Cheese of the Week - Barkham Blue

Two Hoots Barkham Blue

Two Hoots Barkham Blue

Barkham Blue from the Two Hoots Dairy in Wokingham is a most exceptional cheese.  It is so rich, soft and creamy you can spread it on a cracker when it has warmed up to room temperature.  This is made from Channel Island milk - a mixture of Jersey and Guernsey milk - which gives it that richness and also a wonderful golden colour to the paste.  The rind is beautiful, mottled greyish and shaped like a fossil, quite like the ammonites that you can find in profusion on the beach round Lyme Regis.  It is usually well decorated with a network of bluey-green veins

It is not an aggressive blue, it has a delightful tang but it is quite acceptable to those who are not too keen on stronger blues like Stilton.  This lack of harshness make it extremely popular with ladies.  It goes particularly well with a lighyter red wine such as a Beaujolais and is also ideally paired with a good cider.

Introduced in 2003, it quickly started winning prizes and has now become one of Britains most highly awarded cheeses; here is alist of it's achievements :

Gold - British Cheese Awards 2003
Gold - World Cheese Awards 2003
Best New Cheese -World Cheese Awards 2003
Gold - British Cheese Awards 2004
Bronze - British Cheese Awards 2006
Dairy and Ice Cream Category Winner
Waitrose Small Producers Awards 2006
2 Golds - British Cheese Awards 2007
Gold - British Cheese Awards 2008
Best Blue Cheese - British Cheese Awards 2008
Best English Cheese - British Cheese Awards 2008
Supreme Champion - British Cheese Awards 2008
Gold - World Cheese Awards 2008
Best Blue Cheese - British Cheese Awards 2011
Super Gold - World Cheese Awards 2011

Happy New Year

Cheese of the Week - Exmoor Jersey Blue

Exmoor Jersey Blue

High up on the beautiful Brendon Hills on the north eastern rim of Exmoor are some marvellous ancient meadows liberally scattered with herbs and flowers where the Jersey cows whose milk produces this cheese graze peacefully.  The mixture of herbs in the old grasses flavours the milk and this is passed on into the cheese which has a most beautiful nose and taste - it is similar in this respect to Fourme d'Ambert from the Auvergne which is also made from milk from cows who graze on ancient herb strewn pastures.

As with all cheeses this really does respond well to being brought gently up to room temperature, this will release the aroma and flavour as the cheese relaxes.  The softish paste is a beautiful golden colour from the rich creamy unpasteurised Channel Island milk. It has a fairly strong blue tang, but nowhere near as aggressive as it's elder brother from the same dairy, Partridge's Blue which is really highly argumentative.  The rind is quite colourful with shades of brown, grey and pink.  It is made with vegetarian rennet.

Exmoor Jersey Blue is protected by a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) which states the product must be traditionally and at least partially manufactured (prepared, processed or produced) within the specific region of NE Exmoor and thus acquire its unique properties.

 

West Country Delights

Cheese of the Week - Dorset Blue Vinny

This is a real beauty, a very traditional Dorset cheese that used to be made all over the County when I was a young man.  I lived just over the border in Devon and had many friends in Dorset who made Blue Vinny, it was a firm, tangy blue with a slightly springy texture and I fell in love with it.  Sometime in the mid 1960s there was a scare about cheeses made with unpasteurised milk and its use was banned.  Blue Vinny is made with raw milk and the few farmers who continued manufacture went 'underground' and their cheese was sold in a plain wrapper from under the counter!  Many years later it was discovered that the problem that has arisen with unpasteurised cheese was not due to the raw product, but to the way in which the cheese had been kept and handled, so the ban on making cheese from raw milk was lifted.  Now there is an increasing number of unpasteurised cheeses on the market and this use of the raw milk gives a greated complexity and deeper flavour to the cheese.

Dorset Blue Vinny

Sadly there is now only one farmer remaining making traditional Blue Vinny in Dorset, Mike Davis from Woodbridge Farm near Sturminster Newton.  He resurrected this ancient cheese back in 1980 and uses his own unpasteurised Friesian milk which he firstly skims and then adds a small amount of skimmed milk powder to increase the richness of the milk to make it a slightly more pliable cheese with more predictable blue veining.  But it is a low fat cheese, having a fat content of about 30% which makes it ideal for those on a limited fat intake diet.  Mike Davis uses vegetarian rennet to separate the curds from the whey and matures his cheeses for up to 5 months before relasing them.  This is the real McCoy, not to be confused with the mass produced product made by one of the Stilton manufacturers in the Midlands.  Dorset Blue Vinny is now protected by its' own PDO (Protected Designation of Origin).


Christmas Events

We are having late opening on the two Thursdays leading up to Christmas, along with many other shops in Crediton.  Penny will be laying on a Christmas menu as well as other offerings, and of course you can buy your Christmas cheese and beat the daytime rush. 

Penny on our stand at South Molton Christmas Fatstock Show

Penny and I have been attending numerous Sunday events, Christmas fairs and markets during the past few weeks - working seven-day weeks.  Yesterday (11 Dec) we went to South Molton where they were holding their Christmas Fatstock Market, a super event with a wonderful atmosphere that attracts huge crowds wanting to pick up a meaty bargain for Christmas, a lamb, turkey, goose or chicken, at the auction that follows the judging.  As well as helping many people with their cheese selection for the forthcoming festivities, we also came away with a lamb and a goose for our Christmas.

Next Sunday (18 Dec) we are standing at the fantastically popular Christmas Market at Hartland, our last pre-Christmas event.  This is the only market that Penny and I now attend on a regular basis (before we had the shop and café in Crediton we used to stand at Farmers' Markets all over the place) from April through to October.  Although Hartland is quite a small and isolated community it has one of the best and most vibrant Farmers' Markets in Devon and attracts people from far and wide.  During the Summer months the customer base is swollen by holiday makersm but all year it is well supported by people from as far as Braunton and Barnstaple, Torrington and as far away as Camelford across the border in darkest Cornwall.  If you can make it, do come and see us there, the market runs from 10 am until 1 pm - and you can also have breakfast at the renowned Farmers' Café.

Christmas Closing Times

Christmas Day .............. Closed
Boxing Day (Monday) .. Closed
Tuesday ....................... Closed
Wednesday ................. Closed
Thursday ..................... Open
Friday .......................... Open
Saturday ..................... Open

New Year's Monday ... Closed
Tuesday ...................... Closed
Wednesday ................ Closed
Thursday .................... Back to normal opening times

Christmas is Coming...

We are galloping towards Christmas, I have just been placing our orders for cheese and ham for the festivities.  It is quite daunting, you never know how much to order.  Last Winter we had the big freeze up and very few people came into the town so we were left with a massive amount of cheese on our hands.  Fortunately we are a 'cheese café' so very little was wasted - it went into the kitchen.

A hearty breakfast

We are the only Cheese Café in the country (as far as I am aware, though the Cheese Society does have one in Lincoln but I do not know how they are set up).  There are a few in New Zealand and I think there is one in the US of A, but it is a new concept in this country.  It does mean that as soon as a cheese nears it's best before date it can be relegated to the kitchen and used in cheese scones, toasties, various tarts and other dishes conjured up by my darling wife.  I hasten to add that you do not have to have a cheese meal, the majority of dishes on the menu do not contain cheese.  Almost everything is home made, even some of the bread is made by my stepson Tom, he is a jolly good baker as well as an excellent barista.  We use mostly local produce in the kitchen wherever we can, there is so much beautiful food produced here in Devon and we like to support local enterprises.


Cheese of the Week - Ossau Iraty - Brebis

This week we have a favourite of mine from a beautiful area in SW France, a hard smooth tasty cheese from the high mountain pastures in the wonderfully wooded Iraty valley in the Pays Basque and the Ossau valley in neighbouring province of Bearn.  By the way, if you see the word Brebis in the name of a cheese it simply means it is made with ewes' milk, a 'brebis' is a ewe.  Some people reckon this is the first cheese made by mankind, but recent archaeological research (2003) has found the oldest traces of cheese manufacture actually come from Britain dating back some 6000 years.  Anyway, it is a cheese with a long history.

Ossau Iraty Brebis

This cheese was granted an AOC (Appelation d'Origine Controlée) in 1980 and the only other sheep cheese to be protcted in this way is Roquefort.  It is made with raw, unpasteurised milk using traditional animal rennet so is not suitable for vegetarians.  The milk is not heated in any way, the whey is extracted solely by drainage and pressing.  It has a nutty aroma and a deep, buttery, sweet flavour.  I like it with a characterful Merlot, but it also goes well with a Sauvignon Blanc. 

We have it at a special price at the moment.  It is usually £31.71 / kilo and it is on offer at £29.70 / kilo whilst stocks last.

The news has just been announced that an Ossau Iraty has again been awarded the accolade of Supreme Champion at the World Cheese Awards.  This particular cheese, made by Frédéric Gayral from the Fromagerie Agour, was Supreme Champion back in 2006, making it one of only two cheeses to win the award more than once - the other being the fabulous triple winning Premier Cru Gruyere made by the von Mulenhens in Fribourg, which we sell.

  

Vacherin Mont d'Or

Baked Vacherin Mont d'Or

Now that Winter is upon us we are getting in stocks of the amazing Vacherin cheese from the French Jura.  It is only made from milk taken from cows being fed on dry food and it has the most wonderful taste and texture.  The cheeses are bound with a strip of spruce bark which gently infuses the paste with a hint of pine resin, and they are sold in a little wooden box like many other French cheeses.  For many years an argument raged about the origin of this cheese, both the Swiss and the French claimed the invention (the Jura spans the border between the two countries) but the Swiss finally conceded that it was a French invention and it now has its' own AOC (Appelation d'Origine Controlé).  The cheese has the appearance of a rather crumpled piece of creamy coloured blanket and has a wonderful creamy texture, but it is best as a baked cheese.  The main difference between the two cheeses is that the French make theirs with unpasteurised milk so it has a more complex flavour and better texture.

Baked Vacherin is a great Winter favourite in France and is becoming better know here.  To bake the cheese you remove the film wrapping the box and then we like to make little slits in the top and poke in a few slithers of garlic, then pour a small half glass of white wine over the cheese; however this adulteration in purely optional, it is superb baked just as it is.  Cover the bottom and sides of the box with foil and then put it in an oven pre-heated to 200C.  It will take 15 to 25 minutes to cook, depending on your oven - it should be a mid-golden brown colour.  The French usually cut off the skin and discard it, but I am greedy and like to eat it!  Serve with crusty French bread, boiled potatoes, baked potatoes or gherkins - just spoon it on and enjoy the experience.  Incidentally, this is one of the few cheeses that freezes well, which means you can amaze your guests by having one of these treats in the Summer time. 

Thomas Hoe Stevenson Red Leicester

Thomas Hoe Stevenson Red Leicester

We have a new cheese on board this week, a superb traditional Red Leicester made by the Long Clawson dairy situated about 6 miles North of Melton Mowbray in the beautiful Vale of Belvoir.  It has a slightly flaky texture but the paste has a creaminess that I think comes from the fact that they use butter to rub into the muslin cloth that is used to cover the cheese during the ageing process.  I have found the same texture applies to Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire which is also rubbed with her own farmhouse butter - I can feel the difference when pulling my cutting wire through the cheese.

The eponymous Thomas Hoe Stevenson was a famous maker of Stilton cheese during the late 19th - early 20th centuries and his name is used for top quality cheeses made by Long Clawson.

These handmade cheeses are matured for 6 months which gives a good depth of flavour, even though it is made with pasteurised milk, and they are suitable for vegetarians.   The taste is slightly sweet with a nutty, almost caramelised flavour.  A real beauty!