CHEESEWIRE

U-turn on EU import paperwork is distorting market for UK makers

By Patrick McGuigan

The Government’s last-minute U-turn on new paperwork requirements for EU foods coming into the UK has been criticised by British cheesemakers.

In September, the Government scrapped plans to implement post-Brexit controls on EU agricultural foods coming into the UK, which were due to come into force on 1st October and 1st January 2022.

These included vet certi cates for foods of animal origin and physical border checks, which would have seen European cheesemakers subject to the same requirements as British cheesemakers exporting to Europe. However, the controls have now been pushed back for a second time for a further six to eight months.

“There’s no level playing eld,” said Simon Spurrell, founder of the Cheshire Cheese Company and director at Stilton producer Hartington Creamery. “European cheesemakers are exporting cheese to the UK without any of the hurdles we face going the other way. Nothing has changed for them.”

The point was echoed by Food and Drink Federation chief executive Ian Wright. “The repeated failure to implement full UK border controls on EU imports since 1st January 2021 undermines trust and con dence among businesses – worse, it actually helps the UK’s competitors,” he said. “The asymmetric nature of border controls facing exports and imports distorts the market and places many UK producers at a disadvantage.”

The Cheshire Cheese Company has lost £250,000 worth of sales to the EU since Brexit because of increased bureaucracy and costs. Spurrell said that consignments now cost around £1,500 more than before Brexit, meaning they were no longer viable. But the cheesemaker is not pushing for EU makers to be subjected to the same requirements.

“Imposing the same regulations on them is just cutting o your nose to spite your face. I would much rather we all sat down and worked out a reduction in paperwork for everyone. It’s not tit for tat.”

Cumbrian cheesemaker Martin Gott has also seen exports in Europe crumble since Brexit, but like Spurrell does not want to see EU cheesemakers hamstrung in the same way.

“Is this supposed to be what taking back control looks like?” he asked. “I don’t begrudge small cheesemakers in Europe having access to the British market. Cheeses like mine wouldn’t exist without them. They represent a vision of diversity, which is aspirational for British cheese.”

Simon Spurrell of the Cheshire Cheese Company says there is not a level playing field for exporters

NEWS IN BRIEF

Award-winning cheesemonger Cheese Etc in Pangbourne has opened a new workshop and tasting room next door, which will be used for events, click-andcollect and packing for online sales.

A raft of new cheese shops are opening, including second shops for Jericho in Oxfordshire, Provisions in Hackney and Hamm Tun Deli in Northamptonshire, plus first shops for Cheese on Sea in Hastings, Magdalen Cheese and Provisions in Exeter and Heritage Cheese In Dulwich.

Industry body Dairy UK has criticised the new trade deal between the UK and New Zealand, which it says will see cheaper, less sustainable dairy products, including cheese, flood the UK market and undermine British producers.

North Wales cheesemaker Castell Gwyn has moved to new premises and is expanding production. Owner Jackie Weaver, who set up the company in 2018 and makes soft, flavoured cheeses, has built a new dairy in her garage in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, and invested in a new 500-litre vat with help from a £13,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales.

THREE WAYS WITH...

Berkswell

Made at Ram Hall Farm in the West Midlands by the Fletcher family, Berkswell is a modern British classic. The raw sheep’s milk cheese is typically aged for four to eight months until it has a slightly grainy texture and sweet, tangy flavour, while some batches can be more savoury and brothy.

Wheat beer There’s a pleasing tropical fruit flavour to more mature Berkswell cheeses, which marries nicely with the banana and bubblegum notes found in German wheat beers. Schwarz & Weiss Dunkelweizen, made by the Krafty Braumeister in Suffolk, is a particularly good match. The dark wheat beer is made with roasted and oak-smoked barley malts and has a spicy, fruity and malty flavour that complements the hard cheese beautifully.

Pesto Berkswell can be a good British alternative to Pecorino or Parmesan. The Fletcher family uses their cheese to make pesto with a twist. They blitz toasted pine nuts, basil, garlic, spinach and cavolo nero with plenty of grated Berkswell in a food processor, then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Perfect for pasta with more grated Berkswell to finish.

Quince jelly It’s often described as Britain’s answer to Manchego, but Berkswell has its own character with a grainier, fresher texture. So rather than membrillo, try quince jelly, which has a softer, more delicate set, and better matches the paste of the cheese. Rosebud Preserves Quince Jelly is hard to beat. The rubycoloured condiment is sweet, sharp and perfumed, picking up on fruity notes in the cheese.

The Courtyard Dairy prepares to do the double with expansion

By Patrick McGuigan

Award-winning Yorkshire cheesemonger The Courtyard Dairy has secured planning permission to more than double the size of its premises with a newly expanded museum, café, shop and cheese maturation cave.

Andy and Kathy Swinscoe, who set up the business in 2012 and moved to their current site on a former falconry centre in Austwick, near Settle, in 2017, plan to become the “epicentre of traditional farm-made British cheese” through the expansion, which will start in February and is due to be completed in September next year.

The new plans will see the current 150 sq m site extended with a new 200 sq m building with a large illuminated ‘cheese’ sign, containing a new museum, cafe and events space. The shop will also be extended into the space where the current museum is located, with o ces above.

Underneath will be a 400 sq m maturing cave, which will house cheese made by an on-site cheesemaker, based in a separate building next door. This is currently occupied by sheep’s cheese producer Long Churn Cheese, run by Courtyard cheesemonger Sam Horton and his partner Rachael Turner. The cave will also be used to mature cheeses from other producers.

“COVID has taught us that as much as mail order and restaurant wholesale are nice parts of the business, they’re not what we love doing,” said Andy Swinscoe. “We love having people through the door and talking to them about farmhouse cheese.

“We’d like it to be a location where anyone interested in cheese will visit at some point in their lives.”

thecourtyarddairy.co.uk

Andy Swinscoe wants to make his premises the “epicentre of British farmmade cheese”

BEHIND THE COUNTER TIPS OF THE TRADE

Ian Allsop, Camlan, Snowdonia, Wales

There are three parts to Camlan’s business in Dinas Mawddwy, within the Snowdonia National Park: a garden centre, café and farm shop. But co-owner Ian Allsop has a few clever tricks to tie them together and make sure the cheese counter stays busy.

“If you buy a plant you have to pay for it in the farm shop, so you have to go past the cheese counter,” he says. “I often hear customers saying, ‘Oh, you sell cheese too’.”

Clever lighting also helps attract people, he adds. “The counter is lit up at the back of the shop, so has a glow that pulls people in.”

Holidaymakers are an important part of the customer base with prepack wedges and individual whole cheeses the backbone of sales. Allsop also has a separate fridge by the entrance with the full range of Snowdonia waxed cheeses. “80% of our customers are tourists and they want cheeses that are easy to take home as gifts,” he says. “It’s amazing how sales increased when I put the Snowdonias at eye level by the door where there’s high footfall.”

CHEESE IN PROFILE with

Chaource

What’s the story?

It’s a soft French cheese made from cows’ milk in the village of Chaource, in Champagne. Created by monks in the Middle Ages, this full-cream cows’ milk cheese evolved in the 18th century to fit in around the daily chores of the farmhouse. Chaource has Protected Designation of Origin status, which governs how and where the cheese is made. Production today is mostly centred around the departments of Aube in the ChampagneArdenne region and Yonne in neighbouring Burgundy.

How is it made?

Historically cows’ milk was left to naturally coagulate into a lactic set curd, before being drained slowly – processes that didn’t require supervision and allowed the farmers’ wives (who typically made the cheese) to get on with other tasks. Today, production can be either artisanal or industrial and cheeses can be made from either raw or pasteurized milk.

The milk is heated to around 25-35°C and then rennet is added. Coagulation takes 12 hours then the curds are transferred to perforated moulds to drain. Following salting and drying, the cheeses are matured for between two weeks and two months.

Appearance & texture:

This cylindrical-shaped cheese has a soft-ripened, creamy, slightly chalky texture. The cheese is surrounded by a velvety rind covered predominantly by the white mould Penicillium Candidum. Younger cheeses have a fresh and slightly lactic flavour, while more mature Chaource is buttery with notes of mushroom and a hazelnut finish. Chaource ripens from the outside in, so at room temperature, a runny, gooey layer will pull away from the firmer interior when you slice into it.

Variations:

250g and 500g

Cheesemonger tip:

Recommend this to your customers as an alternative to brie or camembert. To serve, leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Chef’s recommendation:

This soft cheese is excellent baked into macaroni or a potato gratin. You can also spread it on a baguette or just dig in with a spoon! Pair it with Champagne, an unoaked Chablis, or a red Burgundy.

There are a number of ways you can study Level 1 & 2 Academy of Cheese courses; online as self-study eLearning, interactive virtual classes or traditional classes at a venue. academyofcheese.org

Reading the room

A COVID-induced burst of creativity helped grow The Old Cheese Room’s range – and its customer base

Interview by Patrick McGuigan

NESTON PARK IN Wiltshire might be familiar to fans of BBC period dramas. The owners of the 5,000-acre estate, have turned the farm into a thriving set for TV shows, including Lark Rise to Candleford and Poldark.

Aidan Turner and his famous scythe are long gone on our visit, but there’s plenty of curd cutting happening at the Old Cheese Room, which operates from a converted byre on the estate. Here Hungarian cheesemaker Julianna Sedli and her partner Karim Niazy turn milk from the farm’s 270-strong herd of organic Jersey cows into the Reblochon-style Baronet, named a er Neston Park’s owner and fourth baronet Sir James Fuller.

First set up in 2011, business was ticking along nicely until COVID forced the couple to nd new customers, hastily updating their website to better sell to the public while also sparking a remarkable burst of creativity in the form of three new cheeses. Impressive stu considering the couple had to home school their two young daughters at the same time.

The ashed, lactic cheese Lypiatt was an immediate hit and was soon joined by the semi-hard Bybrook and the so , herb-rolled Culpepper. It’s testament to Sedli’s experience and skill (she previously worked for Capriole in the US and legendary cheesemaker Mary Holbrook) that the new cheeses were so successful so quickly, but she is keen to point out they were a joint e ort with Niazy, who is an adept cheesemaker in his own right.

“He’s learned how to make cheese from me, but he brings his own approach,” explains Sedli in her small o ce decorated with pictures drawn by the kids during lockdown. “He is really methodical when it comes to studying pH levels, time and temperature to try to improve the cheeses. He’s made me a better cheesemaker.”

The late great Mary Holbrook had a di erent philosophy, using feel more than science to make cheeses, such as Cardo and Tymsboro, recalls Sedli, who worked with her for two years at Sleight Farm in Somerset.

“She had the con dence to not be so reliant on the numbers and the science, and to be guided by taste and touch. She had a pH meter but kept it under the bed in a case. I do rely on intuition, but you also need consistency. The science is important.”

Sedli and Niazy’s new product push was helped by customers at the regular farmers’ markets they attend, who are never shy at voicing their cheese opinions, says Niazy. “I like the interaction at markets and the feedback is wonderful. If it’s too salty, I get to hear about it pretty quickly.”

Fortune also played its part in the new cheeses. Culpeper, for example, named a er a 17th-century botanist, was born from an accident in the dairy when a batch of Lypiatt cheeses turned out to be too large.

“We had to cut them to size so they would mature properly, so hand-rolled the le -over curd into balls, which we ended up coating in herbs as an experiment,” explains Niazy.

They started with ‘herbes de Provence’, but a er tasting and feedback from customers, switched to a mixture of English herbs, including rosemary, sage and parsley. The Fine Cheese Co was so impressed they listed the little cheeses almost immediately.

It just goes to show that a little drama can be good for business in more ways than one.

theoldcheeseroom.com

I do rely on intuition, but you also need consistency. The science is important.

CROSS SECTION

Bybrook

1

Bybrook is another new cheese that came about via fortuitous accident. A batch of Baronet was stirred for too long, so the curd was scalded to a high temperature as an experiment. “The texture wasn’t right, but the flavour was good,” says Niazy. “There was a nuttiness that we liked.”

2 3

Made in a similar way to the Italian cheese Asiago, the curd is cut small and scalded to around 48oC. The cheeses are made in 3.5kg wheels, which are dry salted and rubbed in oil. The small holes come from the addition of propionic bacteria to the milk. The cheese is aged for around three months, initially at 14oC for a few days to encourage the holes to form, and then at a much lower temperature. The final cheese has a pliable, bouncy texture and a delicate, sweet and hazelnutty flavour.