SAY CHEESE

Words: Daniel Nowland

At this time of year I did presume I would write all about super healthy plant based cooking, but then I had a change of heart and decided to talk about many people’s favourite comforting indulgence – Cheese! During these cold & gloomy months, there are few things that hit the spot better than an oozing grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of red wine. Good for the soul if nothing else. Prior to setting up The Southsea Deli, I was definitely less picky about which cheese I bought, and often it was whatever seemed the best deal in the supermarket. Obviously running a deli has taught me a lot about cheese, and it’s an important part of the deli’s identity.

Since the very beginning, I decided to focus 100% on British cheese. Partly because it’s a great point of difference from supermarkets, and partly because we have so many incredible cheeses, I didn’t see the need for imports. Our primary cheese supplier is Westcombe Dairy, based in the heart of Somerset. I’ve visited several times, and always come away inspired by their dedication and total obsession with the three main cheeses they produce.

At Westcombe they do everything themselves, from managing grazing land and milking the cows, through to making and ageing the cheese in caves. They focus on cheddar, caerphilly and ricotta, all of which are made with their own unpasteurised milk. These guys are purists, and they know that by not pasteurising the milk, you can truly taste the uniqueness of their dairy process from grazing through to the finished cheese. Westcombe cheddar is a particularly strong

tasting cheese with fruity, earthy flavours. It stands up particularly well to full bodied wines and punchy IPA’s. They also produce a smoked version of their cheddar, totally unique and very smoky. My personal favorite is their caerphilly. This cheese is less strong, with a dry crumbly texture and a creamy, almost nutty, flavour. The ricotta is also incredible and I use it widely in savoury tarts, and also as a pasta filling. Independent British cheese makers such as Westcombe are unique, and vital to the survival of small responsible agriculture in the UK. I hate the idea that one day all of our countryside could be managed by the multinational corporations such as Muller and Arla, who incidentally make most of the branded cheese you find on supermarket shelves. I am a huge advocate of buying British cheeses, and here in the South of England we have cheeses to rival the French and Italians, including the incredible soft cheese from the Isle Of Wight Cheese Co, organic buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm, and the incredible rival to Camembert – Tunworth Soft Cheese from Hampshire!

Whether it’s for filling a sandwich, topping a pasta dish, or indulging on a Friday night, give a local cheese a try and discover how delicious supporting a local producer can be.

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“Traditional values, Modern materials” The Carpet Cavern is a new carpet and flooring store run by JDS Carpets ltd.

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MARKET DATES

FOR YOUR DIARY • LOVE SOUTHSEA MARKET

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Sunday 20 February Sunday 20 March 10am-2pm Palmerston Road precinct www.hampshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk

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Albert Road Traders look forward to seeing you in 2022

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It’s difficult to believe that it’ll soon be coming up to 2 years since we opened the shop – and quite frankly, what a couple of years it’s been (for multiple reasons…) The support has been incredible, and especially in the lead-up to Christmas, when this year we were able to open right up until Christmas Eve, with no surprise restrictions dropped on us as was the case last year! The year is still young, but there has already been a handful of surprise top sellers for us – the paperback release of Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters and To Paradise, the followup to A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara have both been January hits so far. Christmas was, as always, ripe with biographies and memoirs, especially so this year since there was so many comedians and actors unable to perform live, instead putting their talents down in words. We’d expect to see many of those trickling through in paperback form over the next six months, so make sure to get your pre-orders in if you missed out over Christmas – I know a lot of them are on my ever-growing ‘to be read’ pile. We’re very excited at the prospect of restrictions around the pandemic being softened over the next few months – due to the events of the last 2 years, we have only been able to hold very few of the in-person author events and book clubs that we anticipated –but hopefully this will change soon, and we’ve already got a handful of things pencilled in… We’ll also be continuing our partnership with the Literacy Hubs (we still have some of our limited edition candles for sale, a donation from each sale going to the Pompey Pirates) and helping them with the setup of their second location. We’d like to remind anyone who doesn’t know that although we only keep a relatively small selection of books on the shelves in the shop, it’s usually no hassle to order anything that we don’t have in for you – and most books can be with us in a day or two, ready for collection or delivery! We’ll sign off by just saying thank you to all of our customers, both the ones that have been there from the beginning and the new ones that we meet every day – without your support, we wouldn’t still be here – you’re the best!