So this week’s COTW, dovetailing with our first DOTM (I can’t move for initialisms at the moment), is Pont Gâr Soft Blue, made by the Camarthenshire Cheese Company (CCC?) in West Wales.
It’s a mould-ripened cheese with a little bit of blue veining. But don’t be fooled – there’s plenty of flavour here (I think the round we’re working through must be a well-aged one). The producers suggest baking it to turn it into a dip – great with crusty bread, and I’d suggest a few sticks of celery too.
Happy St David’s Day everyone!
When I was told Chinley Cheese was going to spread its net a little wider from time to time, showcasing produce from further afield with a Destination of the Month feature, I got my suitcase packed, passport at the ready, and imagined sorties all around the globe taste-testing all kinds of exotic cheeses.
Then they tell me our first Destination of the Month is Wales. I have to admit I was a tad disappointed.
However, all is not lost, as it turns out Wales produces some fantastic cheese – must be all those lush green hills – not to mention chocolate and gin.
And to add to my recent revelatory discovery of Montgomery Cheddar, I now also find there’s a Monty’s Brewery concocting some fine Welsh ales.
So I say iechyd da everyone, and hope to see you down at the Post Office this month for some of the best produce Wales has to offer.
Monty
Peak Bean are visiting Chinley Cheese this Thursday at 6:30pm. Come along to find out more about their coffee at our free tasting event!
It is with great pleasure that I introduce our special “Cheese of the Fortnight” – Montgomery’s Cheddar. Yes, that’s right, my namesake in the cheese world. And, as you won’t be at all surprised to hear, I think it’s a good ‘un.
Montgomery’s Cheddar is a handmade unpasteurised cheese made (with animal rennet) in North Cadbury, Somerset. To say we’ve struggled to find a good strong cheddar to slot into our cheese selection is putting it a bit high, but I wasn’t so Keen on Keen’s (another West Country Cheddar); Lincolnshire Poacher is a solid option, though I prefer the Double Barrel extra mature version.
Montgomery’s, however, is impressive. A strong cheddar, with a real depth of flavour and an unusually dry texture (due to the curds being shredded with an old-fashioned peg mill, rather than sliced). Watch out for the odd blue vein – a sign of a traditional cheddar, matured in cloth rather than plastic.
Fantastic with our Miller’s Ale crackers, which add bite from their thick cut and their hoppy, slightly sour taste.
Roses are red, violets are blue, we have stilton and stamps, and soppy stuff* too…
Heart-shaped cheddar & Coeur de Bray brie
Unique truffle hearts that look too good to eat
Red velvet cake balls, sparkling pink wine
And of course cards for your valentine
* for those of you not so committed to valentine’s gifts being heart-shaped and/or pink, we have our usual range of tasty treats. Why not put together a gift of beer and biltong, coffee and chocolate, cheese and chutney, or just gin ; )
Hello folks
This week sees a return to the Bourne family in Malpas (mentioned in COTW #3). The family has been making cheese since the 1700s, at its current farm since 1930, and John Bourne describes Mrs Bourne’s Mature Cheshire as their flagship.
We currently have the coloured variety, although don’t be expecting anything vibrant – think more pale coral than red leicester. It is the fullest flavoured cheshire I’ve come across yet, and is great on a ploughman’s with a good onion pickle (or indeed pickled onion).
Toodle-oo
Monty
*did you know our neighbours at Tea on the Green feature our Cheese of the Week on their ploughman’s?
This is Hartington’s Peakland White – a white stilton-style, tangy, slightly salty cheese – with its edges knocked off by the addition of cranberries and orange peel. And the folks at Hartington mean it when they say it contains generous pieces of orange peel – it really is very orangey indeed. A twist on the white cheese and cranberry combination for sure.
A firm favourite in these parts, Dovedale is a blue veined, full fat soft cheese – a mild, creamy, gooey blue.
Dovedale is one few British Protected Designation of Origin cheeses (not having a PDO is the reason why not all Cheshire cheese is made in Cheshire, for example). Previously made in Hartington, it is now made by the Staffordshire Cheese Co in Cheddleton, with milk from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.
It is also one of few cheeses to be dipped in brine during maturation, a process more common to Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cheeses like Feta. Taking inspiration from that part of the world, how about pairing it with figs? Try halving fresh figs and roasting with a dollop of Dovedale on top, with or without a wrapping of thin sliced cured ham like prosciutto, and a drizzle of honey and/or balsamic vinegar. The prosciutto should crisp up nicely and turn it into a finger-friendly canapé. Otherwise serve on toasted baguette, or – if that’s still too gooey for you – as part of a salad.
Monty
Hello hello
New in this past week is Staffordshire Whitmore – an unpasteurised, organic, ewe’s milk cheese made in Acton, near Newcastle-under-Lyme (less than 40 miles away), by M&B Deaville & Son, who also make our Staffordshire mature cheddar (with or without wild garlic).
It’s a kind of a sheep’s cheese parmesan – not dissimilar to Berkswell, which has been going down a treat since we opened, but sweeter in flavour and less dry in texture, making it a bit easier as a cheese to nibble.
We think this will go nicely with our Daddy Cool’s Tomato and Chilli Chutney, which is moist and tangy to go with the hardness of the cheese. Daddy Cool’s is even closer to home, made in Tintwistle, Glossop. The Tomato and Chilli Chutney is medium heat, but we also have mild or (super)hot – Garlic and Papaya Pickle and Superhot Cranberry Naga Pickle respectively – as well as a range of Daddy Cool’s sauces.
Enjoy!
Morning all
This week’s cheese of the week is Ribblesdale Smoked Goat’s. It’s not a very goat-y goat’s cheese, nor is it a very smoke-y smoked cheese, but the combination definitely works.
Having started out in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, it’s now made in Hawes – more famous for its wensleydale – at a small artisan cheese maker’s specialising in goat’s cheese.
Ghostly white in colour (in its russet wax), and with a semi firm texture, it’s definitely worth a try even if you’re a professed goat’s cheese hater – come in for a taster and see if we can change your mind…
