Cheese Fest

Archive for the ‘Cow’s milk’ Category

Cote Hill Blue

This cheese can be a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. When young, with it’s innocent, pure white rind, it is mild and creamy, but as it ages, it starts to turn to the dark side. Cote Hill Blue This is a semi-soft blue cow’s milk cheese, made in Lincolnshire. When in its young and innocent phase, It resembles a blue brie or Castello blue. Very mild and creamy, almost buttery, but possibly a little “raw”. However, as it ages, it develops a grey mould on its rind (pictured). This is the sign that it has learned to bite back. Initially, it remains similar to its earlier form, slightly stronger in flavour, but still mild and creamy… then it retaliates with a slight Cabrales like burn and bitter, lingering aftertaste. This is a cheese that changes character whilst it matures. It is therefore advisable to eat it when it is at the right level of maturity for your taste.

Purchased from Cheese Please, Lewes.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia.

Immature (1/5)

Mature (2.5/5)

Y Fenni

Apparently named after the local name for the Welsh town of Abbergavenny, Y Fenni (pronounced ee-venny) is a Cheddar with added ale and whole mustard grains, giving it a striking yellow and brown polka dot appearance.

Purchased from Tesco cheese counter.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia, 2012

(3/5)

Cabrales

Cabrales is a Spanish blue cheese made primarily from cow’s milk but often with ewe and goat added.It has a grey/green colouration and a crumbly texture. It’s flavour, however, is a somewhat acquired taste. Cabrales This cheese should come with a warning. Tasting is not for the feint of heart. It starts off pleasant enough, it’s paste is initially creamy, but then something awful happens. The acrid taste hits you like you’re chewing on a wasp, sharp, acid, bitter. It instantly dries the mouth, turning it inside-out and making it difficult to swallow. Then it burns and burns… and then it burns some more. I can only liken it to licking the corroded contacts of leaky PP3 battery. Once swallowed, the bitter aftertaste lingers and it leaves you with a sore throat. This is the vindaloo of the cheese world. Used, I’m sure, by young, testosterone charged, Spanish men, as a post drinking session test of machismo. It is worth tasting, if only for the experience, but it is advisable to have a large glass of water close to hand.

Tasted at La Fromagerie, London (no, we didn’t buy any)

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2010

(0/5)

Tommes De Savoie

A smallish round wheel with a hard white and grey mouldy rind. According to our sources  ”Tommes de Savoie” is made by a wide variety of producers covering a large area of France close to the Italian border. It varies considerably depending upon where it is made and what time of year.

Tommes, is a generic name for a cheese made from the skimmed milk left after the cream has been removed to make butter. As a result, they are relatively low in fat.
Its pale yellow paste is rubbery in texture with small amorphous holes in it.

It has quite a pungent aroma with a strong ammonia smell on the rind. Reminiscent of other alpine cheeses with satisfying farmyard flavour. Very similar to Fontina in taste, though not as strong, with a slight bitterness with creaminess of Morbier.

Purchased from Brighton Sausage Co.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia

(4/5)

Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola is possibly the most famous of Italian blue cheeses. It is reputed to be very strong, but its reputation is ill founded even in its strongest form.There are three main varieties of gorgonzola: dolce (meaning sweet or mild); piccante (meaning strong or pungent) and stagionata (meaning seasoned or mature). The dolce is very mild indeed, subtly blue, very creamy and unoffensive to those that may not like stong cheeses. Its piccante cousin is visually greener with much more pronounced veins of mould. Taste wise, it is sharper and more acid, but with the same creamy, gooey texture. Though its name might suggest a stronger flavour, it is only slightly stonger, it’s the acidity is the main difference. Stagionata is much firmer with the same amount of mould as piccante, but it has now lost its acid bite. Instead, it has become much more flavoursome, with a good robust blueness, yet mellow.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia

Dolce (4/5)

Piccante (3.5/5)

Stagionata (5/5)

Smoked Wedmore

Made in Somerset, Wedmore is based on a similar recipe to Caerphilly. This cheese, on first glance, with a thin layer of chives running though its centre, is visually reminiscent of a Morbier, but slightly paler.It has quite a delicate flavour which is subtly enhanced by the occasional hint of chives and the light smokiness of this particular version.

Purchased from Field & Forrest Delicatessen, Lindfield.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia.

(3/5)

Saint Vernier

Saint Vernier is a small round, washed rind cheese beautifully presented in a  little wooden flower shaped bowl.Washed in savagnin wine, this semi-soft cheese has a thick gooey interior with a lovely creamy texture. The presentation, colour and consistency are highly attractive, but it’s smell and flavour are very mild and somewhat indistinct, which, in our opinion makes it a bit of a non-entity.

Purchased from Waitrose.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012.

(2/5)

Ardrahan

Irish semi-soft cows milk cheese with a pale orange, brine washed rind.

Though this cheese is quite smelly, it is smooth and creamy with a mild flavour.

A previous purchase of this cheese had a strange grassy flavour with a bitter aftertaste, neither of which were present in this latest acquisition.

 

 

 

 

 

Purchased from Field & Forrest Delicatessen, Lindfield.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia.

(3/5)

Chaumes

Chaumes is a traditional Trappist monk style cheese. It has a soft, waxy, bright orange washed rind. It’s paste is pale cream in colour, soft and rubbery in texture.

It’s washed rind smell promises more than it delivers. It has a mild taste, with a slight tang. Of a similar ilk to that of Port Salut, slightly tastier, but unexciting.

Purchased from Bakers & Larners, Holt.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)

 

Wookie Hole Cave Aged Farmhouse Cheddar

When we tried this in the souvenir shop at Wookie Hole, the cheese had a very strong and distinct “old damp stone” flavour. However, the piece we purchased and took home, had none of this quality.

It was somewhat dissappointing. It tasted like cheddar, good cheddar, but with not a trace of that cave aged taste we had been expecting. The cheese also came with no rind or the usually expected colour variation through the slice that one would normally expect from a “real” cheddar. Though it tasted strong, but not acid with a slight trace of lactic acid crystals, it just did not seem to be authentic.

We suspect that the samples handed out in the shop are not from the same source as the cheese on the shelves.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)