counter culture
What’s new in the world of speciality cheese? UK cheese retail continues to grow Despite the pandemic and the online selling boom of 2020, the UK’s bricks and mortar retail scene is going from strength to strength with a host of new openings and shop extensions taking place. Cheese Etc, based in Pangbourne near Reading, has converted some of its warehousing space (pictured right) near the main shop into a tasting room to host events and it has also added a packaging-free dry goods vending area, dubbed Loose Larder, to its new space. In Northern Ireland, deli Indie Füde has opened a cheese-focused second shop featuring a temperature-controlled serving area on Belfast’s Ormeau Road (pictured bottom right). The retailer is also partnering with a local cheesemaker to set up a small production unit in the city’s Banana Block development. The Courtyard Dairy has been a beacon of cheesemongering from its base in the Yorkshire Dales over the last couple of years and now founders Andy and Cathy Swinscoe are planning a further expansion of the site. The end result will be a larger retail area, extra space for maturing cheeses and a new improved version of the business’s cheese museum. Meanwhile, Oxford’s Jericho Cheese Company has opened a second shop – on Ship Street in the city centre – and Cardiff shop Madame Fromage has opened a new premises in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. North London cheese & wine specialist Provisions has also doubled its offering by setting up a second outlet in Hackney as a sister business to its original Holloway Road site.
Shepherds Purse to rename Yorkshire Fettle again
Shepherds Purse is looking to rename its Yorkshire Fettle cheese for the second time following demands from Greek cheesemakers, who argue its name breaches the PDO for Feta. First made in 1987 as Yorkshire Feta, the crumbly, sheep’s milk cheese was renamed Yorkshire Fettle in 2008 when Feta won PDO status. However, the Federation of Greek Dairy Products Industries believes Fettle is still too similar to the name Feta and has demanded that Shepherds Purse stop using it. The Yorkshire cheesemaker disagrees but does not have the resources for a legal fight, so will, once again, rename the product. A new name had not yet been chosen as Good Cheese went to press. Co-owner Caroline Bell said: “Whilst we agree whole heartedly with the spirit of PDO legislation, we don’t believe that our name breaches it. But our resources to fight it are limited, particularly after the pandemic.” Bell’s sister and co-owner Katie Matten said the enforced change was “a blow” after investing heavily in new equipment and new packaging during the pandemic to help support sheep milk farmers. shepherdspurse.co.uk
Ukraine hosts inaugural awards The first ever Ukrainian ProCheese Awards Cheese Festival was held at the Parkovy exhibition centre in Kyiv, on 22nd-23rd May. A host of expert judges deemed Shedevr (which translates as ‘Masterpiece’) from Dooobra Farm to be the winning cheese while Nadiya Frantovska won the Grand Prix of the Cheesemonger competition for the best cheeseboard. Both winners were invited to the 2021 World Cheese Awards, held in Oviedo. awards.procheese.ua
NEW CHEESES Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses has launched a new range called This Is Proper. It consists of Creamy Lancashire, Crumbly Lancashire, Double Gloucester, Tasty Lancashire, Red Leicester and Goats Cheese. All are made from milk sourced within a 10-mile radius of Butlers’ family herd. They are also fully vegetarian, graded by strength and available in 100% recyclable packaging. butlerscheeses.co.uk
Holker Farm in Cumbria has had a busy 2021, having created not one but two new cheeses. GoaShee is a mixed-milk cheese (30% sheep’s milk, 70% goats’), similar in style to several Italian and Spanish hard cheeses, that showcases both the rich sweetness of sheep’s milk and floral notes from the goats’ milk The second creation is the semi-soft goats’ milk Lady Grey, which has a grassy, refreshing white paste and a distinctive peppery grey rind. Both are available through The Fine Cheese Co. stjamescheese.co.uk finecheese.co.uk
Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire has invested £100,000 in new equipment for making a new Halloumi-style grilling cheese called Buffalomi. The business, which is owned by former Formula 1 driver Jody Scheckter, is best known for making buffalo mozzarella, using milk from its own 700-strong herd of buffaloes. Buffalomi is made with 90% cows’ milk mixed with 10% buffalo milk and has a softer texture and lower salt content than Halloumi. laverstokepark.co.uk
Paxton & Whitfield has added a Spanish torta-style cheese called Cremoso to its range. Made by Cañarejal in Valladolid, Castile y León, the 250g spoonable cheeses are made with raw ewe’s milk and cardoon thistle, and have a bloomy white rind. The cheesemonger has also added Georgelet Buchette – an unpasteurised goats’ milk soft cheese from Poitou Charentes in south-west France and a Swiss Alpine cows’ milk cheese called Schnebelhorn. paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
GOOD CHEESE 2021-22
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