CHEESEWIRE

Competition provides boost to growing UK a nage movement

By Patrick McGuigan

A new contest celebrating the art of a nage has been launched as British cheesemakers invest more in cheese maturation to boost quality and consistency.

The A neur of the Year competition, launched by Quicke’s and the Academy of Cheese, will see cheesemakers and mongers across the UK maturing truckles of Quicke’s cheddar in di erent ways to see how avour and texture are a ected.

Three-month-old cheeses have been delivered to Brindisa, Buchanans, Rennet & Rind, Heritage Cheese, Lincolnshire Poacher, Neal’s Yard Dairy, No2 Pound Street and Paxton & Whit eld, who will mature the cheeses for nine months, before a judging event in February.

“The art of the a neur is perhaps the most underappreciated aspect of artisan cheesemaking,” said Mary Quicke MBE. “We know from experience that the hard work of our farmers and cheesemakers can be elevated or squandered in the maturing rooms.”

The importance of a nage has long been appreciated in Europe, where expert a neurs use time, temperature, humidity and specialist techniques to improve quality. The process has historically been less well understood in the UK, but this is changing.

Neal’s Yard, Cambridgebased Rennet & Rind and Scotland’s IJ Mellis have all invested in specialist maturing rooms in recent years, while cheddar-maker Westcombe built its own cave in 2016 with a cheese robot nicknamed Tina the Turner.

Lincolnshire Poacher invested £500,000 in new wooden shelving and a cheese robot (called Florence the Machine) at its store last year.

“Maturation is something we’ve spent more time on recently,” said co-owner Tim Jones. “It’s part of the evolution of artisan British cheese, which has gone from being a edgling industry 20 years ago to being much more mature now. Knowledge has grown and people are more experienced. Wholesalers and makers are realising they can add value and create new products by handling the cheese di erently.”

Bath So Cheese Co built three temperature- and humidity-controlled ripening rooms last year and has invested almost £30k in a bespoke machine, called Basil the Brush, which can brush thousands of Wyfe of Bath cheeses in a few hours.

“It was laborious to do by hand, so it makes life easier, but it will also help with consistency and quality,” said owner Hugh Pad eld.

Mary Quicke is backing the inaugural Affineur of the Year competition

NEWS IN BRIEF

The Westcombe Project, a new 12-part podcast by cheesemonger Sam Wilkin, launches this month. It will follow Somerset cheddar maker Westcombe Dairy as it moves towards a regenerative farming model.

The Royal Bath & West Show has been forced to cancel the British Cheese Awards for the second year running because of “growing concern” that it “would not be able to deliver the standard of awards that the exhibitors, judges and public are used to experiencing”.

Paxton & Whitfield welcomed Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, to its flagship Jermyn Street shop last month. The mayor was visiting businesses in Piccadilly to promote domestic tourism for the area and to urge the government to continue with financial support for businesses beyond the end of June.

The first-ever Ukrainian ProCheese Awards Cheese Festival was held at the Parkovy exhibition centre in Kyiv, on 22nd-23rd May. A host of expert judges deemed Shedevr (which translates as ‘Masterpiece’) from Dooobra Farm to be the winning cheese while Nadiya Frantovska won the Grand Prix of the Cheesemonger competition for the best cheeseboard. Both winners will be at the forthcoming World Cheese Awards, held in November this year. awards.procheese.ua

THREE WAYS WITH...

Witheridge

Made with organic cows’ milk by Nettlebed Creamery in Oxfordshire, Witheridge is matured for 6-8 months in hay, which imparts sweet and aromatic notes to the semi-hard, nutty cheese.

White wine The hay for Witheridge comes from a specific meadow on the farm, where a diverse range of grasses is grown, giving the final cheese a grassy, almost chamomile flavour. Aromatic white wines complement these really well. Master of Wine Alistair Cooper, who has worked with Nettlebed on cheese and wine matches, recommends peachy and floral Viogniers or spicy Pinot Gris from Alsace. Soave Classico, made from Garganega grapes, has a distinct almond note that also dovetails nicely with the nutty cheese.

Damsons As well as being herbaceous, Witheridge has sweet and umami notes that are reminiscent of Alpine cheeses. The sweet tartness of damsons both complements and contrasts with the cheese in a very pleasing way. The Fine Cheese Co’s Damson Fruit Purée is particularly good, thanks to a fragrant woodsmoke note that picks up on the hay flavours from the rind.

Highmoor Matching a cheese with another cheese might sound strange, but not when it’s in a toastie. Nettlebed has built a cult following for its cheese toasties, served from a converted shipping container near the dairy. Made with white bread from a local bakery, the toasties are filled with a mix of Witheridge and Highmoor – a soft washed-rind cheese also made by the company, which brings “lots of savoury depth,” says Nettlebed owner Rose Grimond.

Laverstoke Park invests £100k in new kit to make halloumi-style cheese

By Patrick McGuigan

Laverstoke Park Farm has invested £100,000 in new equipment for making a new bu alo milk halloumi-style grilling cheese called Bu alomi.

The Hampshire business, which is owned by former Formula 1 driver Jody Scheckter, is best known for making bu alo mozzarella using milk from its 700-strong herd of bu aloes.

The new grilling cheese was launched last month and the company plans to quickly ramp up production using specialist equipment sourced from Cyprus, which can produce 6,000 tonnes of cheese a week.

Bu alomi is made with 90% cows’ milk from a local farm mixed with 10% bu alo milk and has a so er texture and lower salt content than halloumi.

Laverstoke, which is based at a 2,500-acre biodynamic and organic farm near Overton, also makes an organic version of the cheese using cows’ milk sourced from organic cooperative Omsco.

Halloumi won PDO protected status earlier this year, meaning it must be made in Cyprus with at least 51% sheep’s and goats’ milk (cows’ milk can make up the rest). The cheese is also protected in the UK by trademarks registered by the Cypriot government.

Year-on-year sales of halloumi have grown exponentially, according to market research company Kantar, which said that value sales grew by 20% in the year to 17th May, 2020, and by 26% in the year to 16th May, 2021. The market is currently worth almost £60m.

“Halloumi is a product that has been growing every year and we can see opportunities for a di erent kind of British grilling cheese,” said Michal Kolinek, Laverstoke MD.

Buffalomi is a new cheese, made with cows’ and buffalo milk, being pitched as a British alternative to halloumi

BEHIND THE COUNTER TIPS OF THE TRADE

Ed Bevin, Fleetville Larder, St Albans, Hertfordshire

Before COVID struck, the Fleetville Larder was more café than cheese shop, with only 30% of sales coming from retail. But the situation has been reversed with a big jump in retail sales, which now make up 70% of sales, after the cafe closed because it was too small for people to socially distance.

Owner Ed Bevin has managed to keep foodservice going with clever takeaway options. “The business has been turned on its head, but we’re doing well,” he says. “Takeaway coffees have been really strong and we’ve built a following for our cheese toasties because we use really good cheese. The Alpine, for example, is made with raclette, salami and gherkins.”

The shop also rents out Boska raclette machines to customers, along with all the ingredients they need for their own cheese nights. And Bevin has been delivering cheese tasting packs for people to eat at home, or with friends on Zoom, as part of an expanded local delivery service.

fleetvillelarder.com

CHEESE IN PROFILE with

Dovedale

What’s the story?

Dovedale is a soft blue cheese made at Hartington Creamery in Derbyshire. The creamery was originally owned by Dairy Crest, which secured Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for the cheese in 1996. Unfortunately, Dairy Crest closed the creamery in 2009 and production of Dovedale ceased. In 2012, The Staffordshire Cheese Company came to the rescue and started making the cheese again. More recently the Hartington Creamery re-opened with new owners and has been making Dovedale in its original home since 2018. The PDO states that Dovedale cheese must be made within a 50the next 14 hours. This process gives the cheese its soft creamy texture. The cheese is matured in the dairy’s ripening stores for up to 8 weeks, forming a natural thin rind.

mile radius of the valley of Dovedale using milk from Derbyshire, Staffordshire or Nottinghamshire.

How is it made?

The cheese is made in small batches, using pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet. The curds are transferred into their moulds and turned three times (not pressed), then left to drain overnight before being placed in a brine bath for

Appearance & texture:

Dovedale has a creamy soft texture and, at 5 weeks, is mild, lactic and salty. The even distribution of blue veins gives the cheese a distinctive appearance and a more powerful tangy flavour as it matures beyond 6 weeks.

Variations: 350g baby format

Cheesemonger tip:

When possible, stock the large whole wheels and cut to order, it’s a good introduction to blue cheeses for customers that are unsure. Upsell with sticky fig relish and Parma ham.

Chef’s recommendation:

Dovedale is perfect on any cheeseboard or sharing platter as a milder alternative to Stilton. Serve with a sweet wine or a dark Porter ale.

While the majority of traditional classroom courses are still suspended due to COVID-19, delegates can sign up to Academy of Cheese Level 1 & 2 courses online as self-study eLearning, or interactive virtual classes. To find out more, visit academyofcheese.org

A lot of cheeses are named after where they are made but we wanted branding that stood out

Catching the eye…and nose

Despite only setting up in 2019, Somerset-based Feltham’s Farm and its cheese have grabbed the attention of retailers and consumers

By Patrick McGuigan

THERE’S NO MISTAKING Renegade Monk, and not just because of its pungent aroma. Made by Feltham’s Farm in Somerset, the soft, organic cheese has found notoriety thanks to its remarkably powerful rind, which cheesemongers politely describe as being “bold”, “assertive” and “not one for the faint-hearted”.

But it also stands out thanks to bright, unconventional steampunk branding, which helps the product almost pogo off the shelf. While many British cheese labels depict cows, hedges and hills, Renegade Monk features a sinister man of the cloth in dark goggles.

Owners Marcus Fergusson and Penny Nagle commissioned cutting-edge graphic designer and dance music label boss Jem Panufnik to come up with the funky design, taking inspiration from old Camembert labels and record sleeve art.

“We both have media backgrounds and know that brand and marketing is incredibly important,” Fergusson tells FFD. “A lot of cheeses in Britain are named after the village where they are made. It’s rural, pastoral and bucolic, but we wanted branding that stood out.”

The couple gave up London careers in music, cinema and corporate communications six years ago to lead the good life with their three young children on a 22-acre smallholding near Templecombe. A one-day course at River Cottage was the catalyst for setting up the cheese business with milk sourced from a nearby organic farm to make Renegade Monk, plus a slightly less pungent sister cheese called Rebel Nun.

Production had only just started at a new £350k dairy, built on the smallholding in 2019, when COVID struck. After a tricky few months, the business has managed to tick over thanks to guaranteed orders from The Fine Cheese Co, plus a listing with Abel & Cole and an increase in direct sales. It also received a boost when Renegade Monk was named Supreme Champion at the inaugural Virtual Cheese Awards in 2020. Remarkably, Feltham’s repeated the success with its new queso fresco-style cheese, La Fresca Margarita (complete with eye-catching daisy branding), at the same awards this year.

Another positive outcome, says Fergusson, has been a structural shift in the market with a big jump in retailers buying direct via courier or collecting from the farm. “They’re cutting out the middle man and can get to know us, and take that story back to their own customers,” he says.

With the economy picking up again, wholesalers who stopped ordering during lockdown may find the old ways of doing business are no longer fit for purpose, he adds.

“I think that model is slightly broken. Some wholesalers might as well be selling flat-pack furniture. They need to think about their business moving forward because they’re going to find a lot of their customers are now going direct.”

There’s plenty of change on the horizon at Feltham’s too, with new cheeses and an apprentice scheme in the pipeline. Fergusson has been made chairman of the Global Cheese Awards in Frome and has gone full circle by taking over the River Cottage cheesemaking course.

Cheese sales are also taking off again after the ups and downs of the past year with Feltham’s packaging still turning heads, says Fergusson. “I had to restock a customer recently who had started the day with 10 Monks and 10 Nuns, but had sold out. A lot had been bought by holidaymakers, who hadn’t seen our cheeses before. They saw the branding and kept asking: ‘What is that?’”

felthamsfarm.com

CROSS SECTION

La Fresca Margarita

1

Launched last November in response to uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, La Fresca Margarita is a quick-to-make, short-shelflife cheese. “A lot of cheesemakers developed harder cheeses that they could hold back during lockdown,” says Marcus Fergusson. “But we can make La Fresca to order.”

Starter cultures are added to pasteurised cows’ milk which acidifies slowly over 10 hours before animal rennet is added. The curd is drained and moulded and salted on one side. It is turned the next day and salted on the other, before more draining. It is ready on day four with a 2-3 week shelf-life. “Fresca Margarita” means “fresh daisy” in Spanish, and is based on queso fresco – a fresh cheese originating in Spain and eaten in Mexico, where it is crumbled over tacos and enchiladas. Feltham’s cheese is soft, light and lemony and can be used instead of cream cheese or ricotta in recipes.

2 3