New Feature: Lovely & Local

Welcome to the first of our ‘Lovely & Local’ articles.

These articles aim to introduce you to some of our passionate local food and drinks producers across the region.

For our first visit, we travelled to Ferndale Farm, home of Norfolk Dapple Cheese, to meet Arthur with his small team of Craig and Megan. As I entered the dairy, I was greeted with an aroma of sweet milk and yoghurt. Arthur, a friendly young man dressed in his whites, was all smiles and the passion in his work radiates off him.

Their cheese story began with his mum, Elinor Betts, who started to make cheese in 2004.

The day starts early with Mum (semi-retired from cheese making) heading to Abbey Farm in Binham to collect 2000 litres of fresh milk at

6am followed by a day-long process, as you can never hurry cheese making. Arthur explained that the milk is gently heated to the right temperature before the starter culture is added followed a little later by the rennet. This had happened just prior to my arrival, meaning that in the tank was something akin to creamy firm panna-cotta.

Then the really hard work begins; Arthur and his team cut the curds by hand, then slowly, fingertip by fingertip, they ease the curds from the edges so every precious piece is available to be heated gently again while stirred.

Once ready, the curds are lifted from the whey into moulds where they are pressed before drying for two days. After two days, cheeses, like the Norfolk Dapple, Carrow and Ruby, are lovingly coated in butter and wrapped in untreated cotton before heading to the maturation room where they are turned regularly and can hibernate for 4-6 months. They also make a

washed rind cheese (Tawny) using local strong ale which does not have its protective coat of cloth, instead it has a weekly wash in ale.

Norfolk Dapple also creates its own siblings, a cold smoked version and mature. Smoked Dapple takes a short journey to the in-house smoker where it sits while curls of wood smoke infuse its rind making its subtle way into the core. As Arthur noted, ‘A true smoked cheese should have an edge of bonfire and a core of sweet, warm wood’.

I asked Arthur what his biggest worry was at present, and although Covid and the impact it was having on his customers features high, his biggest concern has always been wastage. Most of the unsellable cheese goes into compost or is eaten by the farm staff. Arthur showed me that one small crack allowing a little vein of the surface mould to enter the paste (main cheese body) results in him removing more than a factory cheese maker would. Yet Arthur will not let a cheese leave the building if it is not at its best for his customer. And if it needs another two months to be ready, then he gives it the time to create the flavours that have won his cheese so many awards.

Ferndale Cheeses are available from a number of Farm Shops. You can check out their website https://www.ferndalefarmnorfolkcheeses. co.uk/ stockists for your nearest stockist.

If you feel there is a local producer that is an unsung hero or just generally produces the best you’ve ever tasted, drop me a line and perhaps you will see them shortly on this page.

Article by Cheryl Cade Visit: https://cherylcade.com