HOW THEY SERVE IT IN ASTURIAS

Asturias boasts some 40 varieties of cheese and the region’s capital city Oviedo is the host for the 2021 World Cheese Awards, so Good Cheese set out to discover how cheesemongers and chefs serve up the local delicacies. Photographer and journalist MÒNICA R. GOYA is our guide as we head to northern Spain.

Eat it like a local

RICE PUDDING CHEESECAKE

Teresa Camacho of Bar Camacho (in Anieves on the outskirts of Oviedo) belongs to the Guisanderas Club, an award-winning association that was created by female cooks in Asturias to preserve the area’s traditional recipes and to celebrate the role women play in protecting local food culture.

With such an embedded tradition, cheese appears on local menus in every shape and form – from starters to desserts.

At her restaurant, Camacho combines Lazana’s Afinado artisan cheese with rice pudding to make an unforgettably soft cheesecake that melts in the mouth, with a surprising texture thanks to the rice pudding.

facebook.com/clubdeguisanderas/

THE CHEESEBOARD

“I have fond memories of my grandmother eating blue cheese with apples at home, it’s one of the flavours of my childhood,” explains Aitor Vega, who runs a speciality cheese shop in the town of Langreo, south east of Oviedo. For two decades he has worked tirelessly to support Asturian artisan cheesemakers and this board showcases three of the region’s finest offerings.

“La Cueva de Llonín is an elegant cows’ milk cheese that might remind you of Camembert,” he says. “I love to pair it with strawberry jam, cutting it in half and filling it with jam.”

Afuega’l Pitu (with PDO status) is a peculiar-looking orange-hued cows’ milk cheese with strong roots in the central valleys of the region. “I pair it with rye bread as a tribute to those shepherds who had it as their only sustenance while working outside in the fields,” says Aitor.

Blue cheeses – including the legendary Cabrales and Gamonéu – are a particular speciality in Asturias, and Vega proposes pairing the lesser-known sheep’s milk La Peral Peralzola with sliced apples – just like his grandmother would have done.

250gramosdequeso.com

CABRALES SAUCE

Most chefs and cooks in Asturias have one, and Teresa Camcho shares her recipe for a classic sauce, made with the famous blue Cabrales and often served with cooked meats.

“Warm the 150ml of double cream in a small saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly,” she tells Good Cheese. “Then add 150g of crumbled Cabrales and 30ml of cognac, and cook until the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Asturias is smaller than Yorkshire but it boasts some 40 different varieties of cheese, some of which have been made for millennia. The most famous is perhaps the potent blue Cabrales, which has Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status – along with the smoky, mixedmilk Gamonéu, the soft Afuega’l Pitu and the disc-shaped Casín.

Delivering without the dairy?

Jake, Andy & Anne Wigmore and Kayleigh Sheekey

As the demand for dairy-free food increases, vegan cheese alternatives have moved beyond their industrial beginnings into more artisanal territory. NICK BAINES asks whether some of these ‘cheeses’ have earned a place behind the counter and on the board

TRADITIONALLY, ANYTHING THAT carried the moniker ‘vegan cheese’ was only found in dusty health shops or tucked away in the supermarkets’ free-from sections. It’s fair to say that these products always lacked the texture, avour and nesse to really be considered a cheese substitute – but all that has changed in recent years.

The health food sector has undergone a vibrant transformation in the last decade and the word ‘wellness’ is being used with wild abandon by marketers across the globe. In tandem with the rapid growth of this sector, dairy-free cheese alternatives have thrived. As demand has increased for these products, so too has the overall quality,

We follow cheesemaking processes. We let it age, we let the cultures and fermentation do their jobs, we let the product develop.

Sequence: Production at maker

Palace Culture

Above left: Shamembert

produced by Honestly Tasty

with many producers following traditional cheesemaking methods and directing their e orts towards mimicking the texture, avour and behaviours of their dairy counterparts.

London’s Palace Culture produces a range of vegan ‘cheeses’ made using organic cashew milk. “We make the milk using ltered water,” explains founder Mirko Parmigiani. “Then we add live cultures and allow it to ferment for 24 to 72 hours.”

Parmigiani uses penicillium roqueforti for his blue Sacré Bleu, and penicillium Camemberti for his mould-ripened cheese styled on camembert.

“We focus on avour, and try to follow the dairy process as much as possible,” says Parmigiani, who started the business due to his son’s lactose intolerance. “From my point of view, this is something you can call ‘cheese’, because we follow cheesemaking processes. We let it age, we let the cultures and fermentation do their jobs, we let them develop. The only di erence is changing the milk.”

But it’s the inclusion of milk that is o en the contentious point as to whether or not we call these products cheese. While we’re ok with gluten-free pasta still being considered pasta, or pesto keeping its name despite all manner of substitutions in its makeup, it seems we still aren’t comfortable about these plant-based foods taking the title of cheese. In fact, the European Court of Justice banned the use of the word ‘cheese’ for plant-based products in 2017. And some in the dairy industry have pushed for even tighter restrictions since this ban.

Not everyone who works in cheese is against the concept of vegan alternatives, though. Robert Marsham, owner of MacFarlane’s Fromagerie in Clapham, says vegan products have su ered from being pigeon-holed.

“Retailers should be focusing on inclusivity,” says Marsham. “It’s not a dairy item and is never going to be cheese, but it’s a substitute for people who have made an informed decision to not eat dairy.”

He adds: “We stock around one hundred cheeses. That gives customers an opportunity to taste a vast range of di erent avour and texture sensations, so why shouldn’t you include plant-based enjoyment?

“I have people here who buy products like Shamembert because they’re curious and want to taste something di erent. They’re enjoying it because it’s a wonderful food.”

Shamembert, produced by Honestly Tasty, and styled on Camembert, this so , mould-ripened cheese has become a modern benchmark for vegan creations. Founder Mike Moore started the business in 2019 and has seen sales growth of 750% in the past 12 months.

“The whole landscape of vegan ‘cheese’ has come a long way in the past 18 months,” says Moore. “We’re in an era where we’re using the maturing process and culturing these plant-based mediums to make this cheese, the same way they’d traditionally culture milk.”

“But we’re right at the beginning of this, cheesemaking processes have been developed over hundreds of years, and we are trying to catch up in a relatively short space of time.”

Responding to the question of whether we can call these products ‘cheese’, Moore says that language is a funny thing. “I think it’s just the teething pains of people accepting it,” he says. “I think ‘plant-based cheese’ is where it’ll settle as it’s the path of least resistance, I guess.”

When Good Cheese asks Michaela Myers, owner of Barney’s Delicatessen in Brighton,

My opinion has changed. Many of these products have the same love and attention to detail in them as any artisan cheese.

Michaela Myers, Barney’s Delicatessen

whether vegan cheeses have earned a rightful place on the cheeseboard, her reply is “absolutely”.

“At rst I was on the side of puritan: it doesn’t contain milk therefore it shouldn’t be called ‘cheese’,” says Myers, who in the past year has seen plant-based cheese grow from 2% of her turnover, to 7%.

“But my opinion has changed. Many of these products have the same love and attention to detail in them as any artisan cheese.”

It’s clear that many of these products should no longer be considered as just a substitute for their dairy-based cousins. Some might argue they stand as their own category, while others might feel they deserve a spot within the pantheon of cheeses – and become a type of cheese, rather than an alternative.

Although its positioning and status will be debated for some time, it’s clear that vegan ‘cheese’ is no longer just the preserve of neglected shelves and niche markets.

FAMOUS FIVE…

Go vegan with these cheese alternatives and decide for yourself.

Shamembert Honestly Tasty

Styled on Camembert, this semi-soft product is infused with truffle oil.

honestlytasty.co.uk Beer washed / Spruce wrapped Mouse’s Favourite

A semi-soft, washed rind product wrapped and aged in spruce.

mousesfavourite.com

Giz Kumbaraci /Jade NinaSarkhel

Sacré Bleu Palace Culture

A blue-style gorgonzolalike creation – made in small, sought-after, monthly batches.

palaceculture.co.uk Activated Charcoal Chease Bath Culture House

A soft cultured Chease made from organic cashews and dusted with activated charcoal.

bathculturehouse.co.uk

Trímma Food by Sumear

A Greek-inspired feta-style product made by an exdairy cheesemaker.

foodbysumear.co.uk

e Cheesemakers of Canterbury, home of award winning Kentish cheeses including the award winning Chaucers Camembert. All our cheeses are available at our retail outlet at e Goods Shed in Canterbury, or through the cheesemakersofcanterbury.co.uk website, as well as through our wholesalers. Our range includes our rst and signature cheese Ashmore Farmhouse, along with Kellys, Gru s, Canterbury Cobble, along with Kellys, Gru s, Canterbury Cobble, Bowyers Brie and of course the award winning Chaucers Chaucers Camembert. Why not visit our website and nd out about our handmade cheeses and follow the process from milk through to the presses and the range of award winning cheeses. In addition you can discover our history as cheesemakers and the history of Ashmore Cheese.

Ashmore Farmhouse

PRODUCED IN KENT

Lamberhurst Farm, Dargate, Faversham, Kent. ME13 9ES Tel: 01227 751741 - www.cheesemakersofcanterbury.co.uk