir), and note the weather patterns. Over the years she has visited hundreds of dairies throughout Europe and beyond, allowing her to import cheeses she knows and trusts.

Her staff reflect her principles – enthusiasm, curiosity, a willingness to learn, and above all, the ability to articulate this knowledge to customers.

The Marylebone shop alone has almost 30 staff, of all nationalities, who rotate around the departments, one day washing rinds perhaps, the next making teas and coffees for the café, or delivering to the many (80-plus and counting) restaurants in and around London she supplies. She singles out Bruce Poole at Chez Bruce as showing the most interest in sampling, but bemoans the lack of interest shown by many chefs/patrons when preparing a cheeseboard.

There are a further half dozen staff at the Highbury shop, and one of Michelson’s favourite days is August Bank Holiday, when the shops close, and staff (“her family”) picnic and play in Regent’s Park, each bringing food from their own country, with the boss, of course, providing the liquid refreshments!

I planned to ask Michelson to name eight favourite cheeses for the run-up to Christmas. But it soon became apparent that to limit her to such a meagre amount, or to a single season, would be wrong. Better, I decided, to let her choose four cheeses for each season, starting in winter, when more intense and hearty varieties are called for.

WINTER Vacherin Mont d’Or, an Alpine cheese from Jura. Michelson brings them in at the end of October, maturing and rindwashing them for three weeks, giving them a distinctive apricot colour and sappy aroma. It’s a comforting cheese with a meltingly, creamy texture and it will sustain you!

Alp Bergkase, a hard Gruyère-style cheese from a small Bavarian alp.

As the name implies it’s a mountain cheese – the cows graze higher up the mountains throughout the summer – so think alpine flowers. La Fromagerie gets them when they’ve aged for about nine months, and keeps them for a further nine months when they’re at their best.

Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage, Michelson’s signature cheese from Savoie, where it all began. She selects 35kg cheeses, which are matured in Chambery.

Super aged for two years, they become creamier and softer, but always with a sweet and nutty flavour.

Roquefort Carles, an elegant and sweetish powdery blue ewe’s milk cheese, with a crumbly sharpness and tartness. The blue goes right to the edge, and it should be served at a regular temperature, not too cold.

SPRING Spring heralds the change of season, when the new grass stimulates milk production, giving it that zingy flavour – a good time for goats’ cheeses.

Innes Button, tiny, fresh and curdy soft rounds without rinds made from unpasteurised goat’s milk with vegetarian rennet, from the family-run Highfields Dairy in Staffordshire. Either a Sancerre or Chablis goes well.

Wensleydale or Lancashire, traditional semi-hard ‘crumblies’, creamy and nutty, the latter with a more tangy and citrus flavour. >

Baked Vacherin There are a few simple but necessary rules when baking a whole Vacherin. One is that the cheese has to be at room temperature; if it isn’t, then you will be waiting hours for it to cook.

Secondly, keep it simple, as it’s really all about the cheese mingling with a little wine, and not about garlic or herbs.

The loveliest accompaniments are steamed whole new potatoes (Charlotte are good), steamed broccoli, toasted slices of baguette, cooked or cured (or both) smoked ham and a green salad, which has been simply dressed in walnut oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

The small boxed cheeses can serve two people for a light meal or one if it is a main course; this is just such a warming and friendly way of eating, especially in the winter.

Serves 2 to share Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. For each baby boxed Vacherin take off the lid and rub the rind with dry white wine, massaging it in well. Pop the lid back on and then cover the whole box with foil.

Place the box on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for at least 25-30 minutes. Check after about 20 minutes by carefully opening up the foil, lifting off the lid and prodding the rind to check how hot and soft it is – when ready the cheese should almost be erupting out of its rind. If not ready, replace the lid and foil and return to the oven.

When cooked, unwrap the foil and remove the box lid, push back the top ‘skin’ of the cheese, which should slide off very easily. Pour in a little more white wine, season with pepper and then serve immediately with your choice of accompaniments.

Her Marylebone outlet is much more than a cheese shop – it’s a veritable treasure trove of fine food goodies, every item personally selected by Michelson herself

The recipes in this feature are taken from Patricia Michelson’s book Cheese, published this year by Jacqui Small, priced £30

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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Epoisses, from Fromagerie Gaugry in Burgundy. Good on any cheeseboard, it’s rind-washed many times, with a pungent aroma. Eat either ripened or really runny.

Devon, Beenleigh and Harbourne Blues, made from cows’, ewes’ and goats’ milk (in that order). The Devon is rich and creamy, Beenleigh chewy and somewhat sweeter, Harbourne sharper and tangy.

SUMMER Patricia recommends these cheeses to be at their best during the summer: Colston Bassett Stilton, made with traditional rennet, it’s a cheese that is mellow and quite spicy, almost nutty with a good marble texture, fully flavoured and rounded – the perfect balance.

Mozzarella di Bufala, from Paestum Campania. Shipped in a cool truck that takes two days’ travel from Milan, it can last up to a week, but don’t keep it too cold, and always serve it at room temperature.

Pecorino, a Sicilian semi-hard ewe’s milk cheese that’s strong and spicy, best accompanied by a robust red wine. Can be used as an alternative to Parmigiano for grating over pasta.

Banon Feuille, a creamy, nutty French goat’s cheese, best served at room

temperature, with a baguette and chilled rosé. Protected by being wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with raffia.

AUTUMN Autumn is perfect for parmesan: Parmigiano Reggiano Patricia prefers an aged (three years) valley cheese from the Reggio Emelia zone, rather than one from the mountains. It’s less robust and more salty.

Cheddars Keen’s or Montgomery’s farmhouse cheddars have an almost apple taste, with great texture.

Lincolnshire Poacher (aged for 18 months) gives more depth of flavour.

St Nectaire from Auvergne with a velvety rind like a moleskin. Smells like a damp cellar, quite creamy with a nutty mineral taste. Goes down well with a red Bordeaux.

St Marcelin, made from rich milk (the cows feed on dry grass and seeds), it’s creamy and nutty. If properly ripened, it should be almost melting when you break through the rind.

Finally, Michelson’s advice for both retailers and consumers is: less is more.

Cheesemongers should encourage customers to buy little and often. But then, I suppose she would say that! w www.lafromagerie.co.uk

Over the years she has visited hundreds of dairies, allowing her to import cheeses she knows and trusts 18

goodcheese winter 2010-11

Roasted Pumpkin with Girolles & Parmesan Cream The autumn colours of this warm salad make it pictureperfect. The marriage of the sweet pumpkin, earthy girolle mushrooms and the salty/savoury Parmesan give it great appeal. It makes a lovely lunch dish in its own right, or an accompaniment to roast veal.

Ingredients – Serves 4 1.5 kg (3 lbs 5 oz) orange-fleshed pumpkin, skin intact, seeded and cut into wedges 1-2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage leaves 50 g (1¾ oz) unsalted butter 300 g (10½ oz) girolle mushrooms, or other wild mushroom of your choice 150 g (5½ oz) aged Parmesan 300 ml (10 fI oz) unpasteurized (if available) double Jersey cream One garlic clove, very finely chopped Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Method Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Place the pumpkin in a baking tin and drizzle over some olive oil, then place half of the sage leaves over the top and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender and is caramelized around the edges — test with a skewer to make sure it’s not hard in the centre but nicely cooked all the way through. Take out of the oven and leave until cool enough to handle.

In a frying pan, heat the butter with a tablespoon or two of olive oil until foaming and then fry the girolles. (You can tell when the mushrooms are cooked as the hissing sound suddenly subsides,) Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Grate 50g (1¾ oz) of the Parmesan. Heat the cream with the grated Parmesan, the garlic and the remaining sage until the cheese has melted and the cream is warmed through but not too hot. Season with pepper, to taste.

Arrange the pumpkin on individual serving plates with the girolle mushrooms, then spoon over a little of the cream sauce. Using a vegetable peeler or cheese ‘shaver’, shave the remaining Parmesan over the vegetables.

Serve immediately with an accompaniment of bitter salad leaves and toasted bread, such as a country-style pagnotta or ciabatta with a little olive oil drizzled on top.

Copyright: Chris Terry 2010

cheese to be messed with A block of good-quality Parmesan cheese is one of those ingredients that should have a home in every cook’s kitchen. Specially selected and sourced in Italy for its quality, taste and versatility, this Parmigiano Reggiano is the real deal. It’s perfect shaved over a simple plate of freshly cooked pasta, or grated and stirred through a steaming pan of risotto.

But don’t stop there, I’m all for you taking it even further! Try crumbling the Parmesan into chunks and drizzling it with good balsamic vinegar as part of an antipasti board, shave it over salads and soups, or use it to make a delicious homemade herby pesto. There’s so much you can do – get stuck in!

available to be messed with at Sainsbury’s www.jamieoliver.com/products

beer & cheese

All hail to the ale CHARLES CAMPION enjoys an afternoon mixing bottled ales and fine English cheeses

I

t is hard to think of a better way to while away an afternoon – good company, great cheeses and an array of interesting beers. I’ve always been fairly sceptical about the merits of ‘food matching’ exercises – you know the kind of thing, ‘which wine goes with what’ – but pairing the complex flavours of fine British cheeses with various expressions of our national drink is a job that needed doing. I enlisted some expert help – two cheese fanatics, Terry Roberts and Oliver Cooke, from the renowned Chandos Deli in Clifton, Bristol; Melissa Cole, an internationally respected beer judge and thoroughly good egg; and Mick Whitworth, editor of Fine Food Digest. We all adjourned to the Clifton Sausage, a restaurant specialising in British food and fine sausages.

From the start I was determined that we should taste British cheeses and try to pair them with British bottled beers. There’s no need to involve foreigners of any kind. I am also of the opinion that there are a variety of factors behind the perfect match. On the one hand, both parts of the equation may work together because they are similar in flavour profile; on the other, a pronounced contrast can work just as well.

Melissa took charge and we adopted the methodology of opening the most straightforward beers and trying them against all the cheeses – so the very first pairing was Black Sheep bitter with Driftwood. For me the lemony character of the cheese was at odds with the simple bitterness of the beer.

At this stage in proceedings we realised that if everything played out we would be trying 72 different pairings, so rather than telling you > 20

goodcheese winter 2010-11

Beenleigh Blue – a sheeps’ milk cheese, “Devon’s Roquefort”

Dorset Blue Vinney – a traditional strong blue cheese Keen’s cheddar – a farmhouse cheese, 14 months old

Mrs Kirkham’s traditional Lancashire

Ogle Shield – a hard cheese made from Jersey milk by Jamie Montgomery, the famous cheddar-maker

Oliver Cooke

Sharpham Elmhurst an “added cream” cheese, a cousin to Vignotte

Devon Oke – a washed rind cheese in the Single Gloucester style

Driftwood from White Lake Cheese – an ash rolled goats’ log

“The Jaipur IPA lifts the Devon Oke to another level”

THE PLACE The Clifton Sausage, Clifton, Bristol

THE CHEESE SUPPLIER Chandos Deli, Clifton, Bristol THE PEOPLE Melissa Cole International beer judge and writer www.lovebeeratborough. ning.com Charles Campion cheese-love, food writer and beer-drinker www.charlescampion.com

Mick Whitworth Editor of Good Cheese and Fine Food Digest

Chalky’s Bite 6.8% abv from Sharps Brewery

Jaipur IPA 5.9% abv from the Thornbridge Brewery

06 Porter 6.6% abv from the Otley Brewery

Original 6.6% abv from Innis & Gunn

“The fudgy flavours and herbal bitterness at the end are found in both the stout and the Ogle Shield” Melissa Cole

Terry Roberts, Chandos Deli

Oliver Cooke, Chandos Deli

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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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.

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www.barbers1833.co.uk tel. 01749 860666 goodcheese winter 2010-11

Best and worst matches

“I love the instant contrast between the Blue Vinney and the Milk Stout” Terry Roberts my impressions of each I’ll take the liberty of drawing some conclusions from the whole tasting. There is also a table (right) setting out everybody’s favourite and least favourite pairings.

As the afternoon progressed it became obvious that the more “extreme” the beer – the mighty Jaipur IPA with its spicy notes; Chalky’s Bite, a quirky beer that is flavoured with fennel; and Innis & Gunn’s Original, a strong ale that is matured in whisky barrels – the more difficult it was to find a cheese that made a good match.

On the other hand the milk stout from the Bristol Beer Factory was very cheese-friendly – perhaps because the milk proteins that are used in the brewing process (one of the reasons why it is called ‘milk’ stout) mean it is sympathetic to other milk products

Gem 4.8% abv from the Bath Brewery

like cheese. The honest and traditional beers – the regular bitters like Black Sheep, Otter Bright and to a lesser extent Bath Gem (it’s a little sweeter) – work well with straightforward traditional cheeses like the Keen’s farmhouse cheddar or Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire.

The ‘ploughman’s lunch’ may only have been invented in the 1960s by an adman slaving away for the Milk Marketing Board but it still makes a great meal when accompanied by a glass of bitter, the fruity acidity of the cheese working well with the bitterness of the cheese. The roasted malt flavours of stouts and porters work best with rich flavours – these beers can make delicate cheeses seem insipid.

otter bright 4.3% abv from the Otterhead Brewery

The principle of ranking holds good when matching – the strongest and most intense beers tend to be happier with the strongest and most intense cheeses, thus heavy hitters like Fullers Golden Pride blossom in the company of Beenleigh and Blue Vinney.

If there had to be a winner it would be the combination of Blue Vinney and the Bristol Beer Factory’s milk stout which was the ‘best match’ for two of the company. I suspect that this is partly due to the pronounced character of the blue cheese – I thought the Beenleigh matched well with the Otley 06 Porter. But a home win is always popular! w www.chandosdeli.co.uk w www.cliftonsausage.co.uk

black sheep ale 4.4% abv from the Black Sheep Brewery

Milk stout 4.5% abv from the Bristol Beer Factory

Terry roberTs best: Bath Gem and Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire.

Worst: Any cheese with Innis & Gunn oliver Cooke best: Bristol Milk Stout and Blue Vinney Worst: Chalky’s Bite and Devon Oke Melissa Cole best: Fullers Golden Pride with Beenleigh Worst: any cheese with Innis & Gunn Charles CaMpion best: Otley 06 Porter with Beenleigh Worst: Innis & Gunn Original and Sharpham Elmhurst MiCk WhiTWorTh best: Bristol Milk Stout and Blue Vinney Worst: Any beer with Ogle Shield

Golden pride 8.5% abv from Fullers Brewery

“If the Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire represents the ‘training wheels’ of ploughman’s, then the Otter Bright and Keen’s Cheddar is the real thing” Melissa Cole goodcheese winter 2010-11

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So good, we put our name on it.

So good, we put our name on it

Fivemiletown is fast becoming a recognised brand and a firm favourite with consumers across the UK. The Creamery, based in Ulster’s Clogher Valley, has been producing dairy products for over 100 years, with its own milk supply and with a collective 1,000 years of cheese making experience.

Producing speciality soft cheeses by hand in small batches is a forte of the Creamery by using traditional methods to work the curds to produce a delightful range of cheeses. All the products have been rated Gold at every major cheese festival over the years and they can now be found is the most discerning of independent delicatessens and farm shops in Britain.

The Creamery is now working with a range of wholesale partners, across the UK, to service their ever growing customer base with these fantastic products.

To sample this wonderful range, or to get some more information on where you can purchase their products, please contact any one of the Fivemiletown sales team on

www.fivemiletown.com

028 8952 1209 or e-mail sales@fivemiletown.com

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 24

goodcheese winter 2010-11

artisan cheesemakers

The Yorkshire goat triangle Clarissa Hyman finds a cluster of small cheese-makers in the north of England who’ve made goats’ cheese their speciality

T

here must be something in the air.

Or the water. Or in the wild herbs and pastures of Yorkshire’s misty hills and dales. Maybe they just have a population of happy nannies and billies, but God’s chosen county boasts as many first-rate goats’ cheeses as world-class bowlers.

Former accountant Iona Hill and cheesemaker Stuart Gatty make Ribblesdale in Hawes. When Iona took over the business in 2007, she decided to drop the husbandry side and concentrate on just making the cheese. She now gets superb quality milk from a supplier in North Yorkshire, and the result is small but beautiful. “Our business is tiny but it means we have control over quality; for example, all our cheese is hand-made, we don’t use automatic cutters at all.”

Iona describes the Ribblesdale Original as a great introduction to goats’ cheese: a pasteurised, semihard, Wensleydale-style that is slightly crumbly, creamy and not in the least pungent. She also does a smoked version that is in great demand at Christmastime. “We have a tiny smoking unit and use oak chippings from Theakston’s Brewery.” She finds a tasty, unpasteurised version, matured for much

Yellison Farm has won praise for its cheeses from chefs including Michael Caines and Nigel Howarth

longer, also sells well at the tiny shop they recently opened in the town, as does an 18-month goats’ milk cheddar.

She also sells goats’ milk, cream and butter. And demand keeps growing.

All the vegetarian cheeses are handwaxed in different colours, apart from the creamy, tangy Blue, made in a special unit that used to be a shipping container, “We use a different starter and it’s not pressed – it’s bound with bandages and matured for six weeks.”

At Carleton-in-Craven, near Skipton, another mini-dairy has won praise from top chefs such as Tom Aikens, Michael Caine and Nigel Howarth. Stephen Akrigg and Harry Metcalfe of Yellison Farm are building quite a regional reputation, and have their own mixedbreed herd that travels the great distance of 15 metres from field to the small, purpose-built dairy.

Mr Akrigg has a bluff Yorkshire wit, dry as a stone wall. “You haven’t to be right in the head if you want to deal with goats. They’re a daily challenge but they’re fascinating and lovely to be around and totally harmless.”

Yellison Farm produces two types of fresh, pasteurised, mild cheese: a semihard log and a spreadable, soft crowdie,

based on a Scottish recipe (and great for cheesecake). They’re also working on a blue cheese whenever there’s a surplus of milk with which to experiment. “We hope to do yoghurt too, but all in due course. We’ve only been doing this for three years!”

In the rolling hills of East Yorkshire at Lowna Dairy, Tom and Tricia Wallis make hand-made goats’ cheeses in small batches using milk from their own herd.

Tom’s late father-in-law bred Labradors and had kept goats because he held the >

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Lowna Dairy’s cheeses range from young, fresh Rowley Logs to the ash-covered, Camembert-style Black Velvet

milk, which is easy for puppies to digest, put a good shine on their coats. Tom and Tricia began to experiment with goats’ milk products when their granddaughter was diagnosed as lactose intolerant 11 years ago.

Lowna cheeses such as young, fresh Rowley Logs rolled in black peppercorns are particularly popular with regional cooks. “Chefs like it,” explains Tom, “because it doesn’t melt or go all sticky when heated. Andrew Pern uses it in a wonderful salad that includes beetroot and passionfruit, and is just inspired.”

The range also includes ash-covered, Camembert-style Black Velvet; soft, fresh Crabley; and Bluestones, which looks just like little, round cobblestones.

Lowna also make goats’ milk butter and ice cream. And you don’t have to be lactose intolerant to enjoy them.

Tom and Tricia are remarkably dedicated but as he explains: “This is our passion, our way of life. We work seven days a week and haven’t had a holiday for 10 years, but we live in a wonderful place on the edge of the Wolds. What more could you wish for?

We’re lucky to be able to earn a living doing something we love – even when ‘our girls’ are shouting for us at 5am, and then you have to start all over again in the afternoon!”

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

God’s chosen county boasts as many first-rate goats’ cheeses as first-class bowlers

Iona Hill buys in local Yorkshire goat’s milk to make her Ribblesdale cheeses

Ford Farm is the producer of an exciting range of hand-made cheddars and flavoured cheese, all made on the Ashley Chase Estate in Dorset.

Look out for our Cave Aged West Country Farmhouse Cheddar which is matured 200ft underground in the famous Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset - a unique atmosphere which gives this multi award-winning Cheddar its deliciously distinctive flavour.

•

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r ugged mature English cheddar

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Dorset Red

ORIGI

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Dorset Red

Ford Farm, Ashley Chase Estate, Dorset DT2 9AZ For more information: telephone: 01308 482580 w w w.fordfarm.com or w w w.wookey.co.uk

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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wexford creamery’s award-winning cheddars are available all over ireland and in the UK

Huge success for wexford creamery at this year’s Nantwich international cheese show and British cheese awards NaNtwich iNterNatioNal cheese show Gold: Gold:

Vintage Cheddar non-uk creamery.

Single Vegetarian Cheese - Cheddar. Open to non uk exhibitors.

Gold:

Cheese - any type or variety. Open to Irish Cheesemakers.

British cheese awards a Best Creamery Cheese.

Eamon Murphy MD Wexford receiving the Best Creamery award from sponsors Danisco

wexford creamery, rocKlaNds, wexford

Passionate about Cheese The finest cheeses and speciality foods delivered direct to you South 020 7819 6000 Central 01905 829 830 North 0161 279 8020 www.cheesecellar.co.uk

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

☎ 05391 42088

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mature cheeses

The age of reason Charles Campion considers the merits of maturity

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ext time you are invited to dinner by the local wine bores, just try this: wait until the cheese course arrives, then tell them that the age of a wine is unimportant. Now sit back and let them fume and fulminate about classic vintages etcetera. Should they ever pause for breath, ask how old their various cheeses are. It’s a pound to a thimbleful of rat droppings that your hosts don’t know or care.

It’s all very well banging on about ageing fine wine but cheese also repays some attention. There is a real joy in the way that today’s gentle cheddar can change over the years into something with a deeper flavour and aroma.

Unfortunately as it gets older it also loses weight and that drives the price up. This is a problem faced by anyone making a cheese that takes a while to mature. The Parmesan producers – Parmigiano is good at 2½ years old and can be spectacular at 4 years old – have struck a deal with their bankers, so banks provide finance while the cheese is ageing, using the cheeses themselves as security.

Keeping cheeses for a long while will always be a gamble – there is much that can go wrong. At Devon cheddar maker Quicke’s they have some cheeses that are 3½ years old and Mary Quicke points out the potential problems.

“There is a time when a cheese is ‘just right’,” she says. “At Quicke’s we make our cheddars the traditional way, cloth bound and with a coating of lard to seal them during maturation. When the cheeses get ‘very’ old you run more risk of attracting cheese mites, and mould can get in through any cracks caused by drying out and cause blueing.”

So the cards are stacked against the old cheddar. There’s the simple inventory cost of holding assets that are gradually losing weight, and there’s the risk of something going wrong. >

>

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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Specialist manufacturer of handmade artisan cheese, made in the lush green Teifi Valley.

For more information, please contact Jerome Reignier jreignier@entremont-alliance.com - Tél. 07929418672, or write to Entremont-Alliance, 25 Faubourg des Balmettes 74001 Annecy Cedex France www.entremont.com

traditional, pure welsh cheese. for a great taste eXperience!

www.carmarthenshirecheese.co.uk sales@carmarthenshirecheese.co.uk tel:01267 221168 carmarthenshire cheese co. cyf, Boksburg hall, llanllwch, carms sa31 3rn

CROATIA MAKES GREAT CHEESE TOO GLIGORA’S PAŠKI SIR

Island of Pag Cheese

With generations of cheese making going back hundreds of years, you’ll be asking why it has taken so long for Sirana Gligora to get Paški Sir to the UK. The answer is simple, its such a great cheese that we hate to see it go. But don’t just take our word for it, this is what the international Chefs and Sommeliers from the prestigious culinary association iTQi said about Paški Sir when they awarded us with the coveted 3 Star Superior Taste Award in 2010: Paški Sir is a wonderfully tasteful sheep milk cheese that brings full and complex flavor to the palate and melts nicely in the mouth. Authentic and unique, Paški Sir is a pure delight and displays quality in the making, leaving a long and pleasant aftertaste to savor. A yellowish creamy color with farmhouse aromas, Paški Sir has well balanced texture, taste, aromas and finish and is delightfully tasty.

With a new and modernly equipped dairy which opened in January 2010 Sirana Gligora infuse traditional artisan skills with the latest technology to produce an award winning high class product. website: www.gligora.com email: info@gligora.com Follow us on Facebook (Love Paški Sir) and Twitter (Paskisir) x

AvAilAble At: the Cheese Hamlet, Manchester l the Cheese Society, lincoln l Yellowwedge Cheese, twickenham l the international Cheese Centre, london l laird’s larder, Carlisle l Sawers Deli, belfast elfast 30

goodcheese winter 2010-11

On the plus side, an elderly cheddar with a concentrated fruity flavour and that charming crunch of crystals is very delicious.

We have come to use the presence of crystals as an indication of both age and quality, but beware: some more switched-on cheese-makers have taken to adding a little extra calcium chloride to the recipe so more of those desirable crystals are formed, and sooner. That way the cheese is ready for market earlier – remember a cloth-bound cheese loses 0.5% of moisture, and thus weight, each and every month.

In the 1970s a cheddar was considered mature at eight months old; by the ’80s it was about 10 months; now it’s about 14 months, with many sightings of ‘extra mature’ 16-month-old or even two-year-old cheeses.

But just when you think you’ve spotted a trend, something comes along to challenge the analysis. This year a 3-month-old cheddar caused a stir at various cheese awards, and by all accounts it had a good balance, buttery character and a long finish. Mary Quicke attributes this mild cheddar’s success to the increasing popularity of Helvetica starters. “Using these means a sweeter cheese, but it’s a false complexity, a blunt contrast of sweet and savoury. Traditional starters make a much more complex traditional cheese.”

Some cheese writers would have it that cheese was developed as an expedient way of having portable milk, or indeed making the summer flush of milk available to eat during the dark

days of winter. But on the Continent they cottoned on to the benefits of ageing and maturing cheeses pretty quickly, and many of the fresh cheeses on offer have a venerable counterpart.

Jeremy Bowen of cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield speaks in hushed tones of a 36-month aged Mimolette, very firm and with rich and fruity flavour notes.

“I would suggest that any cheese-lover also try some aged Gouda. These ‘boerenkaas’ (or farmhouse) Goudas can be four, five, or even six years old; they’re hard, with pronounced calcium crystals and a nutty flavour that goes on and on.”

The other good point Bowen raises is the influence of the milk cycle. A 12month-old cheese made at a good time of year for grass, such as the spring or autumn, is likely to be more complex and satisfying than a 15-month cheese made when there was snow on the ground. This has a huge influence on cheese quality. With long-aged varieties these differences even out and there is the added bonus that, since old cheeses represent such an investment for producers, they only ever set aside their very best products for long maturation.

The whole process of keeping cheese is a difficult one. When you ask your wine merchant to set aside a case of Chateau Laffite, he can get away with tucking it away in a dark place where the temperature and humidity are controlled and forgetting about it.

Storing cheese is not so simple. Yes, darkness helps. Yes, the right humidity can help stop the cheese drying out.

Yes, the temperature needs to be a bit Goldilocks – not too hot, not too cold.

But that is only the start of the matter.

The cheeses need turning regularly, each time they must be examined carefully, any dust brushed off, any nicks in the bandage dressed with lard. All of this takes time: lots of man-hours if you are keeping cheeses for three years or more.

Patricia Michelson of La Fromagerie in London is particularly knowledgeable when it comes to Comté and Gruyère cheeses. She likes their “sweet, floral nature, which gradually changes to caramel, although I wouldn’t recommend keeping most for more than three years”. After Michelson has chosen her Comté cheeses they are kept for her in the producer’s caves and she can tell you to the penny what an expensive exercise this is. The ‘service charge’ for keeping the wheels of Comté in perfect order is a whopping 1.50 euros per kilo each month! You don’t need GCSE maths to see that this could mount up.

Old cheeses have undeniable charm.

They can astonish with their depth of flavour and their textures can be a revelation. Every cheese lover should try some really old cheddars if only to see the way that strength doesn’t have to go hand in hand with acid sharpness. Old Goudas and Comtés can also be a real treat.

But at the other end of the spectrum, a fresh goats’ curd cheese like Windrush can be in perfect order and full of light and elusive, almost citrussy, flavours when it is only three days old!

That’s the real appeal of cheese: each is magnificent in its own way!

Older cheeses, like these cheddars from Quicke’s, have undeniable charm

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

Roquefort rediscoved I

CHARLIE TURNBULL has his view of the great French blue overturned by a chance encounter

’m a confirmed and unashamed cheese freak and yet often thought it strange how little moved I’ve been by Roquefort. I never really got the point of this half moon, norind, sheep’s milk concoction. The so-called ‘king of blues’ – so-called mostly by French people because we know Stilton is better – is too salty, uncomfortably strong and boringly bitter. Who needs it? The only halfdecent Roquefort I’ve eaten was cooked up in a sauce and was little more than a blue feta. Casanova even claimed Roquefort is an aphrodisiac.

It doesn’t do it for me!

Or it didn’t until last February, when I tasted a Roquefort that blew me clean away while judging at the Concours Général Agricole in Paris, France’s major

cheese awards. It was sweet and creamy, and the ewes’ milk paste balanced the salt, which in turn was in perfect harmony with the acidity from the blue veining. Here was a Roquefort to suit my palate: rich, good acidity, luscious and never sharp. It was made by Gabriel Coulet and was the only Roquefort to win gold. And I was converted.

A few weeks later I pointed my Land Rover south to the French mountain town of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, there to banish my ignorance. I discovered a onecheese town with a history stretching back 2000 years and more. Roquefort is ancient. On either side of the main street I found seven producers, the largest being Société, owned by the French dairy giant Lactalis, which produces 63% of the 19,000 tonnes made each year.

MoNkEy BUsINEss IMAgEs/DREAMsTIME.CoM

french blues

The history of Roquefort is as rich as the cheese itself. The Roman philosopher Pliny mentioned it in his dissertations in 79AD, having paid a fortune to have it imported. In 1411, Charles VI of France granted Roquefort-surSoulzon a monopoly on the name and in 1925 it was the first cheese to gain an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC).

Nowadays, every cheese called Roquefort is made using the unpasteurised milk of the native Lacaune sheep and matured in limestone caves inside Combalou mountain, where, through a happy accident of nature, cold air circulates from the top of the mountain down to the caves through cracks or fleurines in the rock. Naturally found in these fleurines are the spores of Penicillium roqueforti, the mould >

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Gabriel Coulet, whose caves date back 140 years, took gold at the Concours Général Acricole – but the winner is only available from the company shop in Roquefort

responsible for the veining in most of the world’s blue cheeses.

The caves are owned by the seven Roquefort producers. Société, the largest, owns enough to open them to the public for guided tours, but I was more interested in smaller fry. I wanted to know more about the caves owned by the man who made the Roquefort I tasted in Paris.

The caves of Gabriel Coulet were once used as a wine cellar. Back in 1872, M Coulet accidentally knocked into the fleurines while expanding his cellars and the company has now built seven levels of maturing floors, dropping 40m into the hillside. I was desperate to see them, and armed only with schoolboy French, explained who I was and why I should be allowed a tour. They explained they don’t normally allow public viewings (or I think that’s what they said) but for me, they’d make an exception.

Maybe awarding their cheese gold at the Concours helped.

Sadly, my trip dispelled some of the magic about Roquefort. I’d always believed each cave fostered a unique strain of Penicillium roqueforti and in 34

goodcheese winter 2010-11

turn would develop a different tasting cheese. In reality, all but one producer uses moulds cultivated in laboratories – mostly, I expect, for reasons designed to appease the food police.

The variation from one Roquefort to another results from the way the blue mould spores are added at the beginning of cheese-making. Some add the Pencillium as a powder, some as liquid, others as an aerosol. Some add it along with the rennet, spreading the powder over the curd, others inject it after the cheese has formed. This is the cheese-maker’s art made personal, based on the craft skills and experience of each Roquefort house.

No one knows exactly how many caves are hidden inside Combalou mountain and a little detective work showed why. The fleurines spread like lattice work through mainly manmade cellars built in layers through the mountain. and the same ones will pass through Coulet’s cellars, onto those owned by Papillon and then to Societé and any others along the way. Old men speak of cheese-makers crawling along fleurines to taste the cheeses of their

While in the region I also researched the best wines to drink with Roquefort. Try Monbazillac AOC (it’s sweet and flows like gold), the splendid Sauternes (above) or sweet Jurançons, with its hints of exotic fruits and honey.

Sainte Croix du Mont is another dessert Bordeaux worth trying.

All these wines are sweet, often viscous and perfectly counterpoint the light acidity and touch of salt found in a perfect Roquefort.

rivals. Jealousy is such that they rarely share their secrets.

I found out why the cheese is so salty and it’s nothing to do with the amount used in the making. The culprit is butyric acid, which is also found in parmesan (and, believe it or not, in vomit) and is a by-product of the mould reacting with the sheep’s milk. Yum! That’s why Roquefort is wrapped in aluminium foil: it slows down the mould growth, almost stopping it, which in turn stops the development of butyric acid.

I also learnt that the maturing time for Roquefort is a moveable feast, mainly because little or no cheese is made from July to November while sheep are lambing. Producers need to provide year-round availability so they sell their cheeses at anything between 3 and 12 months.

Clearly the longer-matured cheese is likely to taste better but age is not the only indicator of quality. The best show an even spread of blue veining through the paste, which is why I always cut a Roquefort in half before serving it in my shop.

At Gabriel Coulet they grade the age and quality of their cheeses with different coloured labels. Their black label Roquefort has poor balanced veining and is sold to supermarkets.

Red/orange labels are better quality and destined for specialist cheese shops. But the green label is the daddy – the reserve that won gold at the Concours – and is only available in Coulet’s shop in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. It’s a long way to go to buy your cheese.

Other producers grade in different ways but each has at least two quality levels. Roquefort from Carles is graded using cheese irons to assess the blue veining. Société grades according to the cave used, with Caves Baragnaudes among its best. Papillon is a premium brand whereas its secondary brand, Coccinelle, is only considered good enough for customers outside France – a point they forget to mention on their website. Not every Roquefort is the same.

Am I any closer to finding the best Roquefort in Roquefort? Back home, I put three to the test with my customers.

Half of them fell in love with Coccinelle, the export-only brand from Papillon, others chose my favourite, the gold winning Gabriel Coulet Reserve, and the remainder favoured Société’s Caves Baragnaudes.

I’m reformed and have become a lover of Roquefort. I recommend Gabriel Coulet Reserve but it still bugs me that I never found the smallest of all the Roquefort producers, Le Vieux Berger, ‘the old Shepherd’. With just 10 employees and a measly 1% of the market, its cheese is legendary for its unbelievable creaminess and total lack of aggression. If you come across a wedge, please save some for me to taste. w www.gabriel-coulet.fr

Stuff of legend When it comes to exceptional cheddar, the old ways are still the best. Our awardwinning, traditional truckles are wrapped in muslin and allowed to breathe as they slowly mature, resulting in a creamy complex flavour with a long finish.

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

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Cheese hand made by me, Jacqueline Broadhead, on the Yorkshire Wolds from the milk of my rare breed Shetland cattle. A range of soft fresh and soft mould ripened cheeses are made which have a wonderful taste and texture due to the quality of the milk.

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by Lady Claire Macdonald.

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

Winner 3 Star Gold Award

choosing cheese

Go buy the board

I

A great meal deserves a grand finale.

BOB FARRAND suggests six brilliantly balanced British cheeseboards for family meals and dinner parties.

Plus: three top chefs pick their regional favourites.

t staggers me how amateur chefs spend hours planning their starters, main courses and a couple of indulgent desserts, yet spend no time planning the grand finale.

No food matches cheese for its breadth and variety of flavours and its ability to prolong the meal’s enjoyment, or provides a better reason to take an extra glass of wine, which explains why it’s usually us blokes who get the job of planning the cheeseboard. But while most men approach the task with reasonable gusto, all too often it’s completed with inappropriate levels of skill and knowledge.

Modern man might often be found rustling up seared peppery tuna with bean salad and a deft blueberry and lemon clafoutis, but this sort of bloke is rubbish at planning a cheeseboard because, adept though he may be in the kitchen, he can’t think of more than one thing at a time.

That’s the problem with creating world class selections: the devil is in the detail. Will a farmhouse cheddar in November be better at 18 or 24 months maturation? Will three hours out of the fridge nurture your Brie de Meaux to a point of universal approbation?

Just watch how little time most shoppers take selecting the cheese. Mostly it’s “I’d better have a wedge of Stilton – that piece will do.”

That’s exactly the approach that leads to dull cheeseboards. The Stilton we choose should be tasted first, and we must know if it’s four months and crumbly or aged longer for a creamier, rounder flavour.

We may even need two Stiltons: a full-on Colston Bassett, fit for more mature palates, and a rounder, softer Cropwell Bishop or Long Clawson for those of a more sensitive disposition.

It’s important to strike a balance of nationality – some British, some from further afield – and create a blend of colour – blue, orange, white, yellow and brown – because we taste with our eyes first.

A selection including ewes’, goats’ or even buffalo milk cheeses offers a wider choice of flavour than a board solely with cows’ milk varieties.

Sunday lunch cheeseboards for the whole family take real planning. Young people can react badly to adult flavours, and Saturday night’s Daiquiri chasers and Marlboro Lights can leave palates sensitive to mouldy or smelly cheese.

You’ll maybe enjoy success including a vodka cheese or one mixed with chocolate or Marmite!

Younger children can have fun with cheese, mainly because it’s okay for them to eat it with their hands. Slice an apple or pear and spread blue cheese across the cut surface. The fruity acidity offsets any bitter back-notes from the cheese that kids so often find uncomfortable.

Cheese also keeps kids up at the table longer and engages them in the best conversation of the meal, when adults are into another glass of wine (responsibly, of course) and everyone’s relaxed. Except perhaps the person who’s loading the dishwasher and making sandwiches for tomorrow’s packed lunch. Odd’s on it’s not a man. >

My South-East Cheeseboard

by Richard Phillips • Winterdale Shaw is a hand-made hard cheese from Wrotham in Kent – a cheddar-style cheese that is creamy and not too strong.

Their smoked cheese is worth a go too.

• St George from Horam, East Sussex is a soft, Camembert-style pasteurised goats’ cheese – fairly strong on the nose with a tangy finish.

• Golden Cross Ash is a soft goats’ cheese log that’s rolled in ash during the ripening stage. It’s an unpasterised cheese from East Sussex.

• Goodweald is a cheddarstyle cheese from the Traditional Cheese Dairy at Stonegate, made with unpasteurised cows’ milk and smoked over oak chippings.

• Lord of the Hundreds is another one from the dairy in Stonegate. It’s a really good, hard sheep’s milk cheese with a strong nutty finish.

Learning his trade alongside the Roux brothers and Marco Pierre White, Richard Phillips had his own Michelin-starred restaurant, Thackeray’s in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, by the time he was 29. He now has three restaurants in Kent, as well as the Pearson’s Arms pub in Whitstable, and makes regular TV appearances too.

37

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

Three winter cheeseboards for grown-up dinner parties CHoiCe 1 • Extra mature West Country Farmhouse Cheddar – 18-month-old, made with summer or autumn milk for grassy, hay notes. Look for Quickes, Denhay, Montgomery, Keens or Westcombe.

• Beenleigh Blue – unpasteurised sheep’s milk blue made in Devon – less salty than Roquefort and bliss with a ripe pear. One of my desert island cheeses.

• King’s Choice or Windwhistle from Cranborne Chase Cheese. Real washed rind cheeses as good as anything made in France.

• Bath Soft Cheese – fullon creamy rich to savour • Golden Cross – goats’ log cheese that when perfect offers stunning balance between the soft paste just inside the rind and the firmer textured paste in the centre. Clean, complex and brilliant.

CHoiCe 2 • Old Winchester from Lyburn – as good as, if not better than, any aged Gouda you’ll find. Rock hard, crystalline and divine in chunks.

• Appleby’s Cheshire – teaches us all that cheese doesn’t need to be strong to deliver complex flavours. Wallow in its lemony freshness, its super mouthfeel and long, long finish.

• Jervaulx Blue – a well mannered blue from Wensleydale – gorgeous honey notes in the paste harmonise with the acidity in the blue. With 3 gold stars at 2010 Great Taste Awards, who’d argue?

• Wild Garlic Yarg – a young person’s cheese perhaps, but one that beautifully teases old and new palates alike with its ‘will it, won’t it’ be too full-on garlic. It never is, it simply brings a smile.

• Pont Gar – made in Wales in the more modern style of white mould cheese.

Complex mushroom flavours, lashings of creaminess but try to buy nearer the end of its life when it’s soft all through as you’ll uncover real savoury notes.

CHoiCe 3 • Isle of Mull cheddar – as they tell us, they spare the milk ‘the effrontery of pasteurisation’ but try, if you can, to get the year-old cloth-bound truckle. The winter cheeses are whiter and earthier but no less enjoyable.

• Ford Farm cave aged cheddar. I took the grandchildren to Wookey Hole to see these cheeses maturing and they were fascinated.

We’re a slightly odd family so yours might find other attractions more riveting. The earthy honesty of the cheese will please.

• Oxford Blue – the irrepressible Baron Robert Pouget’s milder, creamier blue was invented for Oxford dons to pontificate over towards the end of their fancy university dinners. Give it a gentle press on the top – if the cheese bounces back like a good steak it’s around 16 weeks maturation and will be a stunner.

L-R: Lyburn’s Old Winchester, Appleby’s Cheshire and the new Jervaulx Blue from Wensleydale Creamery

My West of England Cheeseboard

by Mark Hix • Stinking Bishop is a great example of how good our British cheese-makers are.

• Stilton – one blue is rarely enough and winter is the best time to enjoy the King of Blues. The choice is yours – and what a choice. I don’t remember a time when Stiltons were this good.

Cropwell Bishop and Long Clawson are creamy rich, Tuxford & Tebbutt is a little flakier and crumbly, Quenby Hall is in the old style, as is Colston Bassett – more for the chaps although not exclusively. Taste before buying.

• Ticklemore (above), from Sharpham Creamery, is a fantastic cheese not just for the cheeseboard but also broken into salads with seasonal beets.

• Little Wallop is a good example of an innovative cheese idea using local ingredients and booze that doesn’t detract from the quality of the actual cheese.

• Blue Vinney is a great cheese to have on the board as the weather starts to get a little cooler in the run-up to Christmas. Especially good with Dorset knobs.

• Dorset Drum is virtually on our doorstep and a great little cheddar to use on its own or in cooking.

• Boilíe – an unusual choice for a cheeseboard, and Irish too. These soft goats’ milk balls of cheese with garlic hints add a palate-cleansing element to any board that holds more than one blue cheese.

• Spenwood – this artisan British sheep’s milk cheese is best at 12 months, or as close as you can get it to this age, because it’s drier and more intense.

Dorset-raised food writer and restaurateur Mark Hix is a former Chef of the Year and Restaurateur of the Year. He opened his own Hix Oyster & Chop House in Smithfield, London and Hix Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis, Dorset in 2008, followed by HIX in Soho last year. HIX Restaurant and Champagne Bar opened in Selfridges, London in March 2010. His books include British Seasonal Food and this year’s Hix Oyster & Chop House, both published by Quadrille.

goodcheese winter 2010-11

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Three cheeseboards for family get-togethers CHoiCe 1 • Duddleswell – a real buttery firm-bodied ewes’ milk variety that most people love for its clean finish. As ever, go for aged versions – five months or more.

• Cornish Blue – Philip Stansfield is an ex-rugby player who still looks a bit useful but his stature lends a lie to the delicacy of the cheese he now makes. This cows’ milk blue has great finesse and offers a rich, creamy cheese as a cosmopolitan choice for mixed audiences.

• Clava – I was introduced to Clava recently on a trip to Scotland and it changed my thinking on British white mould cheese. A clover-intense diet for the cows produces a richly nutty cheese which surprised us all.

• Cornish Yarg – the original: buttery with hints of vegetation, and children love the idea of eating stinging nettles (eventually).

• Quickes smoked cheddar – the real one, not the kind of stuff with the ‘smoke’ flavour added in a liquid.

CHoiCe 2 • Hawes Kit Calvert Wensleydale – the Creamery actually makes this cheese slower than its standard Wensleydale. Both are good but the Kit Calvert is wonderfully intense.

• Barbers 1833 – a modern farmhouse cheddar, it pleases more than disappoints. At two years it’s firm, full of calcium lactate crystals and if you choose one that was made using starter culture 25, the savoury Bovril notes satisfy all age groups.

• Isle of Mull – I never thought I’d say it but if there are children there for lunch then one of Isle of Mull’s flavoured cheeses – pepper, mixed herbs, garlic or cranberries – will keep them away from the TV a little longer.

• Devon Blue – the cows’ milk blue (left) from Robin Congdon does not suffer the seasonal variations of Beenleigh Blue and is normally on the button.

• Innes Bosworth Leaf – fresh, light and palate-cleansing – and everyone loves to see a leaf sitting on their food.

CHoiCe 3 • Sparkenhoe Red Leicester – thank goodness someone has made sure that one of our great regionals has not completely disappeared in its proper form. Firm, and lemony with nutty notes on the finish, it’s so good.

• Smoked Orkney cheddar – creaminess blended with a gentle smoke in a good mature Scottish cheddar provides an interesting taste dimension.

• Stichelton – the unpastuerised milk Stilton that isn’t, because Stilton must be made using pasteurized milk. Still a relative newcomer, Joe Schneider’s creation just gets better and better.

• Dunsyre Blue – sometimes one blue is not enough and Humphrey Errington’s softer, unpasteurised cows’ milk blue is flinty and peaty. Perhaps not for the very young.

• Cardo – washed rind cheese (below) from Mary Holbrook, more famous for Tymsboro – another British effort that convinces me we’ve got goats’ milk cheeses to test the French. Cardo is different to Tymsboro – earthy with hints of fruit and not too strong. A good way to introduce a younger audience to the ‘pong’ of a washed rind cheese.

My North-West Cheeseboard

by Nigel Haworth • Eden Valley organic brie, made in small batches, using techniques learned in eastern France, at Appleby Creamery, Appleby-inWestmorland.

• Joseph Heler Blue Cheshire (below) made by the Heler family at Laurel Farm, Hatherton.

Cheshire is part of Britain’s heritage when made on the world class milk field of the Cheshire Plain, close to the River Weaver.

• Tiresford Guernsey Gold Cheshire Golden Brie from Andrew Hope near Tarporley. One of the best combinations of Guernsey herd, pasture, timing and rich flavour.

• Martha’s Choice Creamy Lancashire – Third-generation master cheesemaker Chris Sandham, at Rostock Dairy, Barton, remembers his grandmother Martha making and finishing her Lancashire cheese with butter and muslin for a deeper flavour • Federia - Made by Anne Connolly, Larkton Hall Dairy Farm, Hampton, nr Malpas, south Cheshire. Anne trained to be a chef at a Liverpool catering college before taking off to work in the Italian Alps. She learnt to make Alpine cheese and returned to her partner’s farm by the Bickerton Hills to make a Cheshire equivalent of Taleggio. It is made in a 100-yearold copper vat from raw cows’ milk, matured for eight weeks.

• Allerdale is made by Carolyn and Leonie Fairbairn at Thornby Moor Dairy in Cumbria, just seven miles west of Carlisle on the old Roman road beside Hadrian’s Wall. This deep flavoured clothbound cheese uses raw goats’ milk from Dolken Dairy.

• Lancashire Blackstick Blue - Made Stiltonstyle by the Butler family at Inglewhite, nr Beacon Fell, this cows’ milk cheese matures at eight weeks and is named after a row of tall chestnut trees on the nearby GoosnarghChipping border.

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goodcheese winter 20010-11

L-R: Barbers 1833 cheddar, Hawes Kit Calvert Wensleydale and Robin Congdon’s Devon Blue

Lancashire-born Nigel Haworth became head chef of restaurant-with-rooms Northcote Manor, on the edge of the Ribble Valley in 1984. He became its co-owner in 1989, collecting his first Michelin star in 1996, and has always kept north-west produce at the heart of his menus.

A selection of his Lancashire cheese recipes can be found on the British Cheese Board website, www.britishcheese.com

At BocAddon FArm we produce A Fine selection oF AwArd-winning soFt, Fresh cheeses And drinking yogurts, using milk From our herd oF guernsey cows www.bocaddonfarm.com

tel: 01503 220 993

email: dairy@bocaddonfarm.com

Winterdale Cheesemakers award winning...

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

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.

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

PRODUCED IN

KENT

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

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41

Carron Lodge Ltd. Cheese makers, wholesalers and distributors of British and Continental cheese to the wholesale, catering, retail and manufacturing trade.

Carron Lodge Ltd. Park Head Farm, Inglewhite, Preston, Lancashire, PR3 2LN Tel: 01995 640352 Fax: 01995 641040 Email: carronlodge@talk21.com

Product of Cumbria

A creamy, close textured cheddar cheese with a clean, well-rounded flavour made from organic pasteurised cows milk

email: southlakesorganicmilk@btconnect.com South Lakes Organic Milk, Swarthmoor Hall Farm, Ulverston LA12 0JG Tel: 01229 586153

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goodcheese winter 2010-11

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and its more intense and fragrant aroma put it

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You can offer your discerning shoppers Grana

dishes or enjoyed on its own, accompanied by a

of recipe booklets, sampling toothpicks, aprons

Padano in three distinct age profiles:

glass of wine, it is a cheese for connoisseurs.

2kg of cheese

www.granapadano.it

top of the list in terms of quality. In flakes over

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Cheddar Gorge Cheddar The Only Cheddar made in Cheddar

award Winning Cheddar – Keeping the Tradition alive

OW ar in sh 08 d d e h C 0 besT wards 2 eese A World Ch

GOld

2008 Awards e s e e h World C

GOld

s 2009 e Award s e e h C British

Truly authentic cheddar; hand made in the

village of Cheddar using unpasteurised milk and matured slowly in traditional cheesecloth.

Matured in our own stores and the Cheddar Caves.

www.cheddargorgecheeseco.co.uk

The Cliffs, Cheddar, Somerset BS27 3QA Tel: 01934 742810

The Only Cheddar made in Cheddar

classic recipes

Get in the kitchen Charles Campion goes retro with some famous cheese recipes

aligoT

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f tartiflette is the Rolls-Royce of cheesy potatoes then aligot is the Bentley. At first glance it is just mashed potato with cheese, but when well made this is the world’s premier comfort food.

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ingredients 750g floury potatoes, cut into chunks and cooked in salted water 125g unsalted butter 150ml double cream 200g mature farmhouse cheddar, grated 250g Tomme cheese cut into matchsticks. sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Method Boil the potatoes until they are well cooked. put them through a potato ricer (this tool is important as a food processor will leave them gluey).

y 18-year-old son seems to live solely on beer and cheese on toast. I suppose that I should be grateful that he is packing in the protein needed as he continues to grow at an alarming rate. And it was ever thus: generations of Britons have learnt that cooking with cheese can be the economical, savoury and filling option.

Here are some favourite, classic dishes.

Transfer them to a heavy pot and, over a minimum heat, beat in the butter and cream with a wooden spoon. Do not overwork the mixture. add the cheddar and work in.

Then add the Tomme and work in. season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

TarTifleTTe

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heese has a strong affinity with the potato, the starchiness of the tuber mitigating the full on fat content of the cheese. Tartiflette is a delight but do not skimp on the quality or quantity of its component parts.

Essentially tartiflette is cheesy potatoes with bacon. I prefer to cube the potatoes rather than slice them, they may take a tad longer to cook but you get a more pleasing ‘rubbly’ texture.

Method preheat your oven to 170 °C. Take a little of the butter and grease a large, shallow ovenproof dish.

Use the remainder of the butter to fry the onions and the bacon until the onion is soft, add the cubed potato and mix thoroughly. spread the mix in the dish. season with salt and pepper and pour the cream over, distributing it evenly. Dot the surface with cubed reblochon.

Cover loosely with foil. Bake at 170 °C for 90 minutes removing the foil for the last 15 minutes or so until the dish is brown.

monkeybusiinessimages/dreamstime.com

ingredients 50g unsalted butter 175g bacon cut into 1cm lardons 1 large onion sliced finely 1kg waxy potatoes cut into 1cm cubes salt and freshly ground pepper 568ml carton double cream 250g reblochon cheese, cubed as best you can

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foodmaniac/dreamstime.com

Baked VacheRin

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or those of us stalked by the memory of longago cheese dishes – anyone remember ‘deep fried Camembert with cranberry jelly’? – the idea that we should simply bake a cheese in its box seems ominously straightforward. In 2002 when Henry Harris opened his restaurant Racine in Knightsbridge, London, one of the most popular dishes was a baked Vacherin. Various chefs have since tried to improve on this treatment – they have suggested the addition of garlic or black truffles, for example – but for once, simple is good. Although you can try adding a few caraway seeds and maybe some Parma ham, but those refinements aside it should need no accompaniments other than crusty bread.

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ingredients 1 whole 500g Vacherin cheese in its spruce wood box 1 tablespoon dry white wine Method Preheat your oven to 180 °C. Leave cheese in its wooden box, but remove the lid. Cut a flap in the top rind of the cheese and pour in the wine. Place in an oven dish in case the box collapses. Put on baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes until melted.

Raclette and Fondue

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or those of us of a sensitive disposition, raclette and fondue are both Continental ways to mainline molten cheese. It may be all very well when you return from the ski slopes savagely hungry but the mere thought of dining on cheese lava gives me a twinge of indigestion. (Incidentally, it is said that drinking water, especially cold water, with raclette or fondue is a certain route to the agonies of heartburn… you have been warned). Sue Cloke runs a rather good cheese shop at Leadenhall Market in the City of London. At lunchtime Cheese@Leadenhall serves upwards of 25 portions of raclette. The name derives from the word ‘racler’ which means ‘to scrape’. Sue prefers to use the Swiss raclette cheese as it slightly less fatty than its French counterpart and so melts more evenly. Each slather of cheese is served with some new potatoes, cornichons and charcuterie. This cheese-shop and eatery has also made a name for itself in the fondue department – they have found that the best combination for this delicacy is to use half Gruyère and half Emmental (Swiss, of course) of as good quality as your pocket will allow. A little white wine is added to the melted cheese, plus the secret ingredient that helps stop it splitting: a sprinkling of white flour or potato starch. Serve with plenty of crusty bread, and a small glass of a fresh white wine – Gruner Veltliner? – goes very well. The Italians have a classy version of fondue called fonduta, which teams Fontina cheese with truffles and milk.

Gould’s TradiTional Farmhouse Cheddar on The rind Batch Farm Cheesemakers ltd

Hamish Johnston

Farmhouse Cheeses from Britain, Ireland, France, Italy & Spain Farmhouse Cheeses from Britain, Ireland, France,Foods Italy & Spain Charcuterie, Olives & Other Delicatessen

Charcuterie, Olives & Other Delicatessen Foods Retail

Wholesale

48 Northcote Road London SW11 1PA

Unit 6 Ore Trading Estate Framlingham IP13 9LL

Retail 48 Northcote Road 01728 621544 020 7738 0741 London will@hamishjohnston.com mark@hamishjohnston.com SW11 1PA www.hamishjohnston.com

020 7738 0741 mark@hamishjohnston.com

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award winninG Cheese World Cheese Awards British Cheese Awards Royal Bath and West Show and Local Cheese Shows. www.gouldscheddar.co.uk

Wholesale Unit 6 Ore Trading Estate Framlingham IP13 9LL 01728 621544 will@hamishjohnston.com

www.hamishjohnston.com

FARMERS AND CHEESEMAKERS

Producing the very best in Organic and Conventional Cheddar since 1952 Handmade using fresh milk from our local herds, traditional family skills are combined with the latest technology to produce Organic and Conventional Cheddars of exceptional quality.

CALL 01934 864600 for more information Visit our website now and watch your cheese being made! www.lyecrossfarm.co.uk Lye Cross Farm, Redhill, North Somerset BS40 5RH

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PhiladelPhia Cheese steak

Robert Lerich/dreamstime.com

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Welsh RaRebit a.k.a. Welsh Rabbit

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blame Mark Hix. He is the amiable and knowledgeable chef who wrote British Regional Food – one of the definitive books on the subject.

In his book (and on his restaurant menus) he refers to cheese on toast as Welsh Rabbit and in a trice foodists re-opened the Rarebit/Rabbit argument. In 1747 Hannah Glasse calls hers Rabbit; Mrs Beeton (1865) calls hers Rarebit; Meg Dods (1826) gives a recipe for a Scotch Rabbit; Herman Senn, a famous Edwardian chef writing in 1904 opts for Rarebit. As the saying goes, ‘You pays your money and takes your choice’.

What is indisputable is the charm of well-made cheese on toast. There is an apocryphal story that the very best Welsh Rarebits were served at the Savoy Grill in the 1960s. Back in this unenlightened time, they used to scoop out the Stilton cheeses and splash port into the cavity. Legend has it that the port soaked crust that would otherwise have been thrown away made magnificent cheese on toast.

Mark Hix’s recipe for Welsh Rabbit calls for bread toasted on both sides with a cheese mixture spread over it prior to a final blast under the grill.

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ingredients (enough for four slices of toast) 5 tablespoons stout 5 tablespoons double cream 250g Caerphilly or cheddar cheese, or a mixture, grated 2 egg yolks, beaten 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (or more if you wish) 1 teaspoon English mustard Salt and pepper Method Reduce the stout by half in a pan, add the cream and reduce again until really thick. Cool. Mix with the other ingredients and season to taste. Spread the cheese mixture on top of the slices of toast, about 1cm thick and to the edges to avoid burning. Grill until nicely browned.

The jury may still be out on whether this is a Rarebit or a Rabbit, but I can confirm that whatever it may be called it’s very good eating.

f you have watched the Sopranos, or fondly imagined yourself pounding up the steps of that American monument alongside the ghost of Sly Stallone playing Rocky you’ll have some vague memory of the Philadelphia Cheese Steak. Like many American menu items, this is one of those delicacies that counts its calories in thousands. But when you hear misty eyed expat Yanks fondly recalling past encounters with Philly Cheese Steak, it’s rather disappointing that it sounds awfully like a steak with cheese on it.

Furthermore, despite the great strides made by American cheesemakers, this is a dish that relies on a processed cheese with even fewer natural attributes than a Kraft cheese slice.

We are talking Cheez Whiz – and yes, that is the correct spelling. Cheez Whiz was invented by food scientist Edwin Traisman and was put on sale in 1953. Today it’s made by Kraft.

It’s yellow. It’s gloopy. It comes in a glass jar. This stuff is sold as a “sauce or spread” and to make a Philadelphia cheese steak you slap Cheez Whiz all over a steak then relish the emulsifiers and stabilising agents, which may be xanthan gum or carrageenan.

Truly a dish that could have been a contender were it not so ersatz!

We are talking Cheez Whiz – invented

by Edwin Traisman.

It’s yellow.

It’s gloopy. It comes in a glass jar.

Learn more, understand more and sell more The Guild of Fine Food has trained retailers for over 20 years. Our courses have enthused, enlightened and motivated thousands of counter staff, managers and owners. The only complaint is that our delegates want more. Which is why we have launched the School of Fine Food – a comprehensive series of food & drink modules that will expand your product knowledge and your foodie credentials.

Throughout the next 12 months we will be delivering eight modules, covering many of the categories in your deli, farm shop or food hall. Our industry experts will improve your knowledge of each and every counter in your shop, including meat, fruit and veg, fish, preserves and beer & cider.

You should know where the food and drink you sell comes from, how it’s made and who makes it.

The School of Fine Food will give you the know-how to sell more. Call it counter intelligence.

For more information and to read about the modules in more detail visit www.schooloffinefood.co.uk

Module Two

January 27 2011

Charcuterie

Guild House, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9FE

Guild of Fine Food members £60.00 (plus VAT) per module Non-members

£90.00 (plus VAT) per module

Module Three

February 2011

Fresh Fish

Newlyn Fish Market, Cornwall

Authentic West Country Farmhouse Cheddar is handmade on only a few farms in the South West using traditional methods, local milk and unrivalled craftsmanship.That’s why each cheese has a uniquely flavoursome character and why it’s the only Cheddar with PDO status.

The same rich milk is also used to make West Country Farmhouse Butter seasoned using internationally acclaimed Maldon® Sea Salt.

To book, call us on 01963 824464. Places are limited.

The School of Fine Food has been developed with funding and support from South West Food & Drink

Product knowledge training for fine food retail

www.farmhousecheesemakers.com

The new Rowcliffe Catalogue is now out!

Strengthened with even more British farm-made and artisan continental cheeses, our list is now even simpler to navigate, with English and French cheeses separated into milk types. This makes it even easier to find our comprehensive range of West Country Cheddars, our English brie type cheeses and our ever increasing selection of goats’ and ewes’ milk cheeses from France. As always, we source the very best example of every cheese, and whether they are from Spain, Switzerland or Italy they have to get through our exacting buying forum as well as our experienced technical department.

01892 838999 www.rowcliffe.co.uk

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britain’s best cheese shops A UK-wide round-up of great specialist cheese stockists London & South EaSt

artisan delicatessen 117 St George’s Road, Kemp Town, Brighton BN2 1EA t 01273 679983 w www.artisanlivetoeat.co.uk

This new deli aims to offer hand crafted products that are ethically sourced at affordable prices.

Perfect Partners Cheese & Wine Merchants

7 Stone St, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3HF t 01580 712633 e ppcheesewine@btinternet.com Cheese & wine are naturally perfect partners.

Selections include the local, the traditional and the truly inspired, selected on taste, not label.

Roots delicatessen 33 Crendon St, High Wycombe HP13 6LJ t 01494 54243 w www.rootsdeli.co.uk Specialising in Farmhouse cheeses from Great Britain and the Pays Basque Including the 2006 World Champion Brebis.

Simply delicious delicatessen & Food Emporium, 2 Lennox Street, Bognor Regis, West Sussex PO21 1LZ t 01243 861616 w www.simplydeliciousdeli.co.uk Wide range of artisan, local, English and international cheeses, charcuterie, olives, patés, oils, chocolates and wines.

Sourced Market

St. Pancras International (ground floor) t 020 7833 9352 w www.sourcedmarket.com Finalist for best cheese retailer 2010. Boasts a fine cheese counter offering a wide selection of British and continental varieties.

EaSt angLia

h.gunton Ltd, 81-83 Crouch St Colchester

Essex CO3 3EZ t 01206 572200. w www.guntons.co.uk We stock the largest range of cut cheese in the area with over 100 varieties. Gift packs and baskets in the festive season. Buy online too.

the Cheese Shop nottingham 6 Flying Horse Walk , St Peters Gate, Nottingham NG1 2HN t 01159 419114 British & Continental cheeses from unpasteursed traditional rennet to pasteurised vegetarian rennet cheese, all types of goats, ewe, and cows milk.

Liverpool Cheese Company 29a Woolton Street, Woolton Village, Liverpool L25 5NH t 0151 4283942 w www.liverpoolcheesecompany.co.uk Over 100 specialist cheeses available plus chutney, local beers, olives, wines and lots of other exciting services.

Chandos deli

As a cheese wedding cake specialist our counter is crammed full of UK and Continental cheeses. Mouth watering range of cured meats and antipasti and our shelves are fit to burst with wonderful local Yorkshire produce and over 50 chutneys!

to Cloudy Bay and Dom Perignon.

2 Downend Rd, Downend, Bristol BS16 5UJ t 0117 9572662 Specialising in artisan West Country cheeses, many supplied directly from the maker. We love people who want to try our fantastic range. Samples and advice freely given.

121 Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PL t 0117 9706565 97 Henleaze Road, Bristol BS9 4JP t 0117 9074391 6 Princess Victoria Street, Bristol BS8 4BP t 0117 9743275 the Melton Cheeseboard, 8 Windsor Street, 12 George Street, Bath BA1 2EH Melton Mowbray, Leics LE13 1BU Pickles delicatessen t 01225 314418 t 01664 562257 Towngate Rooms, 13 Northgate, Baildon, Shipley 1 Roman Walk, Princesshay, Exeter EX1 1GN w www.meltoncheeseboard.co.uk West Yorkshire BD17 6LX t 01392 437379 The finest Stilton, specially matured and selected t 01274 587204 w www.picklesdelicatessen.co.uk Quakers Friars, Cabot Circus, Bristol BS1 3DX from Long Clawson Dairy, is one of over 100 Wide selection of fine local and continental cheeses as t 0117 9349611 cheeses in stock, including two local Leicesters. well as specialist fine foods and accompaniments. w www.chandosdeli.com Each branch offers a selection of perfectly ripened noRth the Cheese and Wine Shop cheeses, served by knowledgeable staff who Cheese and Chutney of Saltaire 8 Clarks Yard, Darlington DL3 7QH delight in sharing tasters of West Country cheddars 59 Bingley Road, Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire 01325384803 direct from the farm or delicious French and Italian BD18 4SB The best of British, French and local cheeses are cheeses imported each week. t 01274 597008 e info@cheeseandchutney.co.uk found in this Aladdin’s Cave for foodies. Wine and w www.cheeseandchutney.co.uk beer buffs can select from Belgium and English beers, Melanie’s Kitchen

Cranstons Cumbrian Food hall Ullswater Rd, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 7EH t 01768 868 680 e enquiries@cranstons.net An extensive range of cheeses including Black Dub Blue and Eden Chieftain from Appleby Creamery.

Other products include artisan breads, hand-made jams and chutneys, biscuits, olives, oils and fine wines. davenports Farm Shop, Florists & tea Room Bridge Farm, Warrington Road, Bartington, Northwich, Cheshire CW8 4QU t 01606 853241 w www.davenportsfarmshop.co.uk Access to over 200 cheeses from the UK & around the world on a pre-order basis. Wide range of locally home-made chutneys and delicious biscuits and accompanying wines & beers.

deli Central The Bull Ring, 20 Northgate, Wakefield, WF1 3AA. t 01924 365102. www.deli-central.co.uk Bloomfields Fine Food e info@deli-central.co.uk 8 High Street, Highworth, Wiltshire SN6 7AG Wide range of Yorkshire and regional artisan cheeses. t 01793 766399 52 High Street, Shrivenham, Oxfordshire SN6 8AA We also have artisan breads, jams and chutneys, chocolates, cooked meats and cakes and biscuits. t 01793 783999 w www.bloomfieldsfinefood.co.uk delifonseca Selection of the finest British and Continental artisan 12, Stanley Street, Liverpool L1 6AF cheeses, fresh bread, olives, oils, pies, preserves, t 0151 255 0808 cakes, coffees and teas.

Dockside, Brunswick Quay, Brunswick Way, Liverpool L3 4BN t 0151 255 0808 deli & dine, 3 Bridgegate Centre, Retford, w www.delifonseca.co.uk Notts DN22 6AJ t 01777 710700 Both stores stock the widest range of local, national, w www.delianddine.co.uk and European cheeses, always served with a smile by A delicatessen and café offering a different our knowledgeable staff. shopping experience for high quality local and

MidLandS

continental food, including a selection of up to 40 of the finest cheeses around. ‘Try before you buy’. drewton’s Farm Shop deli on the Square Castle Square, Ludlow t 01584877353, e mail@delionthesquare.co.uk Over 150 cheeses including locally produced artisan gems and a wide range of goats, sheep and continental varieties.

Ludlow Food Centre, Bromfield, Ludlow,

SY8 2JR t 01584 856 000 e greatfood@ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk Unique venue that epitomises all that is great about British food, with 80% of our food coming from our locale and 50% made in-store. noSh (no ordinary Sandwich house….)

5, Copenhagen Street, Worcester City Centre, WR1 2HB t 01905 28157 e noshofworcester@hotmail.co.uk Family venture which offers a modern take on traditional delicatessens, with a vast range of cheeses to suit all your foodie needs.

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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 Cheshire CW11 1AP Extensive selection of British and Continental cheeses, Olives, continental meats, oils, vinegars, dried fruit and nuts, chocolates, continental biscuits, panettones and much, much more.

Keelham Farm Shop Brighouse and Denholme Road, Thornton, Bradford, BD13 3SS t 01274 833472 e enquiries@thefarmshop.net w www.keelhamhallfarmshop.co.uk/ Selling direct to the public for more than 30 years, and now one of the region’s biggest shop windows for all that’s best from Yorkshire.

the Cheeseboard 1 Commercial Street, Harrogate, HG1 1UB t 01423 508837 w www.thecheeseboard.net One of the most respected purveyors of cheese in the region; stocking over 200 cheeses including a wide range of local varieties. the Cheese delicatessen @ Fond Ewe 9, Packhorse Court, Keswick, Cumbria t 01768773377 w www.keswickcheesedeli.co.uk Over 90 cheeses, with a fantastic range of Cumbrian, British regional and some International.

With plenty of chutneys, pickles, jams, oils and vinegars on tap. the Cheese hamlet, 706 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2DW t 0161 4344781 w www.cheesehamlet.co.uk More than 2,500 different products of which over 200 are English and Continental cheeses. Largest display of Swiss cheeses in the North. the Cheese Shop 116, Northgate St, Chester CH1 2HT t 01244 346240 w www.chestercheeseshop.co.uk Enjoy choosing from our wonderful range of over 150 regional British cheeses including a great selection of goats, ewes and continental cheeses. the deli around the Corner 61 Hotspur Street, Tynemouth NE30 4EE t 0191 2590086 w www.thedeliaroundthecorner.co.uk Traditional deli selling over 50 different types of cheese, from locally sourced to worldwide favourites.

We also specialise in cheese wedding cakes.

nelson’s delicatessen 71 High Street, Fordingbridge, Hants SP6 1AS t 01425 650500 w www.nelsonsdeli.co.uk e info@nelsonsdeli.co.uk Specialising in local and British cheeses, we have over 45 cheeses in stock at any one time. As well as a friendly service, you can also expect to find cooked meats, paté, fresh olives, coffee plus freshly made homemade cakes and flapjacks along with lots of other excitingly tasty locally sourced products.

Relish Food & drink Foundry Court, Wadebridge, PL27 7QN. t 01208 814214 w www.relishfoodanddrink.co.uk Offering over 40 local, British & International cheeses along with wonderful accompaniments.

The knowledgeable & friendly staff are on hand to inspire, advise and enthuse. the Cheese Cafe @ Penny’s Pantry 11/12 High Street, Crediton, Devon EX17 3AE t 01363 772 377 t 07850 441 920 We carry between 90 and 100 different cheeses, mostly West Country with a good range of other British cheeses and some choice Continentals as well.

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.

tully’s of Rothbury Rothbury, Northumberland t 01669 620574 e rothbury.deli@btopenworld.com w www.rothburydeli.co.uk Established over 100 years as an ethical grocer, with a wide selection of British and continental cow, goat and sheep cheeses. We specialise in meeting special dietary requirements.

thyme & tides High Street, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6HE t 01264 810101 w www.thymeandtidesdeli.co.uk Our delicatessen offers a stunning range of artisan cheeses and cured meats alongside tasty condiments.

South WESt

turnbulls delicatessen, 9 High Street,

Chale green Stores, deli and Café Newport Road, Chale Green, Isle of Wight t 01983-551201 w www.chalegreenstores.co.uk Try-before-you-buy deli with superb selection of international cheeses, charcuterie, olives and other delicacies. Fresh made dishes served daily in the café.

the Corner house delicatessen 225 High St, Arbroath, Angus DD11 4RR Tel: 05603 449312 Vast selection of cheeses from Britain and the Continent. A policy of Try Before You Buy allows our knowlegable staff to work with you to find what takes you to cheese heaven.

Badger and Bumble 93 Poole Road, Westbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset BH4 9BB t 01202 540025 w www.badgerandbumble.co.uk Wide selection of fine cheeses from across the UK and Europe. We also stock local charcuterie, olives, chutneys and store cupboard essentials.

Shaftesbury SP7 8HZ t 01747 858575 w www.turnbulls.co.uk Local cheddars include Montgomery’s, Keen’s and Westcombe, but Charlie Turnbull rarely resists stocking other cheese from around the world.

SCotLand

LONGMANS

man & Son Far h Long man Cheese S mhouse Ch w g g ales L tin and Lon td eesema ora p ker r o s Inc

Large enough to service your needs Small enough to care for you individually!

Who are we?

A long established, family owned and run business of farmers, cheesemakers, and wholesalers, based in the heart of cheddar country in Somerset.

1206 Longmans Cheese Advert.pdf

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LONGMAN’S FARMHOUSE CHEESEMAKERS

MERSET DE IN SO HANDMA INCE THE 1800’S S

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Award winning cheddars and lighter cheeses.

Handmade at the Longmans Farm using West Country Milk

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2010 Gold pdo Farmhouse Cheddar Nantwich Show 2010 Gold Best Packaging Nantwich Show 2010 Gold Reduced fat Cheese Frome Show

....And new to the range

Farmhouse Butter Made with West Country Cream

What do we do?

Manufacture the Award winning Vale of Camelot Creamy Mature and Strong Mature Cheddar.

Produce or supply butter, cream, cheddar, local milk and over 1500 other cheese and dairy products.

Purveyors of over 500 chilled and ambient foodservice products from rice to charcuterie, olives to oils and dry goods.

we offer a fast, efficient and friendly refridgerated delivery – nationwide to wholesale, delicatessans, restaurants, farm shops, pubs, nursing homes and schools.

North Leaze Farm, North Cadbury, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7BD T: 01963 441146 F: 01963 441128 E:info@longman-cheese-sales.co.uk www.longman-cheese-sales.co.uk

How far would you go for some Lake District Cheddar?

I’d jump over the moon, Bunny.

There’s no mistaking the rich, creamy flavour of Lake District Cheddar. Made with locally-sourced milk and crafted to a time honoured tradition by a farmer-owned company, it’s no wonder it’s received more than 100 national and international taste awards. www.landofmilkandbunny.com