British Farmhouse Cheeses
Oatcakes
Your Piece Baking Company takes their baking very seriously and are proud of Scotland’s culinary heritage. The recipes they use are based on those used by Scottish artisan bakers for centuries."When hand-rolled with a rolling pin and baked with only the finest ingredients and just sufficient baking powder to allow it to rise correctly, a genuinely handmade Scottish oatcake is a thing of beauty.” These are handmade in Fife using oats sourced from farms in Scotland and do not contain any artificial additives or preservatives. A perfect accompaniment to cheese.
(V)
Colston Bassett Stilton
The Nottingham dairy has been making Stilton for over one hundred years. The farming co-operative which was first established in 1913, is still in operation today and they continue to make their cheese in the traditional way, using recipes that have been handed down the generations with milk from local farms – all within 1.5 miles of the dairy in the Vale of Belvoir. This cheese is deep and creamy textured with a delightful spicy blue tang both nutty & rich.
(GF)
Westcombe Cheddar
A handcrafted, traditional clothbound Somerset cheddar made from unpasteurised milk in much the same way it was produced at Westcombe Dairy by Mrs Brickell over 100 years ago. Expressing the full character of the East Somerset terroir, Westcombe Cheddar is honoured with the ‘Artisan Somerset Cheddar’ designation from Slow Food, one of only three cheeses to have this. Only salt, rennet and traditional starter culture are added to the fresh milk, which transforms the fresh milk into curds and whey. Once the curds are drained, they cut, stack and turn them solely by hand and then use an old peg mill (one of only a few still in use in the country) to mill them down. The curds are pressed in traditional cheddar moulds, then covered with muslin cloth and lard so they can breathe through their slow ageing. The cheese is aged anywhere between 12 to 18 months and has a deep flavour with a mellow lactic tang and long notes evoking hazelnut, caramel and citrus. The texture is structured and firm, with a smooth, gradual breakdown that helps the flavours unfold and linger on your palate. Westcombe Cheddar is what’s known in Somerset as a 'five mile cheese', as you’re still tasting it five miles down the road!
(GF)
St Jude’s Soft Cheese
All the St.Jude cheeses are lovingly handmade in small batches from the fresh raw milk of a single herd of Montbéliarde cows on a family farm in Suffolk. Inspired by the French cheese St Marcellin, its savoury, rich and buttery flavour belies its luxuriously light, almost mousse-like paste. Enjoying the seasonality of the milk which shapes the cheese is a special distinction of raw milk farmhouse cheeses and is to be celebrated. A small, soft, wrinkly cheese, it intentionally has a very thin mould rind which allows for wild moulds- spots of blue, green and grey moulds, which often develop on the surface during maturation. They are perfectly safe to eat and do not negatively affect the flavour of the cheese.
(GF)
Baron Bigod
A creamy, white bloomy-rind cheese handmade on the farm by Jonny and the team, from their own raw Montbeliarde cows milk in suffolk.It has a smooth silky texture and a golden curd, with long lasting warm earth, farmyard and mushroom flavours. It is the only traditional raw milk Brie-de-Meaux style cheese produced in the UK. They use a traditional recipe passed on to them by a French cheese maker and is one of only a handful of its type in the world to be made by the farmer on the farm and can genuinely be called a true farmhouse Brie. Their cheese is made by hand in small batches, very early in the morning so that they can use the raw milk still warm, straight from the cow at the perfect temperature for cheesemaking. The curds are carefully hand-ladled into large moulds, using traditional pelle-a-brie ladles and the young cheeses are hand salted and then aged for up to 8 weeks in a cave-like environment. "Baron Bigod is truly unique to our farm. Its flavours, aromas and characteristics are influenced by our own cows milk and the rich variety of grasses and herbs that grow on the grazing land of Stow Fen, an unusual wildlife-rich Basin marsh which is completely unique to the Waveney Valley."
(GF)
Double Curd Lancashire
Mrs Kirkham’s, the maker of the heritage Lancashire cheese, is a family run business in its fourth generation of production. Considered a “slow” cheese, it is made using raw milk straight from their own herd of cattle on the farm. This is a hard, crumbly cheese with an exceptionally mild, sweet flavour and a mellow tang. Certainly in the UK and possibly in the world, it is a unique cheese in being made partly or entirely with 2 or 3 day old curds. The traditional production area is the coastal part of Lancashire. It is thought that the method of using aged curds developed in response to the small-scale nature of many traditional farms within the area. The small numbers of cows kept on these farms were unable to produce sufficient quantities of milk to produce a whole cheese and in the days before refrigeration, turning the milk into curds was a method of preservation. It is a forgotten food at risk of being lost because the double-curd method of production which gives the cheese a crumbly texture fell from favour as it made the cheese unsuitable for cutting and packaging into small wedges.
(GF & V)
Cropwell Bishop Stilton
The Nottingham dairy has been making Stilton for over one hundred years by the Skailes family. First established in 1847 as a merchant of dairy products it was not until the 1920’s that they began making their own cheese. Today they continue to craft their cheese by hand, using methods that have little changed since the 17th Century with milk from cows that graze on the lush pastures of the Peak District. This Blue Stilton has a rich, tangy flavour, and a melt in the mouth,velvety-soft texture.
Smoked Cropwell Bishop Stilton
Based in the Vale of Belvoir, Nottinghamshire, this dairy has been making Stilton for over one hundred years by the Skailes family. First established in 1847 as a merchant of dairy products, it was not until the 1920’s that they began making their own cheese, namely the Cropwell Bishop Stilton. Today they continue to craft their cheese by hand, using methods that have little changed since the 17th Century with milk from cows that graze on the lush pastures of the Peak District. Lightly smoked over maple wood, this blue Stilton is something a bit different. Still with the rich, tangy flavour and velvety-soft texture but in addition, a subtle smokey flavour. Try it crumbled over pasta dishes or a duck and walnut salad.
(GF & V)
Ticklemore
A goat’s milk cheese that doesn’t taste ‘goaty’, first made by Robin Congdon in the mid-eighties, Ticklemore is known across the World and takes its name from a street in nearby Totnes made famous by its cheese shop. Goats milk from three local farms gives it a stark white colour, firm chalky texture with a mellow yet complex flavour featuring hints of lemon and herbs that deepen with age. Ticklemore is sublime when melted in cooking, perfect when crumbled into a salad and a beautiful addition to any cheese board.
(GF & V)
Medlar Cheese
At Eastgate Larder in Norfolk, Jane is reviving the long forgotten, old English fruit which was once Britain’s sweet treat. The medlar, mespilus germanica, now rarely found in British commercial orchards, was popular in the UK and Europe for hundreds of years and mentioned in the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare and DH Lawrence. The tree’s true homeland is on the western shores of the Caspian Sea. Believed by many to have healing properties, the fruit was enjoyed by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians. By the 17th century, medlars were common in English gardens and were regularly brought to market well into the 19th century. They became unfairly neglected from the early 20th century as a wider range of fruit and other foods became available. Jane is the only producer of medlar products in the UK.