An organic, mature, rind-washed cheddar from the Pextenement Cheese Company, based in Todmorden. It won a silver award at the Artisan cheese awards.
Tag: Vegetarian
#58: Devil’s Rock
An organic, soft blue cheese from the Pextenement Cheese Company, based in Todmorden. It won a gold award at the Artisan cheese awards, and finished 2nd in
the organic class.
#55: Staffordshire Organic Mature
#52: Dovevale Blue
We’ve spent 2018 exploring some exciting new cheesemakers: Leicestershire Handmade, Sheffield Cheesemasters and Olianas. This week, we return much closer to home, with Dovevale Blue from Hartington Cheese. It’s a soft, creamy cheese with a mild blue flavour. The cheese is brine dipped, instead of being dry-salted, and … hang on, haven’t we heard this all before?
Well.
Protected Designation of Origin (P.D.O.) is a European initiative, offering protection to foodstuffs made in specific locations, by not allowing cheap knock-offs to be produced elsewhere. There’s a question as to what will happen when we leave the EU, with American manufacturers hoping to sell “Cornish” pasties (currently protected by P.D.O.) in the U.K. But that’s for another time.
There are eighteen cheeses with P.D.O. protection in the U.K., one of which is Dovedale. DoveDale. Made by the Staffordshire Cheese Co. Ah, so Hartington’s DoveVale must be one of those cheap knock-offs? In fact, Hartington Creamery was making Dovedale back in 2007, when the P.D.O. was registered. The creamery closed in 2009, and by the time cheesemaking resumed in Hartington in 2014, it was being made down the road. But there’s nothing to stop Hartington calling their new cheese Dovedale too; after all, there are seven makers of Blue Stilton, which is also a protected name.
So I wonder why Dovevale isn’t Dovedale? Answers on a postcard. Postmarked “Brussels”.
#48: Little Mester
Sophie Williamson from Sheffield Cheesemasters is the only cheese manufacturer in Sheffield. Sophie decided to become a cheesemaker a year ago, after attending some professional cheesemaking courses at the School of Artisan Food. She experimented at home making lots of different types of cheese, before converting an industrial unit in the city to a make room and maturing rooms. They currently make around 250 cheeses per week using 300 litres of pasteurised milk, sourced from the local farm Our Cow Molly.
Little Mester is Sophie’s first cheese, released at the end of 2017. It as a surface-ripened soft cheese, matured for only two and a half weeks, so fresh and young tasting. It’s soft and gooey on the outside with a firmer core which continues to ripen if left for longer.
#43: Cornish Blue
#42: Mouth Almighty
#39: Peakland White
Peakland White is a crumbly, salty cheese made by our friends in Hartington. They describe it as having similarities to Cheshire, White Stilton, and Feta, and it lends itself to being flavoured with cranberries or smoked tomatoes. It is matured for only two weeks, and thus tastes young, fresh and clean. Suitable for vegetarians, and made with pasteurised local Derbyshire milk.
#37: Smelly Ha’peth
We have finally got round to stocking some of everyone’s favourite former-soapstar-now-cheesemaker’s cheese. The Saddleworth Cheese Co (that’s Sean Wilson, or Martin from Corrie, as I’m sure he’s not at all fed up of being called) produce the trinity of Lancashire cheeses (crumby, creamy & tasty), but as we’re pretty big fans of Mrs Kirkham’s, we’ve instead plumped for the ‘other’ option – his blue cheese offering.
Smelly Ha’peth is a medium-soft blue. Made to his own recipe, Sean acknowledges Dovedale in its development. However Smelly Ha’peth has a more firm texture, and is less salty, with a nuttier flavour.
Thanks to Vicki for her recommendation!
#36: Fowler’s Little Derby
Little Derby is a cheddar-style cheese washed in red wine. It has a strong flavour, though quite different from the dry bite of a traditional mature cheddar – more a kind of pungent taste. A far cry from the mild and mellow Sage Derby from the same producer.