Taking the cheese path to Norfolk and Suffolk

August 2018: Before setting off for the West Country (see earlier blog), we briefly visited the seaside town of Southwold in Suffolk. We knew little about this town or county, except that Adnams (est 1872) is a dominant player in the drinks and hospitality industry here: from beers and ales to wines to gins/vodkas as well as running pubs, hotels and Adnams stores selling beverages and groceries that come in handy with a bottle or glass in hand, such as artisanal beer nuts, and those chutneys and sauces for your barbecue. A family-run enterprise with a strong commitment to environmental preservation and sustainable development, Adnams has reduced the weight of its beer bottles and invested in energy-efficient breweries to make carbon neutral beers. I even tried their recently launched Ghost Ship Alcohol Free (0.5% abv), which retained all the flavours and aromas of the original version at 4.5% abv.


Southwold is a very charming seaside town, with colourful beach huts and a grey sandy/pebbly beach. Even in the blazing sun, the wind chill factor of the North Sea wind still managed to knock a few degrees off the daytime temperature, bitterly felt by the uninitiated as we hastened our footsteps to wind-sheltered spots downtown.

Southwold Pier with its eccentric shops and charming restaurants

 

Southwold beachfront

The visit did allow us to pick up a couple of cheeses from the area for the long journey southwest. For practical reasons, I had to stay with hard or semi-hard cheeses. I picked these two from a cheese specialist called Slate:


Suffolk Gold: A pasteurised Guernsey cow milk cheese, made with vegetarian rennet, produced by Suffolk Farmhouse Cheeses at Whitegate Farm, St Mary, Suffolk. A family-run business started in 2004 by Jason and Katherine Salisbury. Not only do they make cheese, they also make other dairy products and rear pork and beef. A dry natural, grey/brown downy rind, showing white and grey spots. The paste was a bright pale gold-yellow colour, firm but supple. The nose consisted of rich notes of butter, pineapple, peach, nutty (hazelnut), sweet-smelling caramel, with almost a hint of honeycomb. The rind displayed notes of mushroom and damp cellar. It was rich, unctuous, claggy and intensely flavoured, with buttery and caramel flavours, complete with a mild hint of zesty tang at the finish. A mouthful with the rind would add to the complexity with mushroom and cellar notes. A very fine cheese...with more than a passing resemblance to Saint Nectaire, but with more richness and buttery flavours, less pronounced cellar aromas, less salt and less trigeminal sensation.

 

Suffolk Gold

Norfolk Tawny: An unpasteurised cow milk cheese, made using traditional method by Ferndale Cheeses. The milk is sourced from nearby Abbey Farm in Binham. This is a cheese washed weekly with a strong Norfolk ale. The rind was a pale orange colour, with grey/white spots, with a thick grey halo underneath, while the heterogeneous paste contrasted with a pale cream colour, and a chalky/granular texture, with some openings. It felt firm and unyielding. The rind smelt of yeast, earth with an intense umami character, while the paste had aromas of lactic tang like yoghurt, citrus and some earthy character. It had a crumbly texture, but slowly melted in the mouth, allowing the layers of flavours to linger on the palate. There was a well-balanced saltiness to the citrus tang, finishing with a clean tangy and mineral aftertaste.

 

Norfolk Tawny

When we got back to London, I was so excited to find Baron Bigod at The Fine Cheese Company. I had wanted to try this cheese at Southwold but it would have been a disaster in the heat of the car journey. It was well worth the wait. Made by Fen Farm Dairy at Bungay, Suffolk, using milk from the farm's own herd of Montbeliarde cows, this is the only unpasteurised soft-ripened bloomy rind (Brie de Meaux-style) cheese made in the UK. A superbly balanced soft-ripened bloomy rind, showing orange/amber spots in the rind, with a cream-coloured (almost pale gold) paste. After 30 minutes at room temperature, its rich and velvety irresistible deliciousness was oozing out. The aromas were the familiar mushroom, earthy, farmyard, complemented with fruity and buttery notes. Only moderately salty, it was well balanced with a nice citrus tang. A beautifully made cheese in a very good place now.

 

Baron Bigod

There is only one conclusion after these tastings - the UK cheese industry is at a very exciting place now! 

Delicious Cheeses from the West Country: much more to offer than its world-famous Cheddars

August 2018: Last week, we managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the West Country (UK) to our summer holidays. This has been a hot and dry summer in the UK, with occasional heatwave spikes. The West Country is an area located in the southwest of England, comprising typically the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall (as delimited in the PDO rules for West Country Farmhouse Cheddar), but sometimes including Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol. To say we 'visited' was perhaps an exaggeration, but we did cover a few kilometres in the counties of Dorset and Somerset, driving through the unusually dry landscape of rolling hills and cows in search of the sparsely distributed green spots. With relatively modest altitudes of the hills, cooling influence from the English Channel was a welcoming feature.

It was at dinner at Little Barwick House where we were able to try a few fine examples of this area's cheese offerings. For this evening's cheese selection, the restaurant featured the following cow milk cheeses: Mrs. Montgomery's Cheddar, Wedmore, Cornish Yarg, Tunworth, Sharpham Brie, Isle of Wight Blue, Bath Blue and two goat milk cheeses: Little Wallop and Driftwood.

Clockwise from far left: Mrs Montgomery's Cheddar, Wedmore, Cornish Yarg, Tunworth, Driftwood, Isle of Wight Blue (hidden behind the Bath Blue), Bath Blue, Sharpham Brie, No. 1 Little Wallop in the middle

I was keen to try those that were new to me - so I selected the following:

Clockwise from far left: Bath Blue, Isle of Wight Blue, Sharpham Brie, Driftwood, No. 1 Little Wallop, and Wedmore (front centre)

Wedmore: this is a cheese made with pasteurised cow's milk (Holstein-Friesian) and vegetarian rennet, produced by Westcombe Dairy near Shepton Mallet in Somerset. It was a cheese originally developed by the Duckett family, being an adaptation from the recipe for Caerphilly, inspired by the lush country landscape. The resulting cheese balances the rich crumbly flavours with a refreshing lactic tang spiced with the piquant and herbal character of chives. Dry natural tan-coloured thin rind with some white/grey mould spots. A pale cream paste with a thin olive-green band of chives in the middle. The texture is firm but supple and slightly crumbly to taste. Citrus tang adding to the mildly salty, lactic creamy notes, with just a hint of smoke overlaying the piquant vegetal flavours. Zesty finish with a mineral aftertaste. Perfect picnic cheese. Apparently very good melted on toast too!


Sharpham Brie: This soft-ripened bloomy rind cheese from Sharpham Dairy, Devon is made with unpasteurised Jersey cow's milk and vegetarian rennet. The example I tried had a nice maturity and was already showing orange spots through the white rind. The paste was a creamy yellow colour, more densely packed and firmer than a Brie, more like a Coulommiers. Mildly salty, with just a faint hint of mushroom and earthy notes over the buttery flavours. Finishes with a distinctive bitter aftertaste. The version we had was a 300g square but it can be available in 500g and 1.2kg rounds.


Isle of Wight Blue: Despite the fact the the Isle of Wight is not part of the West Country (it lies in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, but part of it shares the chalky soils dominating the Dorset hills), the restaurant manager and co-owner of the Little Barwick House told us that she allowed this deviation as this cheese was too good to be excluded. It was an excellent recommendation! Ash-covered blue cheese made with pasteurised Guernsey milk from the Arreton Valley, produced by the Isle of Wight Cheese Company. Sold between 3-5 weeks of age. This was first developed in 2006. The natural rind was covered with green, grey, blue and white moulds, and the ivory paste was rich and creamy with an even distribution of blue mould. The taste was buttery and mineral, with the piquancy of blue mould and complemented with a nice dose of salt. It is a tiny cheese about 200-230g in weight, perfect as the centre-piece of the cheese board.


Bath Blue: A blue-veined cheese made by the Bath Soft Cheese Company at Park Farm, near Bath using organic pasteurised cow's milk (Holstein-Friesian) and following the Stilton recipe, aged for 8-10 weeks. It has a dry natural rind, with some white/grey moulds, and a matt yellow paste with evenly spread blue mould. The mineral and piquant flavours from the blue mould are entirely harmonious with the buttery flavours, complemented with a citrus tang. It finishes with a fermented tangy and clean aftertaste. This superb cheese won the World Cheese Champion at the 2014 World Cheese Awards.


No. 1 Little Wallop: Another great centre-piece for the cheese board. A small (140g) goat milk cheese, made with pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet. The cheese, a collaboration between Alex James and White Lake Cheeses at Bagborough Farm, Somerset, is washed with Somerset cider brandy to heighten its pungency and distinct fermented tang. Covering with vine leaves also helps the cheese retain moisture, giving the creamy cheese an urgency to ooze out after opening. This example was very mature and started to show notes of ammonia, amidst the distinct caprine aromas. A strong cheese.


Driftwood: Another fabulous cheese from White Lake. A log-shaped ash-covered goat cheese made with thermised milk and vegetarian rennet. There was a blue/grey downy rind, and an ivory coloured silky smooth paste that turns to creamy and runny at room temperature. The aromas were reminiscent of hay, meadows, with a sharp citrus tang at the finish.


This was a very indulgent way to end a delicious meal at the Little Barwick House, a restaurant with rooms in Somerset, run by husband Tim (chef) and wife Emma (restaurant manager) team who took over in 2000. Every dish was a harmonious and beautifully presented assembly of flavours. The style of cuisine was classic, with contemporary delicate touches. The tables were well-spaced and there was a lovely refreshing breeze that drifted in from the opened windows. It was not our intention to overhear other people's conversations but we could not help picking up the flow of compliments offered to the chef and team by fellow diners. Richard particularly enjoyed his aperitif selected from the wine by the glass list - a Reid Wines Blanc de Blancs supplied by his favourite merchant in the West Country - another great local touch to this charming restaurant. We look forward to returning for a proper stay (www.littlebarwick.co.uk) .


After returning to London, we visited a couple of cheese specialist shops and managed to try some more fine cheeses from the West Country:

Rachel: an award-winning cheese from White Lake. A washed rind cheese (with brine), made with thermised goat milk and vegetarian rennet. It has a thin orange-coloured rind, with occasional spots of red/orange, with a pale ivory paste. The taste is very faintly lanolin, with nutty, floral, sweet hay notes. The finish is clean and mineral. This is a 2kg cheese. I tried this at The Fine Cheese Company, London.


Katherine: This is the raw milk version of Rachel, made with unpasteurised goat milk and animal rennet, washed with Somerset cider brandy. It has a more distinctive orange coloured rind, with spots of grey and orange on the dry rind. The paste is a cream colour, firm but supple and densely packed. It has a slight granular texture. Initial attack is a trigeminal piquancy, then the palate is filled with umami flavours, overlaid with sweet ripe apple and tropical (pineapple) notes, finetuned with the sweetness of hay. Only a very faint hint of goat character is detected. The finish is persistent with a piquancy that refreshes the palate. This is available in 250g and 2kg. We tried this at La Fromagerie, Marylebone, London.

This was my selection: Washbourne (sheep), Single Gloucester (cow), Katherine (goat), Bosworth Ash (goat).

I will follow with a separate blog on Suffolk/Norfolk cheeses.

But I wanted to add two more cheeses that we also tried and are worth recommending:

Bosworth Ash: Ash-covered log-shaped goat cheese made with unpasteurised milk and animal rennet, from Innes Cheese at Highfields Farm Dairy, Staffordshire. The natural rind showed blue/grey mould, under the rind was a tan-coloured halo, around the silky white paste. The cheese on the cheese platter was nicely matured and the paste was firm and had a granular/chalky texture that melted in the mouth, hanging onto the palate like fudge. The flavours were a mix of sweet vanilla balancing the light saltiness, turning to pineapple and grassy, before hitting the almond and marzipan notes, with a hint of citrus tang lingering on the clean finish. We tried this at La Fromagerie, Marylebone, London.


Beauvale: A softer, milder, creamier take on Stilton produced by the Cropwell Bishop Dairy in Nottinghamshire. The cheese takes its name from the Vale of Belvoir. It has a cream coloured paste with evenly distributed blue mould and a thin natural rind. It has a rich velvety texture, combining the delicate piquancy of the blue mould with a decadent rich buttery flavour. The closet description would be Gorgonzola Dolce. A remarkably rich, creamy and indulgent blue cheese and best with a glass of chilled 20-year Tawny!

This was Richard's selection: it's obvious he loves washed rind....Maida Vale, Limburger and Stinking Bishop all on the same platter!