Good Cheese 2017 18

2017-18 | £4.50

Know your Brown Swiss from your Montbéliarde with our guide to the world’s great dairy breeds

Meet Your Milker INSIDE

• BRITISH ‘ALPINES’ • LOSE THE LACTOSE • ACADEMY OF CHEESE • WHERE TO EAT • LA FROMAGERIE • NORWEGIAN BLUE • FIND A CHEESE SHOP • ODD COUPLES

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Welcome

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COUNTER CULTURE

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News from the world of speciality cheese.

DAIRY BREEDS

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Paul Thomas identifies the most important milkers in the world of cheese

BRITISH CHEESE-MAKING

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Patrick McGuigan meets the British cheese-makers creating their own homegrown alpine-style cheeses

REVIEW: REINVENTING THE WHEEL

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Neal’s Yard buyer Bronwen Percival’s new book argues the importance of terroir against the juggernaut of factory production

PROFILE: KRAFTKAR

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Shopping for food, we’re told, is increasingly about the ‘experience’.

Supermarkets are struggling to keep our business. Amazon and Ocado are mopping up more and more of the tedious weekly grocery shop. Dining out is the new eating-in (except when we reproduce dining-out at home with the aid of a £10 Waitrose meal-deal). And if we don’t want tablecloths and cutlery there’s an endless stream of new street food to dip our sticky fingers into.

It takes something a bit special, apparently, to drag us back to the poor old high street. And can you think of anything much more special than a really great cheese shop?

It’s a while since I’ve been inside Patricia Michelson’s La Fromagerie in Marylebone. Michael Lane’s interview with Patricia on p36 of this edition reminded me what a great shop that is – one of the first I’d seen that had no counters for staff to hide behind, but where cheesemonger and customer stand side by side in front of the cheeses and journey through the range together.

Patricia was doing retail “experience” before the term had been coined. And now she has cannily opened a third outlet – a “more convivial” shop, café and bar in Bloomsbury – that takes that experience firmly into the present. All the stuff that real foodies love in one outlet, and a menu that combines some of the best cheese available anywhere in this country with my other top gastronomic squeeze: charcuterie.

The supermarkets can carry on blowing the scent of baking bread around their soulless sheds. I’ll take the whiff of manchego and mortadella every time.

As ever, this year’s Good Cheese celebrates every aspect of the cheese experience: buying it to take home, eating out, making it (even in the often-frozen north-west of Norway) and selling it.

We’ve taken a look at the Academy of Cheese, which aims to do for our world what the WSET has done for wine knowledge globally.

And reflecting today’s growing understanding of dietary issues, we’ve even taken a look at cheeses to suit anyone with lactose or casein intolerance.

All that and a guide to the world’s great dairy breeds, fabulously illustrated by Garen Ewing.

Enjoy the experience.

Mick Whitworth Editorial Director Good Cheese and Fine Food Digest

Mark Lewis reports on last year’s World Cheese Awards winner, Kraftkar, a semi-soft blue from Norway

WHERE TO EAT

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Looking for a cheese fix? Nick Baines explores 10 tasty venues that are inventing new ways to serve cheese

INTERVIEW: PATRICIA MICHELSON

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The founder of La Fromagerie discusses her vision for serving cheese to diners and gives her formula for the perfect cheeseboard

SPECIAL DIETS

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Author and nutritionist Naomi Devlin gives her selection of cheeses that even those with a lactose intolerance can enjoy

ACADEMY OF CHEESE

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Already attracting trade specialists, co-founder Mary Quicke explains what the Academy can offer cheese-loving consumers

FOOD MATCHING

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From bacon jam to shiitake mushroom salad, discover this year’s accompaniments pushing the boundaries on cheese pairing 45

DIRECTORY OF RETAILERS Find your nearest stockist in this directory of shops

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EDITORIAL editorial@gff.co.uk Editorial director: Mick Whitworth Editor: Michael Lane Assistant editor: Lauren Phillips Art Director: Mark Windsor ADVERTISING advertise@gff.co.uk Sales director: Sally Coley Sales manager: Ruth Debnam Sales executives: Becky Stacey, Maria Burnett PRINTED BY Monster Media Management Ltd

GENERAL ENQUIRIES Tel: +44 (0) 1747 825200 Fax: +44 (0) 1747 824065 info@gff.co.uk, www.gff.co.uk Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB UK PUBLISHED BY The Guild of Fine Food Ltd www.gff.co.uk © The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2017.

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.

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Counter culture

What’s new in the world of speciality cheese Compiled by Lauren Phillips

Intense flavours of Spain Spanish food wholesaler Mevalco has added two new speciality cheeses to its collection.

The Bristol-based company has become the exclusive importer of a sheep’s milk cheese called Zamaron, an “intense but creamy cheese” with flavours of “burnt caramel” against a “buttery taste of sheep’s milk”.

The second newcomer is a smoked Idiazabel made with raw milk from local Laxta sheep in the remote rural areas of the Basque and Navarra regions of northern Spain. The cheese is said to have a “firm and pleasantly oily texture” with rich, savoury and smoky characteristics from being stored near the fireplaces in mountain shepherd huts. mevalco.com

Portuguese producer Brejo da Gaia has introduced its goats’ cheese in a canned format, alongside a new goats’ cheese with fig jam.

The canned cheese is marinated in a regional virgin olive oil seasoned with oregano leaves and chilli to give a “strong, aromatic and spicy palate”.

The goats’ cheese with fig jam is said to have a “soft palate and nutty flavour”, reflecting the fragrant plants and flowers that the animals feed on, complementing the sweetness of the fig. brejodagaia@sapo.pt

Speciality food distributor The Cress Co is developing a dedicated in-house cheese team after ending its partnership with artisan cheese specialist Tanny Gill. It also plans to extend its programme of tasting events, giving customers direct access to cheese producers and their knowledge. Cress’s trade customers can now mix orders of cheeses with other chilled and ambient products, delivered across the UK in the distributor’s temperature-controlled vans. thecressco.co.uk

Swiss producer Guntensperger Cheese has launched its range of unpasteurised goats’ and cows’ milk cheeses to the UK market and is currently looking for distributors.

Produced in the mountain valley of Toggenburg in northeastern Switzerland, the cheeses include Roter Teufel Extra (a mature semihard cows’ milk cheese), Toggenburger Ziege (goats’ milk cheese matured for a minimum of 4 months), and Gwitterchäs (aromatic cows’ milk cheese with a creamy texture).

Artisan producer Teesdale Cheesemakers’ in Country Durham has launched a handmade semi-soft goats’ cheese with a natural mould ripened rind. The cheese has already won gold at the Artisan Cheese Awards and received two stars at Great Taste. RRP £34 per kilo. teesdalecheesemakers.co.uk

guntenspergercheese.com

• This year has seen Quickes’ traditional clothbound cheddar being made using Cornish Sea Salt for the first time.

“We’re delighted to be the first to do this after so many years in the making,” said managing director Mary Quicke.

She said the salt, from the Lizard peninsular, had a unique mineral-rich flavour that initially hits the palate and then withdraws to enhance other ingredients, giving “an extra complexity of flavour”.

The first new-recipe cheddars went on sale in August, with an extra mature launched in Autumn 2017 and the vintage version set to appear by Spring 2018. quickes.co.uk

Waxed wonders The Fine Cheese Co has added two new varieties – ewes’ milk and oak-smoked – to its waxed cheddar range.

The ewes’ milk cheddar is matured for around six months to develop a “mellow and slightly sweet flavour”. The oak-smoked version is made in the same way as traditional cheddar, matured to reach a creamy consistency then smoked gently over oak chippings. finecheese.co.uk

The Bath Soft Cheese Co has created an organic, pasteurised, vegetarian cheese called Merry Wyfe.

Based on the same curds as its established, slightly gouda-like Wyfe of Bath, the newcomer is washed in cider every other day for four weeks, giving it a “distinctive pungent, orange, edible rind and rich, creamy paste”. parkfarm.co.uk

Godminster has expanded its brie-making production facility in Bruton, Somerset, and invested in a new brie turning machine to increase production after securing grant aid from the South West Growth Fund. godminster.com

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Counter culture

Sozzled in Somerset Somerset-based Feltham’s Farm has created Renegade Monk, a soft, mild blue cheese rind-washed in ale.

Made from organic, pasteurised cows’ milk, the set curd is hand-washed in ale every few days as the cheese matures for no more than four weeks.

Cheesemaker Marcus Fergusson deliberately created a cheese of a style not traditionally found in Britain, inspired by a range of Continental cheeses, including Brie, Camembert, Époisses and a young Gorgonzola.

Renegade Monk may be European in style but is determinedly Somerset British by design, says Fergusson. The milk comes from Bruton Organic Dairy and the ale – Funky Monkey – from the Milk Street Brewery in Frome.

“This is a cheese with attitude,” said Fergusson, “the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. We have been operating at full capacity since June, producing 240 cheeses per week and are looking to build a bigger facility next year.”

Ludlow rolls back the centuries Ludlow Food Centre has revived an 18th century recipe for ‘Shropshire’ cheese after finding an historical text about an old dairy in Ludlow that once produced it.

Ludlow’s dairy manager Dudley Martin, who makes the cheese onsite at the food hall-cum-artisan production centre, has spent the past two years piecing together clues about Shropshire: a crumbly textured cheese likened to a modern-day Lancashire but gentler and subtler.

Martin has created two seasonal variants of the cheese – Winter and Summer – using natural colourants carrot juice and marigold, commonly used 300 years ago.

“I am very proud of this region and its food,” he said, “so when we discovered Shropshire had its own forgotten cheese variety we were keen to learn as much about it as we could, to see if it would be possible to recreate this food from the past.” ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk

felthamsfarm.com

Welsh producer Caws Teifi Cheese is determined to defy Brexit with the production of two new Europeaninspired cheeses.

The company has created its own organic halloumi, following traditional methods but using Welsh milk, and a Welsh Caerphilly coated in Hungarian sweet paprika, called Twm Sion.

The company says Twm Sion represents a true Caerphilly rebel “infused with the blood [paprika] of Welsh and Hungarian freedom fighters”. teificheese.co.uk

Sharpham Cremet, a luxurious, mould-ripened goats’ cheese with added cows’ cream was named this year’s Supreme Champion Product at the annual Taste of the West Food and Drink awards. Produced by Sharpham Cheese Dairy near Totnes in Devon, Cremet is described as subtle, fresh and creamy with a mousse-like texture when young, which matures into a fuller, richer flavour with earthy undertones.

Taking inspiration from Quicke’s, Whalesborough Cheese has announced that it will begin using Cornish Sea Salt in its own cheeses from the start of 2018.

Director Sue Proudfoot said she began experimenting with the sea salt after meeting Quicke’s Stuart Dowle at the Tavistock Real Cheese Fair last August.

“I was so impressed with Quicke’s cheddar that I went straight home and did some trials,” said Proudfoot.

“We found Cornish Sea Salt very effective in breaking down the paté, deepening the flavour and softening the texture as the cheese ripens.”

The producer, on the north Cornwall coast, has also developed a new cheese incorporating Cornish Sea Salt’s lemon and thyme, called Miss Thymed.

“We experimented using it with our Miss Muffet recipe,” Proudfoot said. “The softer, supple texture gently takes up the subtle flavours of lemon and thyme. The cheese tastes delicious and looks great too with the flecks of green thyme.”

Miss Thymed will join Miss Muffet along with Keltic Gold, Cornish Crumbly, Cornish Smuggler and Trelawny, in a 1.2kg truckle. whalesboroughcheese.co.uk

sharpham.com

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Counter culture

The Wight stuff Briddlesford Farm Dairy has begun making cheese with milk from its Guernsey cows’ milk.

The Isle of Wight producer returned to milk and cream processing on the farm in 2016 with butter production following shortly. It launched its first range of cheeses with a fresh halloumi-style and has now added four others: a Caerphilly, a gouda, a Feta-style and a farmhouse cheddar.

Cheesemaker Izzy Griffin said Briddlesford’s Guernsey milk is exceptional quality, with a higher butterfat and protein content than regular milk, giving its cheeses a rich, creamy flavour and a distinctive deep yellow colouring.

“We are particularly excited about our farmhouse cheddar,” said Griffin. “It’s maturing on wood selected from trees in the ancient woodland on our farm.”

El Roano, a Spanish craft dairy in Lorco, Murcia, has developed a new cured goats’ milk cheese called Añejo.

Made with raw milk from the dairy’s own herd which feeds on green lucerne, the cheese is washed in olive oil every three months as it cures over a year. The result is a brittle paste, brownish yellow in colour, with a strong flavour and spicy aftertaste.

Run by Pedro Giner and his two sons Pedro and Jaime, El Roano participated at the World Cheese Awards for the first time in San Sebastian in 2016, taking a silver and bronze award. facebook.com/ artesanoquesoroano/

Since investing £5m into its creamery and visitor centre, Wensleydale Creamery has developed two new cheeses.

Its Blue 16 is said to be a “modern-day blue”, russet in colour with notes of sweet caramel and a nutty, savoury flavour.

The other newcomer, Buttertubs, is named after a Yorkshire Dales landmark five miles from the business, It’s a “buttery, creamy-textured cheese” with citrus, lemony notes. wensleydale.co.uk

River Amble Creamery has partnered with Sharps Brewery to create a new beer-washed cheese called 50 Jack.

The semi-hard pasteurised cows’ milk cheese is brined in 50% Sharps Sea Fury ale for 50 hours, and washed weekly in the dark amber ale to give the rind a fantastic colour and a hoppy smell.

50 Jack is the third in River Amble’s collection of Swiss-style cheeses, joining Cornish Jack and the mature Old Jack. facebook.com/RiverAmbleCreamery/

briddlesford.co.uk

Speciality foods wholesaler Harvey & Brockless is launching a new range of own-brand accompaniments for cheese.

They include a gooseberry & nettle relish, damson & sloe gin conserve and a fig & liquorice preserve which the company recommends for use with Cornish Kern or its Ashlynn goats’ cheese.

Harvey & Brockless now holds Meet the Maker masterclasses with the aim of giving retailers and chefs new ideas for pairings, including Ashlynn with pickled cabbage & Peter’s Yard charcoal crackers, Rollright with cumin seeds, and a Baron Bigod Mini with guinettes (cherries in Kirsch). harveyandbrockless.co.uk

Going underground Westcombe Dairy has brought traditional cheddar-making into the 21st century with its new maturing cellar and cheese-turning robot – the first of its kind in Britain.

Built into a clay hill on its farm in Somerset, the cellar has the cool, dark stable conditions of a natural cave ideal for storing cheese, while ‘Tina the Turner’ moves along the aisles turning the cheddar and brushing and vacuum-cleaning it to remove cheese mites.

“This technology has been around for the past 20-30 years with [Continental] affineurs,” said Westcombe’s Tom Calver. “Comté and Le Gruyère are all turned by robots. It hasn’t caught on with cheddar because there aren’t many of us making traditional cheddar anymore.”

With the help of Tina, the cheeses are now turned every 10 days as opposed to every three months by hand. “They’re being turned more often, looking healthier and hardly getting any cheese mite at all on the surface or sides,” said Calver. “From that point of view it has been a great success.” westcombedairy.com

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Artisan ice cream and sorbet producer Brooke’s Dairy has entered cheese-making with the production of a brand new soft variety.

Angiddy is a mould ripened soft cheese said to be similar in style to a brie or camembert. It is made using milk from the dairy’s Jersey cows which the couple says gives the cheese its golden colour, fresh flavour and “addictive tang which is memorable and moreish”. brookesdairy.com

Cows

Holstein Friesian This breed is the backbone of the dairy industry, making up a significant proportion of milk produced internationally.

North American Holsteins are noted for high milk yields in comparison to European Friesian cows. The milk yield and the predominance of the breed have possibly earned the Holstein Friesian some popular criticism in favour of some of the other breeds described below but a large proportion of cheese made today will be made from Holstein Friesian milk.

Crème de la crème

Appearance: Black and white (some may be red and white).

Origin of the breed: Netherlands and Germany.

Weight and height: Approximately 700Kg and 140cm tall (measured to the withers, between the shoulders) Milk yield: can be 10,000L for higher yielding Holsteins Types of cheese: Holstein Friesian milk is used in the production of a wide variety of cheeses from Brie de Meaux to Cheddar.

Great cheeses start with great milk – whether it’s from cows, sheep, goats, or even buffalo. We ask our dairy expert PAUL THOMAS to identify the cheese world’s most magnicent milkers.

Ayrshire A traditional and hardy British breed long associated with cheese-making. References in historical texts to ‘Dunlop’ cattle would have been referring to the Ayrshire breed. The small fat globules of Ayrshire milk make it well suited to cheese-making, being more easily incorporated into the curd.

Appearance: Red (brown) and white Origin of the breed: Scotland, U.K. Weight and height: Approximately 600kg and 130-140cm Milk yield: 8000L per lactation Types of cheese: While the milk of Ayrshire cattle is suited to the production of many different cheese varieties, it is most commonly associated with the production of Dunlop, a cheddar-style cheese which owes much to the work of Joseph Harding, the ‘father of cheddar cheese’ (1805-1876)

Montbéliarde A classic dairy breed but one which is more suited to beef production than the Holstein, with which it is sometimes crossbred. The Montbéliarde is one of the permitted breeds in the production of many alpinestyle cheeses in France. The breed has a reputation for being temperamental in comparison to some other breeds.

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Appearance: Red and white Origin of the breed: Doubs department in Eastern France Weight and height: Approximately 700kg and 140-150cm Milk yield: up to 8000L per lactation Types of cheese: High protein makes Montbéliarde milk (along with that of the Abondance and Tarine cows) well suited to alpine-style cheeses such as Beaufort and Reblochon (which are marked by an elasticity of the paste at the end of cheese-making) rather than the more lactic style of mixed coagulation cheeses such as Brie and Camembert. The breed has a high proportion of the BB Kappa casein gene combination which tends to improve yields when cheese-making.

Dairy breeds Jersey Small, compact and hardy, the Jersey cow is noted for its rich milk and good temperament. The high fat content of the milk is not without its problems, especially in the case of soft, slow-draining cheeses, but the inclusion of some Jersey milk when making cheddar has been shown to improve the yield.

Appearance: Fawn Origin of the breed: The Channel Islands Weight and height: Approximately 700kg and 140-150cm Milk yield: Approximately 5000-6000L per lactation Types of cheese: High solids (fat and protein) but the richness of the milk can pose problems during the drainage of the curd. The milk can be difficult to work with and soft cheeses might tend to become over acidified at the core.

Despite this, some outstanding cheeses are made including Ogleshield, a washed rind cheese made from the milk of Jamie Montgomery’s Jersey herd.

Guernsey Guernsey milk is marked by its glorious yellow colour due to high levels of β−Carotene. The milk is rich but generally shows favourable cheese-making properties. The cows, which are believed to be descended from breeds in the north of France, are renowned for their good temperament and ease of calving. While much has been made of the prevalence of the A2 beta casein gene in Guernsey milk, health claims relating to A2 over A1 milk are disputed by some scientists.

Appearance: Red or fawn and white.

Origin of the breed: The Channel Islands Weight and height: Approximately 600-700kg and 140cm Milk yield: Approximately 6000L per lactation Types of cheese: A wide range of cheeses are made with Guernsey milk including Isle of Wight blue, Waterloo and Briddlesford.

Brown Swiss The extreme terrain of northern Switzerland lies behind the development of this breed of hardy cattle. The breed shows good fertility and an easy temperament while cheese-making properties of the milk are favourable, having a good protein to fat ratio and a high prevalence of BB kappa casein.

Appearance: Light brown Origin of the breed: Switzerland Weight and height: Approximately 650-700kg and 135140cm Milk yield: Approximately 6000L per lactation Types of cheese: While the breed has many followers and the milk is used to produce several different varieties of cheese, its composition favours the production of alpinestyle cheeses – which are typically elastic in texture and made with well-drained curds.

➔ GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Dairy breeds Sheep

Lacaune One of the classic goat breeds, associated with one the most iconic raw milk cheese varieties in the world.

Like other sheep breeds, the yield of milk is lower than other milking species but what it lacks in volume it makes up for in fat and protein, with the solids being nearly twice that of cows’ milk. The high protein accounts for the impressive rennet-coagulation properties of sheep’s milk.

One of

Appearance: White Origin of the breed: Southern France Weight and height: Approximately 70kg and 70-80cm Milk yield: Approximately 270L per lactation Types of cheese: Most famously, Lacaune milk is associated with the production of Roquefort, the breed being specified within the specification for the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

Goats Anglo-Nubian With its distinctive long ears and large rounded nose, the Anglo-Nubian is easily recognised. Sometimes described as the ‘Jersey of the goat breeds’ owing to the high fat content of the milk, the breed originated from the cross-breeding of English and Nubian goats. It is a dual-purpose goat, also suitable for meat production.

Appearance: Various colours are permitted within the breed standard including black, fawn, chestnut and white.

Origin of the breed: England, UK. Weight and height: Approximately 61-110kg and 76-80cm Milk yield: Approximately 1100L per lactation Types of cheese: The high milk solids, including a butterfat of 4.5%, make the breed popular with cheese-makers including Norton and Yarrow, who make Sinodun Hill, and Gillian Clough who makes Hebden goats’ cheese. These are ripened lactic cheeses with a rind dominated by yeasts which cause the distinctive wrinkles on the cheese. Goats’ milk is generally well suited to the production of lactic cheese, which is coagulated predominantly by the action of the starter cultures, with or without a small quantity of rennet.

Water Buffalo Italian Mediterranean Buffalo

This Water Buffalo has a long association with Italy, possibly dating back to the Roman period, though the breed has only been formally recognised relatively recently. The milk has a lower moisture content than cows’ milk as well as higher fat and protein which improves the yield of cheese possible during cheese-making. Buffalo milk typically has 1% more protein than cows’ milk and over 2% more fat.

Appearance: Grey-black Origin of the breed: Italy Weight and height: Approximately 400 kg and 135cm Milk yield: approximately 1700L per lactation Types of cheese: The high fat content of the milk, exceeding 7%, lends itself well to the production of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and contributes to the milky quality of the core of the cheese.

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Creating the Ultimate W Cheeseboard with

With Christmas just around the corner, the search is on for the ‘ultimate’ winter cheeseboard that is delicious, ‘Instagrammable’ and unique. While cheese lovers have a wide selection of cheeses at their disposal to proudly display on their Christmas cheeseboards, they might not have considered that it is in fact possible to create a board to wow their guests using just one cheese.

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

e Winter Comté

Advertising Feature

For over ten centuries, farmers, fruitières and affineurs of the Jura Massif region of Eastern France, have worked together to lovingly craft Comté cheese 365 days of the year.

This means that every wheel of Comté is incredibly diverse - a winter Comté might look paler in colour than a summer Comté, an older Comté might have a harder texture than a younger Comté and a spring Comté might taste more floral than an autumn Comté. This richness of flavour originates in the high quality of the raw milk of the Montbéliarde and French Simmental cows of the Jura Massif. The terroir where these cows eat grass and flowers in the summer and hay in the winter gives a very special and unique taste to Comté.

Each day of the year, the milk is transformed into large wheels of Comté cheese by the small village dairies, known as fruitières, who use the skills and expertise of generations of their ancestors to influence the development of the cheese. The ‘affineurs’ then take care of the wheels of Comté during the ageing process, regularly turning, salting and rubbing each one with brine solution for up to 24 (and sometimes more) months – it is down to their experience and expertise to decide when the cheese is ready, in terms of aromas and texture, for consumption. As a result, the final product works wonderfully with different types of food pairings beyond the typical crackers and chutneys, from crunchy cumin seeds to hard dark chocolate and even strong pickled cabbage flavours.

To accompany these different flavours and textures of Comté, here are a selection of fun and unusual pairings that look and taste great alongside some of the different ages of Comté.

•9 month Comté and caramelised hazelnut with drizzled honey • 14 month Comté and cumin seeds • 14 month Comté and dark chocolate • 18 month Comté and liqueur cherry • 18 month Comté and pickled cabbage • 24 month Comté and venison charcuterie • 24 month Comté and fruit cake

Website: www.comtecheese.co.uk Facebook: ComteCheeseUK Twitter: Comte_Cheese Instagram: @ComteCheeseUK GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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The three towns of Mettlen, Bütschwil and Bodmen are a stone’s throw apart in the green hills of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in North-Eastern Switzerland. It’s where Güntensperger cheeses are made. The oldest of the three dairies dates back to . It takes a day to prepare the cheese, so every morning the Güntensperger truck collects raw milk from 69 local farmers. The cheese makers curdle, shape and press it until it’s ready for maturing. Wheels of aromatic mountain cheese are ripening in the Güntensperger cellars as you read this. After 1.5 to 10 months, the finished wheels are ready to be enjoyed by cheese lovers  around the world. Roter Teufel Extra is just one of the award-winning Güntensperger cheeses, now available in the UK.

1868

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British cheesemaking

Climb every hilltop When it comes to creating a home-grown “alpine” style like Le Gruyère or Comté our cheesemakers have a mountain to climb. But for some, the summit is in sight, as PATRICK McGUIGAN discovers.

From Camembert to Gouda, Europe’s most famous cheeses have long provided inspiration for British cheesemakers. Without Brie de Meaux, Suffolk’s Fen Farm Dairy would probably never have made the new soft cheese Baron Bigod, and it’s no coincidence that Cropwell Bishop’s gooey blue Beauvale bears more than a passing resemblance to Gorgonzola.

But there’s one family of cheeses that Brits have yet to crack.

Made with raw cows’ milk in huge wheels weighing 35kg upwards, Alpine cheeses, such as Comté and Beaufort from France and Le Gruyère from Switzerland, are loved for their pliable texture and nutty, fruity flavours, yet despite their best

efforts British cheesemakers have struggled to come up with a homegrown alternative.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there aren’t many Alps around our way,” jokes cheddarmaker Tom Calver at Westcombe Dairy in Somerset, who has been experimenting with a Comté-style cheese called Alpine for seven years.

The young cheesemaker only makes around 10 of the 30kg raw milk cheeses each year, ageing them for around 12 months, and while some of them have developed into excellent cheeses, others have suffered from cracking.

Calver reckons this is down to differences in the cows’ diets.

During the summer, Comté and

Le Gruyère are made with milk from cows that graze mountain pastures filled with herbs and flowers – a very different terroir to the green fields of Somerset where Westcombe’s cows roam.

Just as importantly, during the winter the French and Swiss cows are fed hay cut from the same Alpine landscape, but in the West Country it is rarely dry for long enough to make hay. The cows are instead fed fermented feed, called silage, when the cold weather comes.

“One of the reasons I started making the cheese was that I wanted to learn more about my milk,” says Calver. “I don’t have conclusive results yet, but it seems

there is more likelihood of gasproducing bacteria in milk [from cows fed on silage], which can lead to cracks in the cheese.”

Fellow Somerset cheddar-maker Jamie Montgomery had similar problems with a Comté-style cheese called Camelot he made for four years, but has now discontinued.

“One of our cheesemakers developed it as a project, but it was never going to make us our fortune,” he says.

“The fundamental issue was how you overcome the effects of silage. For every 20 cheeses we made each year, six or seven would blow [ie. crack].”

Cheddar is not affected by cracking in the same way because ➔ GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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British cheesemaking the production process is different.

Traditional cheddar truckles are cloth bound and the curds are scalded at a lower temperature, typically 42°C, which suits a different range of bacteria. Alpine cheeses in contrast are taken to over 50°C. Alastair Pearson at the Botton Creamery in Yorkshire has sidestepped the problem by making his Summer Field cheese only during the summer, when the cows are grazing outside.

Using raw milk from Dairy Shorthorn cattle, the cheese is based on a German mountain cheese called Bergkäse and comes in 13-14kg wheels, which are aged for 12 months, during which time the rind is washed in brine. Its fruity, caramel flavours have proved so popular that the creamery has doubled production to around 20 tonnes a year, but larger volumes bring their own challenges.

“It takes us at least half a day to wash the cheeses in our store

and if they were any bigger in size we would struggle to handle them,” says Pearson. “You also need quite specific maturing rooms. They don’t do well in fan-blown cooling systems because they dry out. You need high humidity and gentle air flow.”

On the Continent, this job is done for cheesemakers by specialist maturers, or affineurs. They typically buy young cheeses from small village dairies and store them in huge caves until perfectly ripe.

“In this country we’re geared up for small cheesemakers or very large producers,” explains Pearson.

“We haven’t got that co-operative system with small dairies supplying a central cheese maturer like they do in France, Switzerland and Italy.”

One British producer that has come close to cracking the British Comté conundrum is FW Read & Sons, which makes Lincolnshire Poacher. The popular cheese is made with raw milk and is matured for at least 14 months until it has

Peak performers Here are Good Cheese’s suggestions for a British mountain-style cheeseboard.

cashflow for it not to be crippling.

And if it goes wrong, it’s an expensive experiment.”

It’s a challenge that Rose Grimond, owner of Nettlebed Creamery in Oxfordshire, is well aware of. At 1.8kg, her Alpineinspired cheese St Bartholomew is a fraction of the size of a wheel of Comté or Gruyère, which means it can mature in just six months. But for a business that only launched in 2015 this still represents a significant amount of capital sitting in a maturing room.

“We developed our soft cheese Bix because St Bartholomew was taking so long to mature,” explains Grimond. “It’s a cheese that works in the short term because it’s ready in weeks rather than months.”

Sensitive to changes in the milk, tricky to mature and expensive to make, the question has to be asked whether conquering Europe’s mighty mountain cheeses is actually worth all the effort?

“Oh, definitely,” answers Grimond. “What is better than a great Alpine cheese?”

St Bartholemew

Lincolnshire Poacher

Summer Field (behind)

Alpine

nettlebedcreamery.com

lincolnshirepoachercheese.com

facebook.com/botton.creamery

westcombedairy.com

Nettlebed Creamery 18

a smooth texture and distinct tropical fruit flavours, most notably pineapple.

“Lincolnshire Poacher has always been a hybrid cheddarAlpine cheese, but we’ve taken the Alpine character and gone with it more in recent years,” says director Tim Jones.

“It’s been a slow, natural progression. We’ve gone for slower acidification by really cutting the level of starter culture so the milk has more room to express itself.

We cook it to a slightly higher temperature to get those fruitier notes and a drier, smoother texture.

I tried some the other day and I could have nearly sworn it was Comté.”

Jones says one of the main reasons why Alpine-style cheeses are not prevalent in the UK is because of their size and the time they take to mature.

“One of the challenges is that when you make these kinds of big cheeses you have to wait 12-14 months to know if you’ve been successful or not,” he says. “You need good resources in terms of

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Advertising Feature

It all began with Rachel…

Based in the heart of the Cheddar Country, White Lake Cheese was established in 2004 by Peter Humphries and Roger Longman.

Over a decade later, they are famed for their extraordinary range of goats’, sheeps’ and cows’ milk cheeses.

White Lake’s home at Bagborough Farm is situated just off the Glastonbury festival site, in Pylle, Somerset. Milk used to create the goat cheeses, for which White Lake are renowned, is provided by Roger’s own herd – a mix of Toggenburg, British Alpine and Saanen goats. White Lake’s cows’ milk is sourced from a local Guernsey herd, and the sheeps’ milk is supplied by a flock also located just down the road.

With a passion for great cheese, and an eye for innovation, Roger and Pete and their artisan army are still experimenting and adding to their range of around 25 cheeses, no one is ever quite

sure how many are produced. Their range is centred around small batch production of handmade cheeses which makes the vast variety of many different cheeses possible, although it can be a bit of a juggling act. Fulfilling larger or bespoke orders is also possible due to this flexibility to make lots of batches. This handmade small batch philosophy means ‘We don’t have any desire to be a large automated factory. We would like to be a large handmade factory and fully accept if we want to produce twice the volume of cheese we will need twice as many people’. Happy with the low-tech approach they are

constantly improving and with the output doubling over the last three years expanding their facility. To cope with modern environmental demands they have recently installed a wood bio mass boiler to heat the milk and have solar panels helping to generate some of their electricity needs.

The cheese range is large!

Including their best known sweet curvy and slightly nutty Rachel named after a friend of Peter’s, Golden coloured Morn Dew, Driftwood an ashed log, Tor named after local land mark Glastonbury Tor, Sheep Rustler and Supreme Champion Pavé Cobble. Pavé Cobble was named

by Roger as a homage to the classic cycle race The Paris Roubaix. Which rumour has it he has ridden. Soon to be realised is another Sheep milk cheese named Burrow Mump, another landmark in the locality.

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Review

A cheese like the raw ewes’ milk Berkswell is a product of the microbes in the dairy as much as its recipe or process

Fighting for the fat of the land An important new book by Neal’s Yard buyer Bronwen Percival and her husband Francis argues the case for terroir and tradition in the face of industrial cheese-making.

PATRICK MCGUIGAN reports.

It’s hard to look in the dairy compartment of the fridge without a certain level of suspicion after reading Reinventing the Wheel.

Bronwen and Francis Percival’s new book, subtitled ‘Milk, Microbes and the Fight for Real Cheese’, argues passionately and persuasively that cheese has lost its way in the modern age, led astray by the demand for cheap food.

That seemingly innocent lump of cheddar next to the butter might look like cheese and even taste like cheese, but it has likely been made in a way that has stripped it of its soul. Real cheese, they contend, is made on a farm with raw milk, and reflects what is unique to that place.

Or as they put it in the book: “Real cheese is a manifestation of wider biodiversity, a food that exploits all of the resources and raw materials of the farm, from the botanical to the microbial. It is an acknowledgement that dairy farming and cheese-making are one and the same process.”

The Percivals are ideally placed to make the case. Bronwen Percival is the buyer at Neal’s Yard Dairy, which has pioneered the revival of raw milk farmhouse cheeses in the UK, while her husband

is an award-winning wine writer.

It was while harvesting grapes in Burgundy one year that the couple were first inspired to write the book, explains Francis. “Seeing the sustainability at every level of that agricultural system [for wine] made us ask questions,” he says. “Why can’t cheese be more like that?”

The importance of terroir – a term that sums up the expression of soil, climate and geography – is well recognised in wine and rewarded accordingly. But it is equally relevant to raw milk cheeses where everything from the grass the cows eat to the unique microbes in the dairy influence the final product. The only problem is that this isn’t reflected in the price as it is in wine.

“We recognised that many of our very best cheeses aren’t getting the higher prices that match their quality or the higher inputs that are going into them,” says Bronwen. “This book is an attempt to start that conversation.”

Stretching over 372 pages and split into chapters covering everything from cow breeds and feed to food safety and starter cultures, Reinventing the Wheel is a compelling call to arms

LAND ARMY: Bronwen and Francis Percival argue dairy farming and ‘real’ cheese-making are part of the same process

for people to reconnect with cheese and better understand the differences in quality between, say, a cloth-bound farmhouse Lancashire and a sharp crumbly Lancashire made with mixed pasteurised milk in a factory.

It’s backed up by meticulously researched historical evidence, scientific studies and interviews with key people in the global dairy industry, plus the couple’s own experiences visiting cheesemakers and farms across the world. These run from a chalet up a mountain in the Auvergne, where Salers cheese is still made in wooden buckets teaming with bacteria, via the research lab of Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, to a small holding in Yorkshire, attempting to make Wensleydale as it was before the war.

“The only way you can change the market is by changing the public conversation,” says Francis. “There is no conversation about what is good cheese and what is not good cheese.

“We need people who are willing to put their money down and support these kinds of farming systems and cheeses.”

• Reinventing The Wheel, Bloomsbury Sigma, £16.99.

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Sweet and creamy Cheese and PatĂŠs

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Profile

A champion from the cold north

Fjords dissect the archipelago north and south, scything through lush islands as a brooding sky prepares to turn rain to ice and snow. For the next five or six months, harsh Atlantic storms will batter the farm and four generations of cheese makers and their prized Norwegian Red cows will hunker down for a winter which, at its deepest, will serve up 19 hours of darkness.

Welcome to Tingvollost, the now famous dairy on Norway’s ragged north-west coast which produces Kraftkar, named the world’s best cheese at the 2016 World Cheese Awards.

With its sweet start, then long, salty finish on the palate, the champion blue is, according to owner Kristin Waagen, a product of the landscape that surrounds the farm. “We like to say that this cheese would have a different flavour if it were produced even a few kilometres away,” she says, claiming that the 150-person village has the wide variety of grazing that give the cheese its distinctive taste profile. ➔

We have to say no to 95% of all the order enquiries we receive

Last year saw a cheese from Norway’s remote and often frozen northwest coast named the best in the world. MARK LEWIS reports on the remarkable success of Kraftkar and the family behind it.

L-R: Gunnar Waagen, Julia Waagen, Solvor Waagen, Egil Smekth Mayer, Kristin Waagen, and Markus Waagen.

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Profile

We don’t want industrial production. We want handmade cheese

“We have 40 different areas of grazing and even in the winter we don’t feed the cows with grass from the same area,” she says. “We harvest the grass twice in the summer and then vary the feed in the winter, morning and evening.”

The cows are healthier if their feed is mixed in this way, she says. “If my family on the farm were served the same food for every meal we wouldn’t want to eat very much, and it is the same for the cows. Variety means they eat more.”

The product of this dedication is a creamy blue with a slightly grainy texture, which left the judges at the World Cheese Awards salivating.

Among over 3,000 entries to the awards – held in San Sebastien last year, before returning to London for 2017 – Kraftkar scored 71 points from a possible 75 in the final judging to scoop the top prize.

Accepting the gong at the inaugural International Cheese Festival during San Sebastien’s tenure as European Capital of Culture, a clearly emotional Gunnar Waagen – Kristin’s father and the dairy’s former owner – gushed how amazing it was that the cheese had been honoured among such a strong field.

It might have been different if his wife, Solvor, had not accidentally happened upon the recipe when she was making the Tingvollost stablemate Vismann in the family bathroom in 2004.

The simple story is that she had too many curds and was forced to adapt the mixture. But, as with all the happiest accidents, this serendipity had a healthy dose of skill and intuition. She used a larger form, matured the cheese longer, and the original iteration of Kraftkar was born.

In subsequent years, cream has been added, producing the cheese’s distinctive rich sweetness.

But the most important factor, says owner Kristin Waagen, is that weather-ravaged 57-cow herd. “We only produce cheese from our own cows and our own milk. It is important to have control from the meat to the cheese,” she says.

The cows produce some 600,000 litres of milk annually, a third of which is used for cheese production on the farm (the rest is sold to Norwegian food manufacturer Tine, to make Jarlsberg). The 200,000 litres of pasteurised milk is transformed in a separate outbuilding into 20,000kg of cheese.

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Kraftkar is matured for six months. By then, the cows will be grazing again outside and enjoying longer and longer days. By June, in the village of Torjulvågen in the municipality of Tingvoll in mid-Norway, the sun will hardly set. But November always brings snow and ice.

Already, when she speaks to Good Cheese, Waagen is taking longer walks home in the middle of the day to catch more of the precious rays.

“In the winter the sun is just not here. It doesn’t shine at the farm for many weeks. Today I walked further than I needed to just to get in the sunshine for a little bit. I need the sun. Luckily I am a farmer, and I have the chance to get out in it when it is here. If I were in an office it would be dark when I got there and dark when I went home.”

She is among the four generations of hardy beef and dairy enthusiasts that now live together on the farm. They have been producing cheese since 2003. But the estate traces its roots to the beginning of the 14th century, when it farmed timber.

Described by some as the country’s golden age, the 100 years to 1400 was marked by an explosion of trade between Norway and neighbouring countries, Britain and Germany.

Six hundred years later, that ideal of burgeoning trade routes for hardy entrepreneurs has become familiar to the Waagen family, which has seen demand for the world’s best cheese explode over

Kraftkar: the soft blue crowned World Champion at the World Cheese Awards 2016

the last 12 months.

“We’ve had orders from USA, China, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Australia and Canada,” Waagen says remembering all the places that have been disappointed by the cheese’s limited production run.

“We have had to say no to 95% of all the order enquiries we have received,” she adds. “Almost all of our cheese is sold in Norway.”

The exclusive production run is mostly sold in small specialist retailers and restaurants, with a growing proportion retailed from the farm shop. But Waagen has no plans to cash in on the cheese’s fame for fear quality might be compromised.

“We don’t want to be bigger but we want to continue to have the same high quality. We don’t want industrial production. We want handmade cheese,” she says.

Kraftkar was a Norwegian star before it took the top prize, with demand already outstripping supply, and profits on the farm leaping 50% in the two years to 2016. And while she knows she cannot hope to satisfy all her potential customers, Waagen does have some modest plans for growth.

“I think we are lucky to be the size we are right now. We want to build the dairy up a little but that is because we have people standing in long queues, waiting to come into our farm shop in the summer. We want the farm shop to be bigger.”

She may also invest in a laundry room for employees’ work clothes, rather than sending them home to be washed by her mother. The packing room has no windows, so sunlight is kept out. “I think we could do something about that as well,” she adds.

But in the end, the changes will be cosmetic.

The farm has been successful for more than 700 years. Today it produces one of the world’s best cheeses. Waagen and her extended family are enjoying the fame that comes with last year’s award, and living happily together on the family estate.

Best of all, her two young children are already expert cheesemakers, so she knows however dark the sky becomes in the months ahead, for Kraftkar and Tingvollost, at least, the future is bright.

oduced r p dly et, England u o Pr omers S n

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WA L O V O N M Ü H L E N E N than Switzerland has mountains

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

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All you need to know.

Now all together.

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The School of Fine Food brings together all our Guild of Fine Food training for the first time, offering courses across three key programmes to help you learn, be inspired and succeed in food retailing. The School will have two homes: the Guild of Fine Food HQ in Dorset; and new, dedicated premises in London. We will, of course, continue to take our courses on the road.

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Cornish Yarg & Wild garliC Yarg

Cornish Yarg cheese is hand made in open vats at our dairy near Truro. Crumbly in the core and creamy under the rind, its distinctive nettle or wild garlic leaf rind imparts delicate flavours as it matures over six weeks.

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GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Where to eat

Whether it’s pasta served from a 40kg wheel of Grana Padano or a fondue made with cheddar and beer, NICK BAINES explores 10 of the tastiest venues to get your cheese fix.

Top places to taste cheese

Killa Dilla

The Larderhouse

killadillaldn.com

thelarderhouse.co.uk

London The Mexican quesadilla is a pretty distinctive way to celebrate melted cheese, but the griddled cheese-stuffed tortilla is normally only filled with mild block cheddar – or queso de Oaxaca if keeping it traditional. London’s Killa Dilla is a street food outfit that knocks out a small menu of quesadillas crammed with fillings like blue cheese, kimchi & smoked beef short rib or mozzarella with pork belly, pickled red cabbage & chipotle mayonnaise.

Bournemouth From operating a cheese stall in the run-up to Christmas to bringing cheeses to maturity on-site, the Larderhouse is a restaurant with a seriously strong cheese hand. Its owner, James Fowler, is a former UK Bartender of The Year so expect some of the finest cheese and drinks pairings around. Regular Cask & Curd nights see an array of Continental and British cheeses served up with anything from Pala Cortado sherry to cocktails made with barrel-aged rum.

Cheese Society Café

Lincoln Having sold to cheese-lovers online since the late ’90s, Lincoln’s Cheese Society branched into foodservice when it opened a café in the city’s historical quarter in 2001. A cheese-centric menu includes a ciabatta that enfolds a baby camembert baked with white wine, honey, rosemary and garlic. But it’s the St Martin’s Lane café’s macaroni cheese, which can be ordered with blue cheese and bacon, that gets the juices flowing. thecheesesociety.co.uk

Friends of Ham

Leeds Whether you want to sit down to a ploughman’s of Bayonne ham and seasonal French cheeses or a ripe and gooey Torta Cañarejal, Friends of Ham has garnered a loyal following of Leeds-based cheese geeks. After a round of poached eggs with pesto and Old Winchester, or an Ogleshield raclette that comes with a spread of charcuterie, customers can order from the takeaway menu of cheeses – offered in affordable 50g portions. friendsofham.co.uk

➔ GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Award Winning Cheese made in Sussex

A new range of farmhouse cheeses made from our Guernsey milk Email: orders@briddlesford.co.uk Tel: 07810 202 910

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The Truckle Cheese Company, home to award winning products including its farmhouse cheese truckles, is delighted to be working with Dorset-based, Ford Farm offering their cave aged products, traditional West Country Farmhouse Cheddars aged deep within the caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset.

ONE OF A RANGE OF CHEESES FROM HIGH WEALD High Weald Dairy, Tremains Farm, Horsted Keynes, Sussex Tel: 01825 791636 www.highwealddairy.co.uk

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Maturing cheese in Caves is a practice that dates back many hundreds of years. The cheesemakers at Dorset-based Ford Farm, have revived this art by ageing their traditional, hand-made farmhouse cheddar truckles in the historic caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset. The constant, yearround temperature and humidity offers the ideal conditions to create a cheddar that is deliciously rich, tangy and mature combined with the distinctive, earthy and nutty flavours from the Caves’ unique atmosphere.

For more information please visit our website: www.trucklecheese.co.uk or email: enquiries@trucklecheese.co.uk For wholesale enquiries please contact us on office 01638 741588. or call Richard on 07961 197219 32

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Where to eat The Cheese Bar

London Yes, The Cheese Bar in Camden puts together some of the finest cheese toasties in the Capital, but that’s not what makes this place so special. Its Marmite Malakoff is a mysterious but impressive dish made from a paste of Bermondsey hard pressed cheese, Marmite and white wine, deepfried and served with Romesco sauce. The Cheese Bar also puts out a stonking cauliflower cheese made with Rollright, and lists Gringa, Kappacasein and La Latteria on its list of house cheeses. thecheesebar.com

The Cheese Wheel

London The Cheese Wheel is a street food stand theatrically presenting fresh pasta dishes with a difference. Steaming hot tagliatelle is tossed in a hollow that’s carved in the top of a whole Grana Padano. Between the temperature of the pasta and the scrape of metal tongs, your tagliatelle become coated in a slick of the 24-month aged cheese before being anointed with black truffle, sausage, or wild mushrooms. kerbfood.com

Palmer St Bottle Shop

Frome, Somerset A former employee of Bath Soft Cheese – maker of the 2015 World Cheese Awards champion Bath Blue – Simon Bowden opened Palmer St Bottle Shop in April 2017. The business is as versatile as its owner, who also sells posh cheese on toast to festival-goers from a converted horsebox. These rarebits, such as one made with a mixture of Wyfe of Bath and Westcombe Cheddar, can also be found in Bottle Shop alongside a wide range of craft drinks and individual cheeses that are all available to enjoy there and then or take away. palmerstbottle.co.uk

Courtyard Dairy

Settle, North Yorkshire Since relocating to new premises near its original tiny shop on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, retailer and affineur The Courtyard Dairy has been thinking big. As well as opening a museum dedicated to the art of cheese-making, owners Andy and Kathy Swinscoe have opened a ‘specialist cheese café’ that’s getting a name for its Raclette Anglaise, made with melted Ogleshield cheese, and Yorkshire fondue with farmhouse cheddar and beer. thecourtyarddairy.co.uk

Provisions

Smith & Gertrude

provisionslondon.co.uk

smithandgertrude.com

London Wine by the glass, cheese by the plate. Sounds simple enough, but what makes this deli-cumwine-bar excel is its sprawling range of farmhouse cheeses, imported from small producers all over Europe. Provisions offers varieties that might be a little more off the beaten track. Monlesi, a cows’ milk cheese aged for 14 months, is brought in from the Swiss Jura, while the soft cows’ milk Manigodine from Savoie is matured in smoked spruce.

Edinburgh Inspired by cheese bars encountered on their travels through the US and Australia, Duncan and Amy Findlater opened Smith & Gertrude in September 2015. The focus doesn’t waver from cheese, wine and charcuterie at this Stockbridge hole in the wall, where you can order individual cheese portions or take a wine and cheese flight that changes weekly.

Drawing from a considerable cheese offering, customers get three small glasses of wine with accompanying matched cheeses for around £14.

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Rougette Bavarian Red SUPREME CHAMPION

The Great Yorkshire Show 2015

Traditional cheese handcrafted on the family farm

From our family farm in West Limerick, we produce a range of handcrafted, artisan, award winning cheeses, including: Cahill’s Original Irish Porter Cheddar, Cahill’s Irish Whiskey Cheddar with Kilbeggan, Cahill’s Ardagh Red Wine Cheddar.

The cornerstone of our business is that each cheese is individually made and handcrafted thus retaining the subtlety of flavour that is invariably absent from the mass produced product.

T: +353 6962365 E: info@cahillscheese.ie

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Creamy, mild and buttery Tel: 020 7819 9704 www.elite-imports-limited.co.uk

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For more information on any of our products please contact our team on 01749 813 733 or email sales@godminster.com www.godminster.com godminster

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Knowledge, Professionalism & Pride

The Academy of Cheese is a not-for-profit, industry-funded organisation with a mission to provide career development, enable improvement and accredit individuals in cheese.

For more information on this multi-levelled examination programme visit academyofcheese.org

STICHELTON

Barely five minutes after Patricia Michelson and I have settled down in the supposedly quieter part of her Marylebone shop, our conversation is disturbed rather violently.

“I don’t want the caraway biscuits!” screams a child in a bratty American accent at her mother perusing the shelves behind us.

Despite more than a quarter of a century in cheese retailing, La Fromagerie’s founder is momentarily ruffled by this extremely discerning customer. Shortly afterwards she is laughing about it and, actually, the interjection turns out to be quite pertinent. We’re sat here not just to talk about cheese but how to serve it, when to serve it and what to serve it with.

“When you’re thinking about cheese, you’re looking at the whole package,” she tells Good Cheese. “What am I going to have with it?”

Michelson and her stores – in Highbury and the Moxon Street branch that I meet her in – may well be bastions of cheese retailing in the UK but she still wants to challenge herself.

A third store, La Fromagerie’s first new opening in more than a decade, should do the trick. But the new outlet on Lamb’s Conduit Street in the Capital’s Bloomsbury area is also part of her plan to alter diners’ perceptions of cheese both in restaurants and at home.

“It’s 16 years since we opened up a shop so we decided this time to go slightly off-piste and do something that’s more convivial,” she says, adding that informal dining is very much the focus of the new store – which features a bar and seating alongside La Fromagerie’s customary

Everything in its right place Fresh from opening her third London cheese shop-café, La Fromagerie founder Patricia Michelson meets MICHAEL LANE to discuss her vision for serving cheese to diners, including her formula for the perfect cheeseboard.

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cheese room and retail space.

To a certain extent, Michelson and her team have already been trialling this with Moxon Street’s No. 6 café, which has been redesigned to host suppers on Monday nights and bar nights on the Friday, not to mention busy breakfast and lunchtime sittings. So, she says, they were “ready” for Bloomsbury.

The menus at both No.6 and Bloomsbury reflect Michelson’s desire to shift the status of cheese in dining scenarios.

“You can make it the centrepiece, rather than the side order,” she says. “You can look at your cheese as being the main part of your meal. It has everything in it that a steak would, for instance.

“Have your cheese as the centre and then some charcuterie, steamed potatoes, vegetables.

You can bring other elements into it. Why not think of cheese as an easy option for supper?”

Interview

That’s exactly what you can do at Bloomsbury, with a variety of charcuterie and side dishes available to augment the carefully curated cheeseboards and turn them into a fullblown meal.

The menu also features dishes that incorporate cheese, but timing is everything.

“The most important thing is looking at cheese in its seasonality,” she says, citing wellknown Alpine dish tartiflette. “Those styles of foods, at their right time, will make you appreciate your cheese more.”

In winter, Michelson recommends the “melting, filling, central heating” of classics like fondue or baked Vacherin while spring sees the arrival of fresh bloomy-rinded goats’ cheese, which can be deployed on a salad or even in a lighter cheese sauce with cauliflower.

Summer is a time for cheeses like feta, and Michelson highlight’s Enfield-based Kupros Dairy’s ewes’ milk Fettle as the perfect foil for olives and rosé or salads with watermelon.

“Autumn is a very interesting, in-between season, because the pastures have changed from being lush summer to drier so your cheeses change.”

She adds that St Marcelin is at its richest during this time of year and is excellent warmed in its little ceramic dish and slid onto potatoes.

Seasonality is just one of the myriad considerations when assembling a cheeseboard and a first glance at the ever-changing selections on La Fromagerie’s menu could easily leave you feeling bewildered. But actually there is a formula.

Five cheeses on a plate work well, says Michelson. “Start off quite cleansing and mild, and end up with something very robust and sharp, like a blue. That whole progression of flavour works together, building up your enjoyment.”

With that in mind, she suggests a mould ripened goats’ cheese – like the French classic

Charolais or Staffordshire’s Bosworth Ash – in the first spot on the board.

“It has great acidity to neutralise and balance your palate,” she says, insisting that people should eat the rind too.

Next, Michelson goes for something flakier and lighter (territorials like Wensleydale and Lancashire fit the bill) followed by the richer, heavier punch of farmhouse cheddars or Alpine stalwarts like Le Gruyére or Comté.

The penultimate cheese should up the flavour and pungency stakes, so has to be a washed rind.

Taking a seasonal example, Michelson says the spruce-bound but British-made Rollright offers a richness that actually makes you want to eat more.

And the final berth is reserved for a blue.

You can make cheese the centrepiece, rather than the side order. Look at it as being the main part of your meal.

“It comes full circle with what you started with,” explains Michelson. “It’s got a freshness, but a metallic freshness.”

The most important aspect of this arrangement is that the cheeses are initially tasted in order – working left-to-right or clockwise – for the full experience.

Another thing diners at La Fromagerie will notice is the attention to detail in drinks recommendations. With a diverse range of flavours on each board, it is hard to find drinks that cover all bases and some discoveries are a result of hundreds of cheeseboard experiments.

“Over the years, we’ve found there are white wines that go with blue cheese and there are reds that go with Gruyère cheese.”

While matching cheeses up to wines from the same region is a good bet, Bordeaux blends have been turning Michelson’s head recently and she says Pinot Noirs work well with all kinds of styles because their lightness enhances rather than crowds out flavours in cheese.

While Michelson confesses she is “not a huge beer drinker”, you’ll still find beers on the menu and she says that matching with cheese can often bring out tropical and hoppy notes in them. Beer and cider are both good bedfellows for washed rind cheeses for obvious reasons.

Even Japanese sake, with its delicate stonefruit notes, is on her menu and Michelson has also been experimenting with pairing spirits.

She says they all have their place– whether complementary in flavour or striking the same notes as companion cheeses.

There’s only likely to be more of these combinations as the Michelson team continues to experiment. And judging by how busy Moxon Street is when I visit, on a Monday, the appetite is there from consumers, too. So, next time you’re feeling a little uninspired about cheese, it might be worth a visit to La Fromagerie. lafromagerie.co.uk

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Nettlebed Creamery is home to award-winning St Bartholomew and Bix Nettlebed Creamery makes two unpasteurised cheeses using certified organic milk from Merrimoles Farm which spans the Oxfordshire villages of Nettlebed and Bix. Bix is a soft, unpasteurised, triple cream cheese. The recipe is loosely based on that of a Chaource, a luxuriant white-rind cheese from Champagne country in northern France.

St Bartholomew is a semi-hard, unpasteurised cheese. It is made with organic milk and is made to a recipe which is similar to many alpine cheeses. It has a deep, nutty flavour with fruity, caramel overtones and a smooth texture. St Barts is certified organic by the Soil Association.

07770947030 | rose@nettebedcreamery.com www.nettlebedcreamery.com

DEDICATED TO TASTE FOR OVER 25 YEARS Handmade exclusively from the milk produced by the ewes here on our farm. Available throughout the UK, also; North America, Europe and Asia.

• Super Gold 2013 World Cheese Awards • Best Modern British Cheese and Best Export Cheese at the British Cheese Awards • The James Aldridge Memorial Trophy • Excellence in Practical Farming; The Royal Agricultural Society of England.

info@berkswellcheese.com 01676 532203

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Great British Cheese Awards 2016 Winner: Best Artisan Cheese Producer Great Taste 2017 3-Star award-winner

Award-winning soft mould ripened goats’ and sheep milk cheeses since 1989

Over the years Golden Cross Cheese Co. cheeses have picked up many awards including the James Aldridge Memorial Trophy for Best British Raw milk cheese and the British Cheese Awards Best Soft White cheese 4 times.

The last farm made raw milk Lancashire Cheese

Our most recent awards: • 2015 Royal Bath & West British Cheese Awards Gold for Flower Marie • 2016 Royal Bath & West British Cheese Awards Gold and Silver for Golden Cross • 2016 Artisan Cheese Awards Gold for Golden Cross • 2017 Artisan Cheese Awards Best Raw Milk Cheese and Best Soft Cheese for Golden Cross Gold for Golden Cross and Silver for Flower Marie • 2017 Royal Bath & West Show British Cheese Awards 2 Gold and a Silver for Golden Cross Silver for Flower Marie.

01825 872380 · info@goldencrosscheese.co.uk

www.goldencrosscheese.co.uk

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At Mrs Kirkham’s we have been making our award-winning Lancashire for 3 generations, using the same techniques and ingredients as the generations before.

We use only the rich creamy milk from our own closed herd of Holstien Frieisan Cows, to create what we believe to be a true traditional Lancashire, which is an ivory yellow in colour and has a rich buttery crumble.

www.mrskirkhamscheese.co.uk info@mrskirkhamscheese.co.uk · 01772 865335

Special diets

Love cheese, loathe lactose?

An intolerance of lactose or casein doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some great cheeses. West Country-based author and nutritionist NAOMI DEVLIN explains why, and offers some tasty cheeseboard options from her region and beyond.

More food lovers are avoiding cheese these days, either due to difficulty digesting the natural sugar in milk (lactose) or one of the proteins in dairy products (casein).

But with a little knowledge, you can still prepare a delicious and intriguing selection that’s also trouble-free for those who might otherwise give cheese a wide berth.

Lactose intolerance results from an inability to produce enough of the enzyme that breaks down lactose in the gut, meaning sufferers must eliminate most dairy products from their diet. However, cheeses that are fermented or aged tend to be well tolerated, as bacteria consume the lactose during processing.

There are several types of casein protein in dairy milk and casein intolerance is thought ➔

Lactose-free cheeses Westcombe cheddar Westcombe Dairy, Somerset A traditional raw milk cheddar from the West Country, aged for up to 20 months, clothbound with lard. This smooth, firm textured cheese has a rich flavour with caramel notes and a tangy finish.

Montgomery’s cheddar Montgomery’s Cheese, Somerset Curdled with calf rennet and matured for 18 months in muslin to create an unpasteurised cheese with a dry, crystalline texture reminiscent of young Parmesan. The flavours range from batch to batch and can be savoury, with beefy, brothy notes, to sweet, nutty and rich with earthy, grassy aromas and a fruity tang.

Keen’s cheddar Keen’s Cheddar, Somerset Matured for up to 18 months, clothbound with lard, this raw milk cheese is a real all-rounder. With a smooth, dense texture, it is a modern tasting cheddar, clean, creamy and a good acidic tang to finish.

Vintage Lincolnshire Poacher Ulceby Grange Farm, Lincolnshire Falling somewhere between a traditional West Country cheddar and Swiss Gruyère, this cheese is matured for up to 24 months, ensuring not a trace of lactose is left. The flavour is rich and complex with a clean, nutty aftertaste and a smooth, dense and creamy texture.

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U

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EU AST RISE NP

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Shropshire Blue

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Stilton

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DELIVERING ARTISANAL BRITISH & CONTINENTAL CHEESE image courtesy of St Andrews Farmhouse

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Special diets Certified A2 and Guernsey milk cheeses Guernsleigh hard cheese Grange Farm, Staffordshire Made with the UK’s only certified A2 milk cheese, Guernsleigh cheeses – a 24-month mature cheddar (lactose free) and a young cheddar – are produced in small batches and sold direct to the public. The cheese is golden, buttery and rich with a smooth creamy texture.

Goddess semi-soft cheese Alex James Presents/White Lake Cheese, Somerset A very creamy, tangy, semi-soft Guernsey milk cheese with a pale golden colour and buttery rind.

Goddess is matured for 4-5 weeks and becomes more pungent as it ages up to 10 weeks. With 3% lactose, it’s at the upper end of what may be tolerable for some, but the Guernsey milk with a lower A1 casein content could help make it more digestible.

be caused by an immune reaction to A1 casein, found in the milk of modern breeds of cow such as Friesians and Holsteins.

This may explain the rise in dairy intolerance as farmers swap herds to higher yielding breeds.

Milk from Guernsey cows and other dairy animals such as goats, sheep and buffalo contain caseins that are A2-like and are often better tolerated, so products from these animals may be preferable.

A1 casein has been shown to reduce the ability to digest lactose, so some people with

lactose intolerance may benefit from swapping to products higher in A2 casein in a bid to increase the activity of lactase in the gut.

Lactose can be removed from cheese by washing the curds to remove whey that contains the lactose, so some younger cheeses can have surprisingly little left.

Unpasteurised cheeses also tend to have a lower lactose content as it’s consumed by the naturally occurring bacteria.

As a general rule, cheeses aged over 12 months have at most, trace amounts of lactose in them and not enough to cause any issues for

Image: Paxton & Whitfield

Waterloo semi soft cheese Village Maid Cheese, Berkshire A buttery yellow, unpasteurised Guernsey milk cheese, aged for up to 10 weeks. The curd is washed, which removes some of the lactose and produces a mild, creamy flavour with a subtle sweetness and grassy undertones. The carbohydrate content is acceptable for most at about 2% and will reduce as it ages.

If you miss a softer centred cheese, this is sure to hit the spot.

someone with an intolerance, so go for mature or hard cheese if in doubt.

The cheeses listed here are either free from lactose, or higher in A2 casein, or both. They’re all delicious, traditionally made cheeses, so they’re sure to please those with sensitive digestion and cheese-lovers alike.

• West Country-based Naomi Devlin teaches nutritional cookery classes at River Cottage and Ashburton Cookery school among others and has a specialist interest in gut health. Her latest recipe book is Food For A Happy Gut (Headline Home).

Sheep, goat and buffalo milk cheeses Berkswell ewes’ milk cheese Berkswell Cheese, Warwickshire Matured for up to 8 months, this hard sheep’s cheese is reminiscent of manchego, with a delicate, tangy flavour, hints of fruit and nut and a creamy finish. The texture is dense and becomes crumblier the more it is aged.

Cornish Nanny goats’ cheese Cornish Cheese Co, Cornwall This award-winning new mild blue goats’ cheese is so highly sought after that Philip and Carole Stansfield – producers of the famous cows’ milk Cornish Blue – are struggling to keep up with demand. As Nanny is aged for up to 16 weeks, there will be some lactose present, but the use of a bacterial starter still makes this fairly low in lactose.

Quicke’s hard goats’ cheese Quicke’s Traditional, Devon This firm textured cheese is aged for up to 10 months, leaving almost no lactose. With a faint goaty flavour, fresh acidity and nutty finish, it makes a great substitute for cheddar.

Pendragon buffalo cheese Somerset Cheese Co Although matured for 6-12 months, this cheese does contain up to 3% lactose, but the higher A2 casein content may make it more digestible for many. It’s full flavoured with a distinctive savoury character and buttery melting texture.

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Doing the knowledge Inspired by the wine industry’s worldrenowned qualifications, the Academy of Cheese is already attracting scores of trade specialists to its courses. But as co-founder MARY QUICKE explains, the Academy has much to offer cheese-loving consumers too.

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I first saw a professional qualification for cheese experts taking shape in the United States.

There, the high-level Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) programme is producing a lot of people – particularly young people – with confidence in their cheese knowledge, allowing them to inspire shoppers and do the best by the fine cheeses they are selling.

Customers queue to be served by them.

Stores with a Certified Cheese Professional report selling 30% more cheese. Restaurants where they work as ‘cheese sommeliers’ are able to sustain and make money with fabulous cheese plates.

When I brought this idea back to the UK, a group of key industry figures – John Farrand of the Guild of Fine Food, Ros Windsor of Paxton & Whitfield, Tracey Colley of Harvey & Brockless, Charlie Turnbull of Turnbull’s Deli, Clare Downes of Monkhouse Food & Drink, and technical expert Paul Thomas – immediately saw its potential.

At first we tried to bring the CCP scheme here. But transplanting the American system to our market proved impossible, so we took a deep breath and set about creating a programme that would work for the UK. Developing a qualification with panindustry support needs money as well as expert knowledge. The Americans have been skilful in having big companies provide their financial heft while the programme itself is run by the specialist end. We’ve been fortunate to do the same.

As well as our founders, we have had support from an impressive list of patrons: Bradburys,

academy of cheese Tesco, Harvey & Brockless, Partridge’s, Chr. Hansen, Wyke Farms, Cropwell Bishop, Bridgehead, Lynher, Lincolnshire Poacher, Montgomery, Cheese+ and Stichelton.

Unlike the CCP, we’ve incorporated cheese tasting as part of the certification, and made room for enthusiastic amateurs as well as professionals.

We are also developing four different levels of qualification, so people can embark on a cheese journey that’s as big as their ambition.

Our inspiration has been the sommelier training offered by the Wine & Spirits Education Trust. Look what that has done for wine. There used to be British wine, Blue Nun, Mateus Rose or Hirondelle, and a few posh people who knew about the classed growths of the Medoc. Now the UK market supports 100,000 brands, you can get decent wine almost anywhere.

This wine training is open to enthusiastic consumers as well as professionals, making the informed enjoyment of wine available to anyone wanting to take the course. Our vision for the Academy is to create a virtuous circle where consumers, cheesemakers, retailers and cheese sommeliers create an ever-expanding pool of knowledge about the world of cheese.

The Academy doesn’t do training. Instead, it uses certified ‘training partners’ who can deliver courses in their own way provided they match the Academy’s framework. So specialist wholesaler Harvey & Brockless is training its own chef customers. The Guild of Fine Food is training deli retailers. Retailer and wholesaler Paxton &

We’ve incorporated cheese tasting as part of the certification, and made room for enthusiastic amateurs as well as professionals

From cheesemonger to cheese master Well-known for its specialist training courses for cheese shop and deli staff, the Guild of Fine Food is helping convert cheesemongers into true Masters of Cheese Over the past three decades, hundreds of shop managers and deli counter staff have learned the skills of their trade on the Guild of Fine Food’s oneday cheese retailing courses.

Now delivered under the umbrella of the Guild’s School of Fine Food, these combine essential knowledge about all the main cheese styles with those retail and business skills that give shoppers such a great experience in specialist cheese shops and delis.

As one of the founding organisations behind the new Academy of Cheese, the Guild is also now a certified provider of Academy training. It already offers Level 1 courses to both the trade and consumers, and will be offering Level 2 training from early in 2018.

Uniquely, it is now offering a Level 1 converter course for anyone in the trade who has already completed a School of Fine Food retail training day.

Shop owners, managers or staff who attend the converter course have the chance to take their Level 1 exam online, at the training venue, on the same day. If they pass, they will walk away as an Associate of the Academy, setting them on the path to Levels 2 and 3 and, potentially, the ultimate status of Master of Cheese.

Jilly Sitch, the Guild’s training coordinator, says there are overlaps between the Academy level one course and the long-established cheese retail training days, but while the first is focused entirely on the product, the second is ultimately about selling more cheese.

“We don’t talk about retail at all on our Academy courses. Delegates could be sitting next to a cheese fan who was given the course as a Christmas present, or a chef who just wants to know more about his ingredients.

“But the Guild course is aimed firmly at specialist retailers. We do work our way through all the main families of cheese – we’ll taste nearly 40 different varieties on the day – but the purpose it to help you sell more.

“As an independent deli or cheesemonger you have to become part of your customers’ daily

lives, so when they ask their internal Google where to get cheese, they immediately think of you. Our emphasis all the time is on the shop, the counter, improving the range of cheese, the quality of service, the slicing and wrapping.”

Caring for cheese and presenting it in the best condition is another key element. “To build a good reputation for your cheeses you need to be tasting them every morning, checking whether they need to be scraped or are getting a bit close to their sell-by. Cheese is a living, breathing, changing thing that can taste different from Friday to Monday, so you need to know what it’s doing on that day.”

Whether delegates achieve the Academy Level 1 via the standalone course or by a ‘converter’ from the Guild’s retail training day, many will want to progress to Level 2 as soon as possible.

Sitch expects the first Level 2 courses to appear on the School of Fine Food programme by MarchApril 2018. Requiring a greater time commitment, it will include “an element of online training” rather than just a day in the classroom.

Dorset deli owner Charlie Turnbull is a School of Fine Food cheese trainer and another of the Academy’s founding fathers. He says that the Level 3 course, still in development, will be a more serious commitment still, with around 30 days of study over a year or so, including days working hands-on in a dairy.

“It’s going to approximate to an apprenticeship,” he says, likening it to the Wine & Spirits Education Trust’s diploma, and it won’t be confined to those working in cheese industry. “I’m surprised at the number of consumers who’ve taken the WSET diploma,” he says. “It falls squarely into the area of a ‘professionalised hobby’.”

The development of the Level 4 course is slated for 2020, and – as with many Masters-level degrees – is likely to involve students in producing “a significant piece of new work”, says Turnbull, contributing something unique to the worldwide body of knowledge about cheese. gff.co.uk/training

Whitfield is combining the Academy certification with wine pairings, and so on. We are keen to grow a rich ecology of training provision so everyone can find something that suits them.

We launched the Level 1 course, Associate of the Academy of Cheese, this year. This takes people through the fundamentals of cheesemaking and tasting as they sample 25 of the world’s best cheeses. Level 2, launching in 2018, will take that to 100 cheeses. Delegates will learn how cheese is made, how to care for it and keep it safe, how to serve and pair it.

There’s already a competition going on to be the first Master of Cheese – a joyful challenge that also requires dedication. I’m sure we will see some talented consumers as Masters of Cheese before in a few years.

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Traditional British award winning speciality condiments and preserves.

Hand made using traditional recipes and natural ingredients.

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The natural choice for cheese • Voted Best Biscuit Brand 2016 & 2017 • “The best biscuit for cheese out there” – Great Taste Award judges 2015

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Food matching

Burrata with blood orange

Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurant Nopi gets through more than 1,000 burratas a week thanks to its signature dish, which sees the creamy cousin of mozzarella paired with slices of blood orange, plus a sprinkle of dried lavender and toasted coriander seeds.

The whole lot is then drizzled in honey. Alternative fruits used by the restaurant include white peaches, roasted red grapes and clementines.

Weird but wonderful Irish gouda & cashew nut brittle is just one odd combo that PATRICK McGUIGAN has been sampling this year, inspired by two boundary-busting new books from across the Atlantic

You wouldn’t serve carrots and potatoes every single time you cooked a piece of meat, so why does cheese almost always come with chutney and crackers?

It’s a question that has been tackled with trademark zeal and enthusiasm in the US, where a new generation of cheese lovers are pushing the boundaries of the board with cutting edge accompaniments that focus on contrasting textures and unusual flavours.

Two books were published on the topic in 2016 – Composing the Cheese Plate by Brian Keyser and Leigh Friend; and The Art of the Cheese Plate by Tia Keenan - which feature exciting recipes and ideas for cheese accompaniments that stretch from popcorn and parsnip purée to chocolate and cherries.

It’s an area I’ve also been exploring in different tastings with the public, chefs and retailers over the past year, with some exciting results. Welcome to the chutney-free ➔ cheeseboard.

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Relish ●

The perfect accompaniment for cheese

®

the hawksh ea d re l i s h c o mpa n y ●

Fruit cake for cheese

Award-winning artisan handmade fruit cakes baked in wood using only the best quality ingredients

#RelishCheese www.hawksheadrelish.com ● 015394 36614 Handmade without preservatives, gluten and nuts. Suitable for vegetarians.

01978 660371

· robert@orchardpigs.co.uk · www.orchardpigs.co.uk

Seren’s Secret Marmalade, is completely artisan-made and devoid of preservatives, thickeners and colourings.

It is made in very small batches, using the open pan method and the very finest of ingredients.

A unique, superb delicacy that will bring the unmistakable aroma of the best Seville oranges and quinces directly to your table. Intense yet neither sour nor bitter, this marmalade boasts a delicate texture and perfect spread-ability.

Taking inspiration from culinary history this unique preserve combines, quinces, Seville oranges, grains of paradise, fine Welsh Saffron, honey, cinnamon and ambergris to create a rich and flavorsome marmalade that is studded with preserved strips of peel and 23 carat gold flakes.

It’s fabulous taste is only matched by it’s bright and jewel like appearance and glorious aroma.

A match made in heaven with any type of cheese.

Taste the pleasure of preserving at serenskitchen.co.uk 46

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Food matching Coolea with cashew nut brittle

The sweet, nutty crunch of Spicy Curry Cashew Brittle - a highlight from Composing the Cheese Plate – goes with everything from Monterey Jack to Comté. But it also works to thrilling effect with Coolea – a fruity gouda-style cheese from County Cork in Ireland. Made with a spoonful of curry powder and pinch of cayenne, the sweet, gently spiced brittle complements the caramel notes of the cheese and adds an exciting crunchy texture.

Époisses with vegetable chips

Tia Keenan advocates keeping soft and gooey Epoisses in its little wooden box and surrounding it with colourful vegetable crisps in her book The Art of the Cheese Plate, in what she describes as a “funky take on chips and dip”. Shallow-fry thin ribbons of carrot and wafer-like slices of lotus roots, and bake slices of cauliflower brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and white pepper, then pile up around the cheese for a stunning centrepiece.

St Jude with shiitake mushroom salad

This pretty little lactic cows’ milk cheese from Suffolk tastes rich and buttery at first but then opens up with a full flavour, which dovetails with the earthiness of shiitake mushrooms. In Composing the Cheese Plate, a salad of the mushrooms is tossed in red wine vinegar, spring onions and red pepper and served with Epoisses.

Working with Brighton chef Dan Kenny, who owns The Set restaurant, we came up with an alternate recipe made with a dressing of mirin, rice vinegar, soy, palm sugar, fresh ginger and shallot. It had a fragrant sharpness that cut through the creaminess of the cheese in a way that was almost as unexpected as seeing mushrooms on a cheeseboard.

Winterdale Shaw cheddar with Bacon Jam

Sweet, nutty and with a gentle tang, this raw milk cheese from Kent is everything a good cheddar should be. Add a dollop of Dan Kenny’s bacon jam, made with maple-cured bacon, veal stock and molasses, and it becomes a different beast altogether. It’s a gloriously decadent combination of cream, smoke and stickiness. Perfect with a pint of best bitter.

Tor with Coedcanlas blackcurrant jam

Made by White Lake in Somerset, this soft pyramid-shaped goats’ cheese was inspired by the nearby Glastonbury Tor. It’s a delicate and fluffy cheese with a beautifully clean flavour and none of the harsh tang associated with some goats’ cheeses. Sweet, leafy Coedcanlas blackcurrant jam (a Golden Fork winner in Great Taste 2017) marries up nicely with the herbaceous notes in the cheese, while the tartness cuts through the richness. Bonus points for the vivid contrast between the purple jam and the ultra white cheese.

Mrs Bell’s Blue with Parkin

A dense slab of cake made with oats and treacle and spiced with ginger, Parkin is a staple on Bonfire Night in Yorkshire, but is far less wellknown outside God’s Own Country. The cake’s sweet spice is a brilliant foil for the salty, creamy sheep’s milk cheese Mrs Bell’s Blue, made by Shepherd’s Purse in Thirsk. To complete the Yorkshire hat-trick, serve with a glass of Triple Chocoholic stout from Saltaire Brewery in Shipley.

You won’t need dessert.

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Raydale Preserves Est. 1978, North Yorkshire

delicious award winning

A range of Great Taste preserves Made the old-fashioned way in the Yorkshire Dales

info@raydalepreserves.co.uk | www.raydalepreserves.co.uk

Red Pepper Jelly the perfect accompaniment to cheese For more information on stocking our fantastic range of jams, award winning marmalades, pickles and chutneys please call 07763 841550 or email steve@friars-farm.com

www.friars-farm.com 48

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

The new fig on the block.

A fabulously figgy, award-winning addition

to the hand-made condiments range from Scarlett & Mustard. Just add food! www.scarlettandmustard.co.uk

Now appointed by Toshiba TEC as an official reseller for their Aplex4 print and apply system Call today for helpful, expert advice on cost effective manual, semi and fully automatic labelling.

Norpak Ltd, 3 Mitre Court, Cutler Heights Lane, Bradford. W. Yorks., BD4 9JY Tel: 01274 681022. Enquiries to info@norpakltd.com www.norpakltd.com

Directory of retailers

Where to buy good cheese London & South East Clough’s Delicatessen 27 Sunte Avenue Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 2AB 01444 452060 cloughsdeli.co.uk f: cloughsdelicatessen Macknade Fine Foods Selling Road Faversham Kent ME13 8XF 01795 534497 macknade.com t @macknade f: macknade i: @macknade Cowdray Farm Shop Ltd Cowdray Park Midhurst Sussex GU29 0AJ 01730 815152 cowdrayfarmshop.co.uk t: @CowdrayFarmShop f: cowdrayfarmshop i: @cowdrayestate Buchanan Cheesemongers 5A Porchester Place London W2 2BS 020 3441 8010 buchanancheesemongers.com t: @BuchanansCheese f: BuchanansCheesemonger-723642057673675 i: @buchanans_cheese The Pangbourne Cheese Shop 17 Reading Road Pangbourne Berkshire RG8 7LU 0118 984 3323 pangbournecheeseshop.co.uk t: @pangcheeseshop Cut & Cured The Apprentice Shop Merton Abbey Mills Watermill Way London SW19 2RD 07881 386366 cutandcured.co.uk t: @cutandcured i: @cutandcured The Larder 71 Ladywell Road London SE13 7JA 07712 623222 t: @LarderLadywell

Jeroboams 96 Holland Park Avenue London W11 3RB 020 7727 9359 jeroboams.co.uk/stores/hollandpark t: @jeroboams f: jeroboamslondon The De Beauvoir Deli Company 98 Southgate Road London N1 3JD 020 7249 4321 thedebeauvoirdeli.co.uk t: @debeauvoirdeli f: TheDeBeauvoirDeliCo i: @debeauvoirdeli Partisan Cheesemonger & Deli 14A Chapel Street Guildford Surrey GU1 3UL 01483 567998 partisan-deli.co.uk t: @partisandeli?lang=en f: partisandeli The Fleetville Larder 129 Hatfield Road St Albans Hertfordshire AL1 4JS 01727 836237 fleetvillelarder.com f: fleetvillelarder i: @fleetvillelarder The Deli at No. 5 5 Buttermarket Thame Oxfordshire OX9 3EW 01844 214229 thedeliatno5.co.uk t: @TheDeliatNo5 f: deliatno5 i: @thedeliatno.5 Halseys Deli and Eatery 10-11 Market Place Hitchin Herfordshire SG5 1DS 01462 636795 halseysdeli.co.uk f: HalseysDeli i: @halseysdeli The Fine Cheese Company 17 Motcomb Street London SW1X 8LB 01225 448748 finecheeseshops.co.uk/belgravia/ t: @FineCheeseBelgr f: thefinecheesecobelgravia/ i: thefinecheeseco/

La Fromagerie 2-6 Moxon Street Marylebone London W1U 4EW 020 7935 0341 lafromagerie.co.uk t: @LaFromagerieUK f: lafromagerieuk/?ref=aymt_ homepage_panel i: @lafromagerieuk La Fromagerie 30 Highbury Park London N5 2AA 020 7359 7440 lafromagerie.co.uk t: @LaFromagerieUK f: lafromagerieuk/?ref=aymt_ homepage_panel i: @lafromagerieuk La Fromagerie 52 Lamb’s Conduit Street London WC1N 3LL 020 7242 1044 lafromagerie.co.uk t: @LaFromagerieUK f: lafromagerieuk/?ref=aymt_ homepage_panel i: @lafromagerieuk Wells Stores Peachcroft Farm Twelve Acre Drive Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 2HP 01235 535978 wellsstores.com t: @PeachCroftFarm f: peachcroftfarm

Midlands & East Anglia The Melton Cheeseboard 8 Windsor Street Melton Mowbray Leicestershire LE13 1BU 01664 562257 meltoncheeseboard.co.uk f: MeltonCheeseboard-407282866070465 Delilah Fine Foods 12 Victoria Street Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG1 2EX 0115 948 4461 delilahfinefoods.co.uk t: @delilahfinefood f: DelilahFineFoods i: @delilahfinefoods

Apley Farm Shop Norton Shifnal Shropshire TF11 9EF 01746 762110 apleyfarmshop.co.uk t: @ApleyFarmShop f: apleyfarmshop Anderson & Hill 7 Colmore Row Great Western Arcade Birmingham B2 5HU 0121 236 2829 andersonandhill.co.uk t: @AndersonandHill f: AndersonAndHill Aubrey Allen Ltd 108 Warwick Street Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 4QP 01926 311208 aubreyallenwholesale.co.uk H. Gunton Ltd 81-83 Crouch Street Colchester Essex CO3 3EZ 01206 572200 guntons.co.uk t: @HGuntonLtd f: HGuntonLtd The Norfolk Deli 16 Greevegate Hunstanton Norfolk PE36 6AA 01485 535540 norfolk-deli.co.uk t: @Norfolk_Deli f: thenorfolkdeli The Cheese Society 1 St Martin’s Lane Lincoln Lincolnshire LN2 1HY 01522 511003 thecheesesociety.co.uk t: @TheCheeseSoc f: TheCheeseSoc i: @thecheesesociety Cheese on The Green 27 The Green Bilton Rugby Warwickshire CV22 7LZ 01788 522813 cheeseonthegreen.com t: @RugbyCheese f: cheeseonthegreen

➔ GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

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Directory of retailers

The Cheese Shop Nottingham Ltd 4 Flying Horse Walk St Peters Gate Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG1 2HN 0115 941 9114 cheeseshop-nottingham.co.uk t: @cheeseshopnottm?lang=en f: The-Cheese-Shop-NottinghamLTD-134712966777

North of England Tully’s of Rothbury High Street Rothbury Northumberland NE65 7TB 01669 620574 rothburydeli.co.uk t: @rothbury_deli f: rothburydeli Real Meals 25 Milton Street Saltburn by the Sea North Yorkshire TS12 1DJ 01287 622266 real-meals.co.uk f: realmeals.uk/ The Cheese Hamlet 706 Wilmslow Road Disbury Manchester M20 2DW 0161 434 4781 thecheesehamlet.co.uk t: @cheese_hamlet f: TheCheeseHamlet/ Fodder Great Yorkshire Showground Railway Road Harrogate North Yorkshire TS12 1DJ 01287 622266 fodder.co.uk t: @fodderharrogate f: fodderharrogate George and Joseph 140 Harrogate Road Chapel Allerton Leeds LS7 4NZ 0113 345 0203 georgeandjoseph.co.uk/ t: @georgeandjoseph f: georgeandjoseph i: @georgeandjoseph/ The Lambing Shed Moseley Hall Farm Chelford Rd Knutsford Cheshire WA16 8RB 01565 631027 thelambingshed.com/ thelambingshed.com/ f: TheLambingShedFarmShop/ i: @explore/locations/872796217/ 50

GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

Godfrey C. Williams & Son Corner House 9-11 The Square Sandbach Cheshire CW11 1AP 01270 762817 godfreycwilliams.co.uk/ f: GodfreyCWilliamsSon

Haley & Clifford 18 Hill Street Corbridge Northumberland NE45 5AA 01434 632948 corbridgelarder.co.uk/ t: @corbridgelarder f: TheCorbridgeLarder

The Churchmouse at Barbon New Road Barbon Cumbria LA6 2LL 01524 276 224 churchmousecheeses.com/ t: @churchmousech f: churchmousebarbon?fref=ts i: @johnnatlacen/

The Cheese and Wine Shop 8 Clarks Yard Darlington County Durham DL3 7QH 01325 384803 cheeseandwineshop.co.uk/ f: Cheeseandwineshopdarlington/

Keelham Hall Farm Shop Brighouse and Denholme Road Thornton Bradford West Yorkshire BD13 3SS 01274 833535 keelhamfarmshop.co.uk/ t: @KeelhamFarm f: Keelhamfarmshop i: @keelhamfarmshop/

Four Seasons Cherry Valley Ltd 38-40 Gilnahirk Road Belfast County Antrim BT5 7DG 028 90792701 thefourseasonsni.co.uk f: thefourseasonsbelfast

Granthams of Alderley Edge 68 Heyes Lane Alderley Edge Cheshire SK9 7HY 01625 583286 granthamsfinefood.com/ t: @granthamsdeli?lang=en Gillions of Crosby 128-130 College Road Crosby Liverpool Lancashire L23 3DP 0151 924 4057 gillionsofcrosby.co.uk/ t: @gillionscrosby f: gillionsofcrosby/ The Cheeseboard 1 Commercial Street Harrogate North Yorkshire HG1 1UB 01423 508837 thecheeseboard.net/ t: @1Thecheeseboard f: The-Cheeseboard271574992937579/ Haley & Clifford 43 Street Lane Roundhay Leeds Yorkshire LS8 1AP 0113 237 0334 haleyandclifford.co.uk/site/ t: @haley_clifford f: Haley-Clifford153330791358308/

Northern Ireland

Arcadia Delicatessen 378 Lisburn Road Belfast County Antrim BT9 6GL 02890 381779 arcadiadeli.co.uk/ t: @arcadiadeli f: arcadiadelicatessen i: @arcadia5600/

Scotland The Mainstreet Trading Company Main Street St Boswells Melrose Borders TD6 0AT 01835 824087 mainstreetbooks.co.uk/ t: @mainstreethare f: Mainstreet.Trading.Company i: @mainstreethare/

South West Quickes Traditional Home Farm Newton St Cyres Exeter Devon EX5 5AY 01392 851222 quickes.co.uk i: @quickescheese f: quickescheese i: @quickescheese/ Turnbulls Deli & Cheesemongers 9 High Street Shaftesbury Dorset SP7 8HZ 01747 858575

turnbulls.co.uk i: @Turnbulls_ f: TurnbullsDeli The Cotswold Cheese Company 5 High Street Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire GL56 0AH 01608 652862 cotswoldcheese.com i: @cotswoldcheese f: CotswoldCheese/ i: @cotswoldcheese/ The Cotswold Cheese Company 1-2 Fountain Court Digbeth Street Stow-on-the-Wold Gloucestershire GL54 1BN 01451 870034 i: @cotswoldcheese f: CotswoldCheese/ The Cotswold Cheese Company 113 Fountain Court Burford Oxfordshire OX18 4RG 01993 823882 i: @cotswoldcheese f: CotswoldCheese/ Tisbury Delicatessen Jubilee House High Street Tisbury Wiltshire SP3 6HA 01747 871771 f: pg/tisburydeli/posts/ Wildmoor Fine Food & Drink 43 Fore Street Bovey Tracey Devon TQ13 9AD 01626 832253 wildmoor-deli.co.uk/ i: @Wildmoordeli f: wildmoordeli/ i: @explore/locations/1015785228/ wildmoor-fine-food-drink/

Ideal gifts for christmas

Willow

British Cheese Awards 2017 Bronze

Hazel

British Cheese Awards 2017 Gold, Artisan Cheese Awards 2017 Silver

Award-Winning Handmade Cheese Truly artisan cheese, made in small batches using milk from our very own dairy goats and cows.

Try our unique flavours in special box sets Listed with major wholesalers including Rowcliffe this Christmas Call 07712681413 and we’ll help you get these in your deli now.

www.cawscenarth.co.uk

info@chilliesfarmdairy.co.uk | 01892 664608 | 07979 858400 www.chilliesfarmdairy.co.uk

OUR DELI RANGE

Still making award-winning Scottish Farmhouse Cheese

Made in South Lanarkshire

pickled in our leicestershire kitchen

Lanark Blue, Dunsyre Blue, Lancelot, Corra Linn, Lanark White.

Lancelot

S I LV E R

be one of the first to stock OUR DELI RANGE no minimum order | delivery included buy 10 cases get 1 free

www.erringtoncheese.co.uk

Lanark Blue Dunsyre Blue Corra Linn Biggar Blue

Walston Braehead Farm, Carnwath, Lanarkshire ML11 8NF 01899 810 257 · enquiries@erringtoncheese.co.uk GOOD CHEESE 2017-18

51

Share Our Family Recipe

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland - a centuries-old tradition of artisanal cheesemaking.

For over 900 years, our milk producers, cheese makers and affineurs in Western Switzerland have followed the same strict protocols and procedures. This is the only way that we can ensure that Gruyère AOP carries the quality and flavour that has been known and trusted for generations. For artisans such as ours, this is what matters above all. We invite you to share this family tradition with your customers.

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland is 100% natural and 100% additive free, with 100% great taste... and of course, naturally free of lactose and gluten, as it has always been.

For more information on our production, history, and some great recipes, please visit us at gruyere.com

Gruyère AOP

Born in Switzerland in 1115.

All Natural, only from Switzerland.

Naturally Gluten- and Lactose-Free. www.gruyere.com AOP = PDO (Protected Designation of Origin)

Switzerland. Naturally.

Gruyere_GuildFineFood_FamilyRecipe-T-230x315.indd 1

Cheeses from Switzerland. www.cheesesfromswitzerland.com

8/4/17 12:09 PM