Cheese Fest

Archive for the ‘2 Stars – OK’ Category

Waterloo

Just look at it! Oozy gorgeousness. It promises so much, but does it deliver?

Waterloo It’s delicately cornflour dusted rind, and gooey golden pate oozing out. This is an award winning cheese, consistently winning medals in the British Cheese Awards and twice winning a medal in the World Cheese Awards. It has absolutely no smell, which, for some might signal concern. The texture is divine: smooth, creamy and deliciously silky. The flavour is salty and slightly bitter. Other than that, there is nothing. Most disappointing

Lovely consistency, no real flavour. Despite it’s award winning status, we didn’t think much of it… a real shame.

Manufactured by Village Maid

Purchased from Cheese Please, Lewes

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2013

(2/5)

Somerset Chilli

We don’t tend to review reformed flavour added cheeses, but every now and again one comes along that’s worth a mention.

Reformed flavour added cheeses tend to be a mass production cheddar like cheese, that has been broken up into small chunks, mixed with some form of vegetation and then pressed back into a cheese shape. Most supermarket flavour added cheeses are made like this, and to be honest, are a bit “trick”.

This particular cheese appears to be based on a cheddar, with added green and red chillies and coated in cracked black pepper.

Hot, hot, hot! If you like spicy food, you’ll like this. It’s not so hot that you cannot taste the cheese, but it is hot enough to make your tongue burn and lips tingle. Strangely, the black pepper coated rind is actually hotter than the chilli laced interior.

To be truthful, it’s nothing special, from an artisan cheese perspective, but is included because it’s fun. If you have a known chilli-head coming to dinner, this will keep them happy.

In summary, like a Las Vegas showgirl, hot and fun, but not serious.

Produced by Somerset Cheese Company

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2013

(2.5/5)

Le Chabichou du Poitou

Wrinkly and dusted with a white bloom, a two inch tall, slightly conical drum, this little cheese comes from around Poitiers. Apparently, it dates back to the Moorish invasion of that area in 732. Some Arabs stayed behind, and with them, their herds of goats… and, well, this was France, so they simply had to make cheese from the milk. Le Chabichou This is classified as an aged fresh cheese (see the Glossary for an explanation) and is typically 2-3 weeks old when ready. Unusually for a goat’s cheese, it only has a faint whiff of goat. It does however have a strong smell, that can only be described as mousey. Sweet, pungent… and, well… like mouse pee. The interior has a soft, thin buttery layer whilst the inner pate is quite firm, like slightly dried out putty. Once cut, there is a very strong goaty smell. The taste starts very fresh and sharp and contains concentrated essence of goat, then it turns quite bitter, leaving a lingering and slightly burning aftertaste. Olympia loves goat’s cheese and loved this, I wasn’t quite so keen (hence the middle of the road score).

Very goaty, so if you like goat’s cheese, you will probably enjoy this.

 Purchased from the French cheese stall outside Brighton Station,

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2012

(2.5/5)

Brighton Blue

Since we are located very near to Brighton, we couldn’t justifiably not review this… although it’s not actually made in or around Brighton, but instead, some twenty miles away, in Horsted Keynes. I guess, this is because no one knows where Horsted Keynes is, but everyone knows Brighton. No? – Well, walk directly south from London until your feet get wet

The rind is sticky, a shade or two darker than it’s ivory pate and flecked with white and green/blue moulds. The pate itself is quite sparsely veined with starkly contrasted grey/green/blue moulds.

The smell is a delicate combination of sweet milkiness and mould. The texture is crumbly, but with a smooth sticky butteriness.

Mildly blue, slightly acidic with a fresh sharpness a bit like a mild Caerphilly, leaving you with a salty aftertaste.

It’s pleasant and inoffensive, with enough bite to make it mildly interesting.

Produced by High Weald Dairy.

Purchased from Cheese Please, Lewes.

Reviewed by Nick &  Olympia, 2013.

(2.5/5)

 

Yarg

It sounds like a pirate cursing a stubbed toe and comes from Cornwall, a place notorious for it’s pirates during the 16th century. The name, together with the fact that it is wrapped in nettle leaves, conjures thoughts of a four hundred year old traditional recipe… however, this is not the case. Yarg Initially created in the 1980′s by Alan and Jenny Gray, Yarg is simply their surname spelled backwards. It sounds good though. The rind is covered with hand picked, blemish free, nettle (or wild garlic) leaves, meticulously laid so that no cheese is exposed. The result is a rather attractive dark, greyish green mosaic with a dusting of white mould that picks out the detailing and edges of the leaves. The pate is hard and crumbly, yellowing slightly towards the rind. The flavour is sharp, almost fresh, a bit like Wensleydale or Caerphilly, with light earthy and mushroomy overtones. The wild garlic version introduces a subtle garlicky flavour into the mix and is, in our opinion, the better of the two. Olympia is quite partial to this cheese, but I’m not so keen (but then I’m not a fan of Wensleydale or Caerphilly either). Having said that, if you are preparing a cheeseboard for guests, Yarg would make a good choice, adding both a visual and a flavour contrast.

Produced by Lynher Dairies Cheese Company

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2010.

(2.5/5)

Caşcaval Brădut (Afumat)

Always on the lookout for cheeses we haven’t tried, I found this in a Polish delicatessen. It’s actually Romanian and probably their equivalent of vacuum packed, supermarket cheddar.

Ours was a small truckle, but it also comes in blocks and a plait (although I can’t imagine how one would plait cheese). It comes from Brădut, which is an area of Romania. This one was the smoked version, having a slightly darker appearance than its unsmoked cousin.

It is a softish hard cheese with a rubbery texture.

The flavour is quite bitter with a strong acrid smokey taste, but largely unexciting. Good with garlic sausage on crusty bread.

Produced by: Tudia Lactate, Romania

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2012

(2/5)

Binham Blue

Soft creamy yellow with starkly contrasting deep green/blue veins, a gnarled rind dusted in white moulds. This looks just like a blue cheese ought to.

The paste is soft and yields under pressure, but not quite enough to spread.

It has a very mild creamy taste, with bitter overtones, but not in the least bit sharp, like so many other blue cheeses. Other than that, there is little to say. It’s OK… a blue cheese for people that don’t like blue cheese.

It looks fantastic, and creates an anticipatory expectation that, sadly, fails to be met.

Purchased from Larners, Holt.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)

 

Sussex Slipcote (Basil)

This is one of a whole range of cheeses from the High Weald Dairy on the edge of the Ashdown Forest bearing the name. Apparently, the name Slipcote means little cottage (slippe cote).  It is made to a traditional recipe that stems from the middle ages.

The one we selected for review was flavoured with basil. This was chosen, simple because we had not come across  it before.

It is a soft fresh sheep’s cheese, very pale green with little green flecks of chopped basil. There is little to no smell.

The texture is very soft and mousse like, spreading easily. It has a lemony fresh flavour with a delicate, fragrant taste of fresh basil (just what you’d expect really).

Pleasant enough, but unremarkable. A good cheese to have on a cracker as a light snack.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)

 

 

Pavé d’Affinois

This delightful little offering was brought to our Sunday night cheesefest by Olympia’s cousin, Annabel on a recent visit.

It came in a little cardboard box, which had managed to adhere itself to the rind. As a result, the rind tore on opening, spilling it’s gooeyness on to the plate. It did, however, make for a good photo opportunity.

The name caused us a lttle confusion. Pavé is often used to descibe square slabs of French cheese, from French word for cobble or paving stone. However, there is no place called Affinois. We finally came to the conclusion that affinois is a word made up by the manufacturers to reflect its refined (affiner) ultrafiltration process.

It has pale ivory rind dusted with a bloomy white mould which smells mildy of ammonia and cow shed. The paste is gooey, almost liquid with scents of honey.

The texture is extremely decadent and the flavour very mild and a bit non-descript. However, when taken with wine, it releases the wonderful taste of honey.

Not tremendously exciting. It is labeled as “brie like”, and would make a more interesting replacement on the cheese board.

Purchased from Marks & Spencer.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia (with guest reviewer Annabel).

(2.5/5)

Irish Porter

Wow! What visually stunning cheese! With its chocolate coloured wax rind and dark brown and gold terrazzo like appearance, this promises to be an exciting discovery. Made with porter house ale, produced by Guinness, it just tantalises you in anticipation of what lies in store.

However, looks and pedigree sometimes amount to very little, and this is sadly the case here. This is the Celine Dion of the cheese world, beautiful to look at, but no personality.

It has a milky, mild cheddar flavour with a slight hint of bitterness, but where’s the porter house ale?

It would make a fantastic centerpiece for any cheeseboard, and is bound to impress and initiate cheesy conversation, but for the hardend cheese afficionado… forget it.

Purchased from Cheese Please, Lewes.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2013

(2/5)