Baron Bigod and the raw milk revolution
In many ways the story of Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk is a familiar one. Third-generation dairy farmer Jonny Crickmore and his wife Dulcie became so fed up with rock bottom milk prices in the late...
View ArticleShropshire Blue wins British Cheeses Awards 2016
Cropwell Bishop is best known for its Stilton, but it was the Nottinghamshire company's Shropshire Blue that was named Supreme Champion at this years British Cheese Awards.The spicy, nutty blue cheese,...
View ArticleTop five new British cheeses
The British cheese scene goes from strength to strength with new producers and new cheeses appearing all the time. What's been noticeable in the past year or is how British cheesemakers are being more...
View ArticleGolden Cross: 'It's a 24/7 life'
Golden Cross had a good awards season last year with its eponymous goats cheese winning super gold at the World Cheese Awards and named best soft white at the British Cheese Awards. Not that owners...
View ArticleCHEESE OF THE WEEK: Besace Affine
Don't judge a cheese by its cover. This wonky goats' cheese coated in ash is not exactly a looker (my father-in-law described it as 'fish head' cheese) but it was the stand out fromage on my Christmas...
View ArticleBarkham Blue wins British Cheese Awards 2015
Barkham Blue was picked from nearly a thousand cheeses entered into this year's British Cheeses Awards to be named supreme champion.The soft, creamy blue, which is made with Channel Island milk in...
View ArticleKirkham's Lancashire two ways: Classic and Tasty
'What's your favourite cheese' is one of those impossible questions to answer, like 'what's your favourite album?' or 'which is better, crisps or biscuits?' But there are some cheeses I go back to...
View ArticlePaxton & Whitfield's cheese journal
I'm the sort of person who goes upstairs for something and can't remember what it was until I've walked back down again, so remembering all the different cheeses I've scoffed is a frankly impossible...
View ArticleAppleby's Cheshire: the fall & rise of British territorials
In the early 1980s Britain's specialist cheesemakers were hanging on by their fingernails as cheap, industrially produced supermarket products ruled the shelves. It's hard to believe now, but the...
View ArticleTop five new wave cheeses for 2015
The British cheese scene is an exciting place at the moment with a new generation of producers coming up with some fantastic new cheeses, which often draw on classics such as Brie and Stilton but have...
View ArticleCheese of the Week: Anster
Named after the nearby fishing village of Anstruther in Fife (which locals call Anster), this relative newcomer is a Cheshire-style cheese made by the St.Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company with raw milk...
View ArticleTop five crazy Continentals
Cheddar and Camemebert are all well and good, but sometimes only a cheese matured in a sheep's stomach will do (in Bosnia anyway). Here are my top five weird and wonderful European cheeses....
View ArticleElbow deep in curds at the School of Artisan Food
Hair nets à go-go: making a lactic cheeseWe've barely had time to pull on our wellies and natty blue hair nets at the School of Artisan Food's cheesemaking course, before tutor Paul Thomas has us...
View ArticleFlavoured cheese: anyone for Thai curry cheddar?
Earlier this year Waitrose ran a clever social media competition encouraging shoppers to come up with new ideas for flavoured cheeses, which the public then voted for online. The final shortlist...
View ArticleCHEESE OF THE WEEK: Västerbottensost
Without coming over all new age, there is something beautifully holistic and harmonious when a cheese naturally matches a wine or beer made in the same area. It's hard not to get a warm fuzzy local...
View ArticleBurrata: move over mozzarella
Photo: She Paused 4 ThoughtIt's hard to walk anywhere in Puglia without bumping into an olive tree or tripping over a grape vine. The region's fertile plains, which stretch along the heel on the boot...
View ArticleCHEESE OF THE WEEK: Occelli in chestnut leaves
Beppino Occelli's range of grand cheeses arewrapped in everything from straw to tobacco leavesMention the words 'flavoured cheese' to a serious fromage lover and their face will usually fall into a...
View ArticleTop five cheese and beer matches
I've never really understood why red wine is lauded as the perfect partner for cheese. The tannins often clash and clang with the creaminess of the cheese horribly. Beer is better in my experience with...
View ArticleCHEESE OF THE WEEK: Quickes Vintage
I paired this cheese with a cider at a recent event I organised with the Brighton Food Society and it went down a storm. Devon producer Quickes Traditionalages most of its cheddars for around a year,...
View ArticleRosary goat's cheese wins British Cheese Awards 2014
Flavoured cheeses are often frowned upon by fromage purists, but this year's winner of the British Cheese Awards proves there are some great examples out there. Rosary goat's cheese, flavoured with...
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