CHEESEWIRE

Further Brexit import rules likely to cause Continental price rise

By Patrick McGuigan

British cheesemongers are braced for the price of Continental cheese to rise, deilvery delays and shortages when new Brexit import rules eventually come into place in 2022.

As FFD went to press, the Government deferred these measures for a second time.

EU cheeses were due to be subject to new import requirements and documents, including health certi cates, from 1st October but these will now not be required until January 2022. Physical checks at speci ed Border Control Points were also set to begin on 1st January but this has now been moved to July 2022.

British cheeses sent to the EU have been subject to similar requirements since January, resulting in a 34% drop in exports in the rst half of this year, compared to 2019.

Now British cheesemongers are predicting the new controls will disrupt imports of cheese from Europe in the same way.

“The future of EU cheese, especially from small artisan producers, is going to be very di cult and the days of showcasing rare nds is in the balance,” said Patricia Michelson, owner of La Fromagerie. “The sheer weight of paperwork and bureaucracy will scare all the small scale producers from working with us and even if we handle all the paperwork it will be very di cult with the pricing.”

Michelson said that prices are likely to rise, thanks to increased costs for vet inspections that cheesemakers on the Continent won’t pay for.

She added “There is no way out of this unless the exchange rates are so good we can keep them from increasing, although transport charges will also increase and paperwork handling charges, too.”

At Brindisa, cheese buyer José Bueno Marin said there could be delays of between one and two weeks to cheese consignments from Spain when the new measures come into force.

“We are also expecting some price rises,” he said. “Some certi cations require an annual fee that in some cases will be translated in a price increase.”

Tom Chat eld, CEO of European Fine Cheese, which imports cheese from Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, said the cost of moving goods had doubled in the past year due to Brexit. “The new measures are likely to mean we will have to increase minimum orders or pass on extra costs to customers. These rules hurt smaller cheesemakers the most because they don’t have the capacity to deal with the bureaucracy.”

La Fromagerie’s Patricia Michelson said bureaucracy will add cost and dissuade artisans from exporting

NEWS IN BRIEF

A new cheesemaker on the Isle of Wight, Brixton & Badger, has launched its cheddar curds in delis and restaurants on the island. The company is owned by Emily Macdonald, a native of the US state of Wisconsin where cheese curds are hugely popular.

Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company is now offering VIP experiences at its Somerset dairy, which will see visitors take part in the production process, tours and tastings.

Devon-based Sharpham Wine & Cheese is celebrating its 40th anniversary in September with a three-course meal, plus cheese and wine tasting, at the Sharpham Estate, where Maurice Ash first set up the business in 1981.

A new book written by cheesemonger Svetlana Kukharchuk reveals the secrets of how to understand and appreciate fine cheese. The Cheese Connoisseur’s Handbook (Rethink Press, £12.99) explains how to buy, store, taste and serve cheese, as well as detailing how cheese is made, its history and nutritional value.

“I wanted to share everything I know about cheese and how it fits into a healthy lifestyle,” said Kukharchuk, who owns The Cheese Lady shop in Haddington, Scotland. thecheeselady.co.uk

THREE WAYS WITH...

Ogleshield

Very different from its famous cheddar, Montgomery’s washed rind, raclettestyle cheese, which is made with rich Jersey milk at Manor Farm in Somerset, is a favourite of chefs thanks to its funky flavour and elastic melting properties.

Pastrami Steve Parker’s extremely useful book British Cheese on Toast features more than 100 recipes involving melted cheese and bread. His suggestion for Ogleshield mixes Somerset and New York in a deli-style combination of pastrami, gherkins and mustard on spelt bread with plenty of Ogleshield melted on top. The salty, savoury beef emphasises the meaty notes from the cheese’s pinkish rind.

Kimchi The brothy rind of Ogleshield is balanced by a mellow, milky core, which works as a foil for spicy, piquant flavours. A few spoonfuls of kimchi added to an Ogleshield toastie is the secret to a happy lunch, while vaunted steak restaurant Hawksmoor has topped its burgers with the melted cheese and kimchi, and has even served shortrib and Ogleshield nuggets with kimchi ketchup. The crunch from the Korean condiment contrasts nicely with the pliable cheese.

Beer Washed rind cheeses and Belgian beers are firm friends, and this is particularly true of Gouden Carolus with Ogleshield. The 8.5% ale from Anker brewery has a ruby brown hue and is full of dark fruit and caramel flavours, which accentuate the fruitiness that often comes from the rind of the cheese. A rich, comforting combo for autumn.

Greek pressure forces Shepherds Purse to rename Yorkshire Fettle

By Patrick McGuigan

Shepherds Purse will have to rename its Yorkshire Fettle cheese for the second time following demands from Greek cheesemakers, who argue its name breaches the PDO for Feta.

First made in 1987 as Yorkshire Feta, the crumbly, sheep’s milk cheese was renamed Yorkshire Fettle in 2008 when Feta won PDO status.

However, the Federation of Greek Dairy Products Industries believes Fettle is still too similar to the name Feta and has demanded that Shepherds Purse stop using it.

The Yorkshire cheesemaker disagrees, but does not have the resources for a legal ght, so will, once again, rename the product. A new name had not yet been chosen as FFD went to press.

“It’s devastating to see our well-loved product go through this process once more a er we believed it was resolved back in 2008,” said co-owner Caroline Bell. “Whilst we agree whole heartedly with the spirit of PDO legislation, we don’t believe that our name breaches it. But we sit as a fringe case and sadly, as a small independent family business, our resources to ght it are limited, particularly a er this exceptionally di cult period due to the pandemic.”

Bell’s sister and co-owner Katie Matten said the enforced change was “a blow” a er investing heavily in new equipment and new packaging during the pandemic to help support sheep milk farmers.

“It’s an exceptional product made from quality British sheep’s milk and we have over 30 years’ experience in making it,” she said. “We will move forward positively despite this recent challenge.”

Shepherds Purse co-owners Katie Matten and Caroline Bell will have to rename their sheep’s milk cheese

shepherdspurse.co.uk

BEHIND THE COUNTER TIPS OF THE TRADE

Jean-Marc Delys, Fauvette, Penarth

Originally from the Loire valley, where vineyards are part of the landscape, Jean-Marc Delys knows his grapes. So it’s no surprise wine is a focus at the cheese shop he runs with Philippa Friedman.

The range is tight, with around 20 bottles, though Fauvette also offers a popular refill option with reusable 500ml and 750ml bottles. Price points range from £10-£28.

“We focus on low-intervention wines because they fit the same ethos of the cheese, supporting family businesses who use good ingredients,” he says. “We go for lighter and medium wines because they work better with cheese.”

Cross-selling comes from chatting with customers, but also through cheese and wine evenings and the shop’s wine bar, where cheeses are matched with specific wines. “We also do a discounted cheese of the week on the blackboard with a recommend matching wine,” says Delys.

fauvette.co.uk

CHEESE IN PROFILE with

Cuddy’s Cave

What’s the story?

Cuddy’s Cave is an unpasteurised cheese made on a family farm in the Glendale Valley in Northumberland. The home of the Maxwell family since the 1950s, North Doddington Farm produces both cheese and ice cream. Cheesemaker Margaret-Ann (Maggie) uses milk from the farm’s closed herd of cows, which are a mix of Friesians, Holsteins, Ayrshires and Montbeliardes. The cows graze in one of the least inhabited places in the UK and are milked twice a day. Their diet consists largely of grazed grass in the summer and homegrown silage, fodder beet and cereals in the winter, which gives an intense and seasonal flavour to the cheeses. Cuddy’s Cave is named after a local landmark in which St Cuthbert’s body was said to have been of the summer milk can make it creamy and buttery.

Variations: There is an oak-smoked version

Cheesemonger tip:

The maker recommends simply serving the cheese with plain water biscuits and some salted butter but you could upsell with a bottle of crisp, fruity Riesling.

Chef’s

recommendation: Aside from the cheeseboard, Cuddy’s Cave it is perfect for cooking with, as the cheese melts beautifully, so try it in a leek and ham hock gratin.

hidden to protect it from the Vikings.

How is it made?

The raw milk is set with a traditional animal rennet, cut into butter bean-sized pieces and the curd is acidified in the mould. It is made in 3.5kg wheels. The cheeses are pressed for 24 hours and brined, before being matured for up to six months, during which time a natural rind forms.

Appearance & texture:

Cuddy’s Cave has a pale cream colour. It is close textured and, although mellow, it is a full flavoured cheese with a lingering and complex aftertaste with notes of citrus. The high fat content

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. Visit academyofcheese.org to find out more.

NORTH OF ENGLAND

SPECIAL

COVID has driven the business in the right direction much faster than otherwise

Robert Gosling

Daring to be different

The pandemic has forced the country’s smallest Stilton producer, Hartington Creamery, into a major re-think – and it’s paying dividends.

Interview by Patrick McGuigan

COVID HAS NOT been kind to Stiltonmakers. Sales of the blue cheese fell 16% last year as the pandemic took its toll, according to the Stilton Cheese Makers Association.

The crisis was particularly hard on smaller producers supplying restaurants. And there are none smaller than the Hartington Creamery at Pikehall Farm in the Derbyshire Dales, which only makes 60 tonnes of the PDO-protected cheese a year. The company was thrown into turmoil when it lost 80% of its sales overnight, but what could have led to disaster, turned out to be just what the business needed, says owner and farmer Robert Gosling.

“COVID is the best thing that’s happened to us,” he says. “We’ve had some pain and lost money, but it’s driven the business in the right direction much faster than otherwise. We’ve learned to dare to be di erent.”

The company previously supplied Stilton to just a handful of foodservice wholesalers, but was forced to focus on independent retail and online direct-to-consumer sales last year. It also put greater emphasis on its other cheeses – the so PDO blue Dovedale, Shropshire Blue and crumbly Peakland Blue and White – while launching new blended cheeses in avours such as caramelised chutney and chilli. At the same time, it developed bespoke blues for Chatsworth Farm Shop and Bayley & Sage. “Our turnover is higher now,” says Gosling.

The company was founded in 1870 and rst made Stilton in 1900. In 2008, Hartington was one of the largest Stilton producers in the country, employing 180 people, but was sold by then owner Dairy Crest to rival Long Clawson, which promptly closed the factory and relocated production.

It wasn’t until 2012 that Hartington was resurrected by two former employees who set up at Pikehall Farm, making cheese with milk from Gosling’s 200-strong herd of cows. Gosling took over the business in 2019 and has been helped in his endeavours by entrepreneur Simon Spurrell, who joined last autumn.

Spurrell owns a so ware and marketing businesses, and is also the founder of the Cheshire Cheese Company, which sells a variety of waxed, blended cheeses. He set up the business 10 years ago and has grown it to be a £5m brand – £2m of which comes from online sales direct to consumers, who are encouraged to sign up to a free membership scheme with special o ers and reward points. The club currently has 105,000 members.

“All the lessons we’ve learned from the Cheshire Cheese Company have been applied to Hartington,” says Spurrell. “Hartington is a forgotten brand. I want to help it rise from its slumber to become what it should be, which is one of best-known Stilton makers.”

The plan is working, with Hartington’s newsletter list going from zero to more than 10,000 subscribers, giving the company a much better understanding of its customers, says Spurrell. “Stilton is an older demographic cheese, so one of the challenges is to nd a younger market. Dovedale is a good way to do that. So er Gorgonzola-style cheeses are seen as much trendier than granddad’s Stilton.”

Gosling adds: “The advantage of selling online and having a big range is you can start people on blended cheeses and Dovedale, but they come back for Shropshire Blue or Stilton.”

It seems like daring to be di erent is paying o .

hartingtoncreamery.co.uk

CROSS SECTION

Dovedale PDO

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First developed in the 1990s by Dairy Crest, which previously owned the Hartington Creamery, Dovedale was one of the first Continental-style blues to be made in the UK. It received PDO protection in 1996.

Softer and milder than Stilton, the cheese must be made with milk from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire or Staffordshire, and manufactured within 50 miles of the River Dove. It is made in 350g individual cheeses and 2kg wheels, which are brined and aged for six to eight weeks. The cheese develops a softer breakdown beneath the natural rind as it matures to create a two-tone texture. Two years ago, Stilton accounted for 70% of sales at Hartington, but this figure has dropped to 50% as its other cheeses took off during the pandemic. Dovedale now accounts for 26% of turnover. As well as Dovedale, White Stilton and Blue Stilton, Hartington is entitled to make a fourth PDO cheese called Buxton Blue, production of which is scheduled to restart soon.

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