Tag Archives: unpasteurised

January 10, 2014 · 10:29 am

Ogleshield

People don’t tend to talk about cheese coincidences, do they? Perhaps most people don’t have cheese coincidences. I’m not sure I used to, to be honest, but if you’re going to eat a lot of cheese and read about a lot of cheese, it’s going to happen. And so it was when some friends came round for a fondue night and brought with them the gift of a chunk of cheese. (Kind guests! Wise guests!) The cheese was called Ogleshield and it just so happened that one of the cheeses that was lying in an enormous grated cheese-mountain behind me, ready to be fondued, was Bermondsey Hardpressed. And goodness me, what do you know, they only go and share a Cheese-Daddy! (That’s very different from a Sugar Daddy by the way…)

Here is the Ogleshield (it was vacuum-packed so I don’t think it usually looks quite this shiny):

Ogleshield cheese
Continue reading →

31 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , , ,

December 20, 2013 · 11:39 am

Lord of the Hundreds

I bought the cheese for this week and then a few days ago I thought, ‘Oh, you know what, I’m going to skip it this week. I’ve got lots to do, everybody’s got lots to do. Let’s just give it a miss.’ But then I was reading a book (about cheeses, by the way, not Jesus) that quoted the Bible as saying ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.’ So, there you go, cheese at Christmas! Plus, I’d chosen a sheep’s cheese and you only have to flick through a hymn book to see that sheep feature big-time at Christmas (cattle, on the other hand, just seem to hang about lowing). And then there’s the name of the cheese, ‘Lord of the Hundreds’…

…So, I relented and bring you a suitably festive cheese, as an excuse to wish a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if that’s more your thing) to everyone who has stopped by for a cheesy chat this year. It’s been great fun and I hope to see you again in 2014.
Continue reading →

15 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , ,

December 13, 2013 · 11:26 am

Teifi

Since setting out on my mission to chomp my way through and learn about as many cheeses of the British Isles as I can (there are about 700 at the last count…and I’m not sure that includes Ireland…so I could be some time…) I’ve tried to ensure I represent a mix of different cheeses. Cow, sheep, goat, buffalo. Hard, soft and the various states of squidginess inbetween. Raw and pasteurised. But I know that I’ve been very rubbish indeed when it comes to geography and anywhere outside of England is getting a raw deal of it. This is purely down to what’s available where I shop, rather than any kind of cheese separatism but I know I need to try harder. So, this week, in the spirit of union, I bring you Teifi:

teifi cheese wales
Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , , ,

December 6, 2013 · 10:49 am

Cotehill Blue

For anyone squeamish of cheese (who, let’s face it, probably ran screaming from this blog a long time ago) today’s cheese may well sound like their worst nightmare. Not only is it soft and squidgy like a ripe Brie but it also has blue veins and a slightly crusty rind. Only washed rinds terrify cheese-haters more than a squidgy, crusty blue. But one person’s cheese nightmare is another’s jackpot and the combination sounded pretty fantastic to me. So when I caught sight of some at a food show recently, it was in my bag as quick as you like.

Here it is, oozing menacingly:

cotehill blue cheese
Continue reading →

14 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 29, 2013 · 10:48 am

Baron Bigod

I just love the name of this cheese. I wasn’t sure how to say it when I bought it and the nice young chap who was selling it couldn’t enlighten me but I liked to think of it as pronounced like ‘Baron BY GOD!’, preferably by Brian Blessed, whilst dressed as Henry VIII. I was terrified that in the course of researching the cheese I would find out that it was actually pronounced ‘Bee-Go’ or somesuch but fortunately ‘BY GOD!’ it is. Genius.

So, here is Baron Bigod, throwing its voice from the diaphragm, darling, and shaking its magisterial beard:

baron bigod cheese fen farm dairy
Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 27, 2013 · 11:42 am

Home-Made Buffalo Mozzarella

Home-made Buffalo Mozzarella

Okay, stop sniggering at the back, please. The title of the post doesn’t say that I made my own bodyweight in mozzarella or enough mozzarella to keep Papa John’s afloat. I will admit that it’s not the largest haul of cheese ever produced but that’s the thing about artisan cheese, right – quality over quantity. So there.
Continue reading →

34 Comments

Filed under home cheese-making

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

November 22, 2013 · 10:58 am

Kit Calvert’s Wensleydale

This week’s post is nominated for both personal and topical reasons. The personal sees me in an opening credits montage from Who Do You Think You Are, staring pensively into the middle distance in the sheep-dotted Yorkshire Dales, sandwiched perhaps between Christopher Biggins and Derek Griffiths. This is because we recently found out that my great-great Uncle Charles was involved in Wensleydale cheese-making (well, okay, we think he was a stockman but that’s a vital job; happy cows equals tasty cheese). Alas, penning a cheese blog has yet to bring me the requisite celebrity and so the BBC are not rushing to help me with this one. Another time.

Here is my family’s legacy the cheese:

wensleydale hawes
Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 15, 2013 · 11:46 am

Stichelton

Stichelton is one of those cheeses that gets talked about a lot in cheese-world but it’s fair to say that most people, living sadly in un-cheese-world, won’t know the name (although if they heard it they might stop, ponder and perhaps think ‘Hmm, sounds a bit like another blue cheese…’) Stichelton is a cheese with an interesting genesis. It’s a bit of a rebel cheese; the sort of cheese that would skive off cross-country running and go for a fag instead. But it’s that sad kind of rebel that tried to hang out with its peers but was shunned for being ‘a bit different’:

Here it is, looking rebellious and a bit sulky:

stichelton cheese
Continue reading →

19 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 8, 2013 · 10:46 am

Shipcord

No real story behind why I chose Shipcord for this week’s cheese; I had heard its name and saw it in a cheese-mongers. Job done. I will admit that when I got it home and unwrapped it I felt a bit sulky as it looked like a cheddar. Not that there’s anything at all wrong with a good cheddar but, well, I was in the mood for a cheese with a certain je ne sais quoi and this didn’t look like that cheese. But stay with me, as the moral of this story involves judging, books and covers.

And here is Shipcord for you to judge:

shipcord cheese from suffolk
Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under cheese

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 6, 2013 · 12:16 pm

Pumpkin, Whitmore Ewe’s Cheese and Sage Tart

pumpkin sage and whitmore sheep's cheese tart

It would have been perfect timing for me to post up this recipe last week. The pumpkin would have been a shoe-in for Halloween and last month’s Cheese, Please! theme was hard sheep’s cheese. But last week saw me on a remote sheep farm in the Peak District with inadequate Wi-Fi, trying not to shout at to entertain two small boisterous children and fashion firelighters from old copies of the Farmer’s Guardian. It was a remote and beautiful place and if I ever have a mid-life crisis and decide to become a cheese-maker, I think I will move there and make a nice mountain sheep’s cheese.
Continue reading →

20 Comments

Filed under Cheese Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,