Neal's Yard Dairy

Neals Yard Dairy (NYD) is a well-known company that specialises in British and Irish territorial cheeses.  The operations cover the full range from affinage (maturing and looking after the cheeses), selecting and grading cheeses, wholesale supply (restaurants, delis and other cheese shops), export, and retail to the public through two popular shops – one in Covent Garden and one next to Borough Market.  Sandi and I were lucky enough to be able to work at NYD for 2 ½ months from mid-October 2012.  We had previously been making cheese at one of NYD’s suppliers – Holker Farm Dairy – so already had some insight into the business, but it was interesting to get involved and see where the cheese had been going!

Sandi worked in the Borough Market shop, basically selling cheese to the public all day.  The NYD style is all about the cheese – which is the star – and making sure the customer has chosen the right cheese for them.  The culture is based on the fact that that every block of cheese is individual and can have a different character from even those in the same batch.  Many of the producers that supply NYD are very small volume and all the cheese is hand made.  This requires a lot of tasting – by both the customers and the cheese monger.  How can you recommend a cheese to a customer if you aren’t familiar with the particular pieces on display!?  With all that cheese out on display, there is a lot of work involved in setting it out in the morning, and putting it all away in the evening.  Sandi learnt how to cut down and section large cheeses, how to glass-face (applying cling-film to the cut face), how to wrap different shapes of cheese amongst other skills.  Even though she learnt a lot in 2 ½ months, we were always impressed with the skill, ease and speed with which a seasoned cheesemonger can accomplish these tasks after years in the profession.

We worked at NYD in the lead up to Christmas, and then through the Christmas rush, which is the company’s busiest period.  The last few days before Christmas are insane, with long queues out the door of each shop and cheesemongers elbow-to elbow behind the slate.  There were even employees whose job was to manage the queues in the shop.  We simply couldn’t believe how much cheese was sold over those few days (and it was all top-quality).

Sandi in action with a piece of Montgomery's Cheddar

Andrew spent his time on “cheese shift” at the maturing rooms in Bermondsey.  These are situated inside brick railway arches.  This is where all the cheeses arrive from suppliers, at which point they are checked in by Cheese Shift, and taken to the appropriate ripening rooms.  Generally the harder cheeses – such as Cheddars, Lancashire, Red Leicester – are already ready to sell when they arrive (they will have been selected by managers on trips to the suppliers during the year and matured by the cheese makers).  If all these cheeses had to be matured for up to two years, there just wouldn’t be any room.  However there is still an impressive amount of hard cheese in stock.  And it all needs to be tasted and graded weekly to ensure it is top quality and that customers get the right profile of cheese.  Andrew could often be found wiping the rinds and turning these hard cheeses.  There is also a large volume of Colston Basset Stilton and a similar cheese called Stichelton that need to be held on the shelves, turned, and tasted through in a similar way. Another big job for the staff on Cheese Shift is to move all these blue cheeses by hand.  At busy times we moved up to 6 pallets (about 5500kg) worth of Stilton in a day, which involved throwing individual 7kg cheeses up to someone on the mezzanine area, stacking them on shelves, and rotating older cheeses back down the ground level shelves.  This is good team work, and there was certainly no need for a gym membership for Andrew!  

Andrew patting cheeses at the arches.

The soft cheeses, such as lactic curd, washed rinds and white moulded cheeses were generally given a lot more thorough treatment.  As they arrived, we laid them out on wire racks and often they would need drying in the special drying room.  After this they would be moved into one of a series of temperature and humidity controlled rooms.  In these rooms they would develop their characteristic rinds.  In order to ensure the top quality of the cheeses, they were patted down, wiped, washed or turned at necessary intervals until they were ready to be sold.  This was a very hands on job where one became very familiar with each particular cheese. 

We tasted so many cheeses during our time at NYD, many of which we are intending to write about on this blog, so keep an eye out in the future.

We both really enjoyed our time working at NYD.  Each of the teams we were in was inclusive, open, passionate, and always willing to teach us.  In fact, NYD is full of passionate people, who believe in the absolute top quality of cheese.  If it wasn’t for Neals Yard Dairy, a number of traditional British cheeses would probably no longer be made.  As it is, most of them have only one remaining manufacturer who makes them to the traditional methods.  We were sad to leave and under different circumstances would have loved to return.   We thoroughly recommend a visit to Neal’s yard Diary for any cheese lover who finds themselves in London.  

The Borough Market shop

So much top quality cheese.

Wensleydale and Stichelton.

Kirkham's Lancashire.

NZ Champion of Cheese awards

Sandi and I just finished the day judging at the NZ Champions of Cheese awards at the Langham hotel in Auckland.  We were both lucky enough to taste a variety of cheese styles in our categories.  Although there was a range of quality as usual, there were some very nice cheeses.  We continue to notice the absence of some cheese styles that are common overseas - and hope that kiwi cheese makers can be encouraged to continue to develop in this area and that the public will support them.

The final round of judging the gold medal winners to pick out the championship cheeses (for artisan and large commercial producers) showed some good New Zealand cheese makers.  We are waiting until Tuesday night at the awards night to find out who won the Champion of Champions award!

Andrew & Sandi

#29 Le Crottin de Chevre

One day while we were walking around Paris last October, we stopped to buy a picnic lunch at a small supermarket on a street hidden down the side of a local church.  The usual items for us – some bread rolls, salami and cheeses.  We got a pack of the everyday sliced Swiss style cheese from a mass producer (which was nice but we won’t bother to write about here), but I also spied various packs of smaller more interesting cheeses at pretty good prices.  I grabbed a twin pack of Crottin de Chevre, under the Rians brand, made by Laitieres H. Triballat in the village of Rians, in teh Berry region – almost the dead centre of France.

For €2.80 we got two 60g cheeses which were well packaged in little plastic containers that protected the cheeses and which appeared to be designed to allow them to breathe with minimal packaging touching the rind.  The rind of the cheeses was covered in a fine layer of geotrichum wrinkles, and had a slightly creamy/ivory colour with tinges of white starting to develop.  The curd was firm and cracked slightly when cut, but was creamy and fresh tasting, with only a slight (and pleasant) goat flavour.  The rind development had added a little aroma and flavour to the goat curd and appeared to release a little more goat milk flavour (from the broken down fats) around the rind.  This was very nice on a fresh baguette.  Later in the week Andrew finished it all up by himself (nobody else was a goat cheese fan) on fresh bread with honey.

#28 St Clemens Danish Blue

#28 - St Clemens Danish Blue cheese

My father and his new wife Kirsten (who is Danish) bought us a piece of nice Danish blue cheese when they visited us in London on their way back from a conference.  They purchased it from a local cheese shop near where they were staying in Denmark.  Based on the label, we know it is a cheese from Bornholms Andelsmejeri, a co-operative on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea.  Dad and Kirsten had visited Bornholm a couple of years before and had visited the dairy factory, but unfortunately they could not bring back the cheese to us in New Zealand!

St Clemens is the "export" division/label of Bornholms Andelsmejeri, and the Danish Blue (or Danablu) made under this label has a great pedigree.  It has been named "World Champion" twice at the World Champion Cheese Contest in Wisconsin (in 1980 and 1998).

Because the cheese we tasted was wrapped without a label, we are not totally sure which version of St Clemens Blue it was, but after tasting it we suspect it was possibly the 60+ version (meaning 60%  FDM, or 60% of the non-moisture substance in the cheese is fat).  This would be around 35-36% total fat content in this cheese.   It had a clean outer surface (there is no real rind with this style of cheese) with a white, slightly creamy colour.  The greeny-blue mould was distributed well through the cheese which had a regular open structure.  The flavour was sharp, tangy, and salty with a rich blue mould flavour.  The cheese was not very crumbly, as can be the case with Danablu, and had a nice creamy texture.

We had been given quite a large wedge of this cheese, and only tried a a little before we went on a trip to Paris.  On our return 8 days later, our housemates had finished it all off, so we can only assume they liked it too!   This was a cheese we liked and recommend for blue lovers, although perhaps it is not a cheese to try first if you are new to blue cheeses.  We would love to visit the island of Bornholm and see for ourselves where this cheese is made.

Further info:  http://www.st-clemens.dk

 

#27 Kirkham's Lancashire

#27 - Kirkham's Lancashire cheese.
While we were working at Holker Farm, were were lucky enough for Martin to give us a day to go and make cheese with Graham Kirkham.  We didn't have to be asked twice!

Kirkham's Lancashire is the last remaining Lancashire cheese to be made the traditional way - using unpasteurised milk and by mixing curds from three days.  It has a moist, creamy, delicate, slightly crumbly but still smooth texture.  When young, it has a slightly lemony, creamy, balanced flavour with an acid tang at the end.  As it ages past 3 months the savoury flavours develop more strongly, but it still retains it's characteristic texture and creamy tangy flavours.  Kirkham's is also the only Lancashire with a buttered rind (instead of wax) - and because this coating is less airtight it allows the tangy, buttery savoury flavours to develop more.   Interestingly, this was also apparent when we tasted a cheese with Graham that had been cut in half two weeks earlier - the sample taken from under the cut surface had a more complex (yet still balanced) flavour than a plug taken from an uncut cheese from the same batch.

The Kirkhams have their own herd of holstein-friesians, which are milked in a large shed next to the cheese factory.  This allows Graham to know the quality of the milk and discuss any issues with his father (who milks the cows) and thus make any adjustments on a day to day basis.

We spent a full day with Graham and followed the whole process from the vat filling with milk, setting, cutting, stirring, dwelling, draining, curd stacking, pressing, curd cutting, curd breaking, milling, hoop filling and pressing again.  Oh, and we also helped with removing the cloths from the previous day's cheese, trimming, re-clothing, re-pressing, and buttering the rinds of the previous week's cheese.  Yes - to be a cheese maker you have to be organised and fit.

We were also fed like kings.  Mrs Kirkham (Graham's mum Ruth, who started the business over 30 years ago and who was taught by her own mother) makes an amazing breakfast - complete with a large dish of Lancashire cheese melted on the stove top - which we spooned over our sausages, bacon and bread.  What a treat.

For more information on Kirkham's Lancashire, see the following sites:
http://www.mrskirkhams.com/
http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/cheeses/Kirkhams%20Lancashire.pdf  

Sandi helping trim and re-cloth the previous day's cheese.

Stacking curd.

Previous week's cheese waiting to be buttered.

Buttering the rind!

Melted Lancashire cheese as a breakfast condiment.  Nom nom.

Holker Farm Dairy, Cumbria

Holker Farm Dairy is a small dairy run by Martin Gott and Nicola Robinson in Cumbria, England.  The land is on the estate of Holker Hall, the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish.  Situated on the Cartmel peninsula, the farm is a few miles away from Cartmel which is well known for its old Priory, and for being a foodie destination – including Cartmel sticky toffee puddings and chef Simon Rogan’s Michelin starred restaurant L’Enclume.   Also Cartmel Cheeses, which Martin runs with Nicola’s father Ian, and stocks traditional British cheeses, some European cheeses, and not least the very cheeses made at the Holker Farm Dairy. 

Sandi and I worked at Holker Farm for 5 months during the “summer” of 2012 (quotation marks on account of this officially being the wettest summer on record in the UK, and we were living in Cumbria - possibly the wettest part of England!).  Between us, we ran the dairy 7 days a week – making the cheese, washing the rinds, packing and sending to the major customer (Neals Yard Dairy), keeping the place clean, and generally learning a lot about artisanal/farmhouse cheese making. 

Martin and Nicola have a herd of approximately 100 Lacaune sheep.  In France, this milk would generally be used to make Roquefort, but at Holker it is made into a delicious washed rind cheese called St James.  Martin and Nicola have also recently purchased a small herd of Dairy Shorthorn cows to help even out the milk supply whilst the sheep are dry.  The cows’ milk is used to make a cheese called Brother David.  And during Autumn, when the sheep are drying off, the milks are mixed to make a cheese called Faellen (the Old English word for Autumn).  We have described each of these cheeses below. 

This is farmhouse cheese making - the raw milk from the sheep (or cows!) is pumped from the adjacent milking shed into the dairy, directly into the vats.  Before it has a chance to cool, starter culture is added to begin the ripening process.  The cheese is set with calf rennet until it reaches the required firmness, which depends on milk quality, the time of the season, and the weather (frequent rainy days kept us on our toes).  After cutting and resting, the curd is hand ladled into cloth lined moulds, and the necessary turning, pulling and draining operations are done.  The cheese is salted after a further day of resting, and is then washed and turned regularly over the next few weeks to develop an orange/pink rind.

# 24 - St James

This is a raw ewes milk, washed rind cheese.  The cheese is a flat square, and approximately 1.2kg.  We enjoyed making this cheese as it always developed good savoury, meaty, bacon flavours without many apparent defects or off-flavours.  Because of the artisanal nature of making cheese at this volume, the cheese can vary somewhat between batches.  The ideal St James has a glossy appearance, with a smooth texture, but is stable – i.e. it will not keep softening until it runs across the plate, but will maintain a gentle bulge when cut.  This was not always possible, and sometimes we had a slightly firmer cheese.   

As we found later at Neals Yard Dairy, as it ages the rind dries a little and is less bright orange, with some moulds developing much later, but the flavour maintains itself and some cheeses up to 3 months old have a flavour that no other cheese can match. 

St James that hasn't quite matured fully.

    

#25 – Brother David

This is a raw cows milk, washed rind cheese.  Brother David is a flat round and smaller than St James, approximately 700-800g, although the rind has a similar appearance to St James.  We found it more difficult to make Brother David, as the cows milk was not as robust as the Lacaune sheep milk, both in terms of cheese making/curd handling, and in flavour development.  We struggled to make a cheese without some bitterness in the rind, although this can also be said of some French washed rind cheeses.  Often there were similar meaty, savoury flavours as seen in the St James.  But overall we found the variability much greater in the Brother David. 

Brother Davids waiting to be packed, with the farm outside.

#26 – Faellen

This is a raw milk washed rind cheese, made from a mixture of milk from Dairy Shorthorn cows and Lacaune sheep.  It is made in a similar method to the St James cheese, and is a flat round approximately 700-800g. Although we only made this cheese for a month before our time was up at Holker Farm, we really enjoyed making it.  The sheeps milk seems to mask any difficulties from the cows milk and so we found Faellen easy and enjoyable to make – perhaps our previous four months experience helped as well.  Faellen develops a similar glossy, smooth, bulging texture and savoury bacony flavours as St James.  

Racks of Faellen.

#23 - Tourteau fromager "cheese cake"

Technically this is not a cheese. But it has cheese in it, so it counts in my books.  

We saw these impressive looking baked goodies in the Challans market at a number of different stalls.  This was not like the dense (but delicious) texture of a baked New York style cheese cake, but had a very light, fluffy texture somewhere between cake and bread.  In fact, the tourteau fromager didn't even taste all that cheesy - so can only presume it contained fresh, high moisture cheese in the mixture.  Some of us thought it was a little bland, although it would be nice with jam.

The most interesting feature, the dark black exterior, imparted a slightly blackened and bitter taste but this was pleasant as it was only a thin layer.  We can only assume this blackening is achieved with a layer of sugar on the outside and a hot oven temperature.

Definitely one to try when you find an example.  

Tourteau fromager