South Island cheese tour

I am just coming to the end of a week long cheese tour of the upper part of the South Island. I have driven myself over 1400 km from Kaikoura down to Christchurch, Rangiora, and up to Nelson, during which I have visited cheese shops, artisan cheese makers and markets.  I have met so many cool, friendly, open and passionate people and I am looking forward to writing posts about my trip.  So keep an eye on the blog in the coming weeks and months for some great Kiwi cheeses and brands you may not have heard of.

#34 - Kallarney Blue by The Cheese Barn at Matatoki

Back in March my mother went on a trip to the Coromandel peninsula, and on the way she stopped off at The Cheese Barn at Matatoki.  One benefit of being involved in the cheese industry is that every time anyone in our families stops at a cheese shop they inevitably purchase something to bring back for us to try out!

So mum had purchased a wedge of Kallarney Blue for us.  This cheese was made from organic cow's milk, and using vegetarian rennet.  The fat content was stated as 29.5%, which I calculate to give a cheese of around 50% FDM (for those Europeans used to such terminology).

The wedge of cheese was wrapped in cling film and it had obviously been wrapped up for a while as the surfaces did not look very fresh, and were a little dry and oxidised.  This is not something to worry too much about, as simply scraping down the surfaces with the face of a knife will tidy it up well.

The cheese paste was firm, slightly dry, almost like a soft, slightly crumbly cheddar. It had nice blue marbling throughout.  The flavour was quite savoury - almost meaty - and there was good balance between this savouriness, the blue veins and the salt.

Overall a nice cheese.  Given that our sample didn't appear so fresh, we would recommend looking for a piece that had been more recently cut from the truckle.  Kallarney Blue would go well in a cheeseboard selection with some nice chutney or a savoury crab-apple jelly.    

Kallarney Blue from The Cheese Barn at Matatoki.  

#33 Saint Marcellin

We actually tried this cheese at home in Palmerston North, far from France where we would have originally liked to try it.  On a trip down to Wellington in March, Andrew popped in to La Marche Francais deli, who specialise in European and in particular French cheeses, and decided to pick out a cheese we had not yet tried.

Saint Marcellin is a small (typcially 80g) soft cheese made from raw or thermised cow's milk in the Rhone-Alpes region of France (thermised milk is heated in a similar way to pasteurisation, but at a lower temperature of 63-65°C).  The cheese is made using a lactic curd process and is allowed to drain gently in moulds without pressing.  It contains around 23% fat which is approximately 50% fat in dry matter.  It is often sold in small ceramic dishes, as it can become quite soft and runny as it matures.

The example we purchased was made by French family owned cheese company Fromi.

We purchased the cheese on the first weekend of March, and the shop assistant recommended we leave the cheese out on the kitchen bench for a few days to ripen it properly before we ate it.  Through a combination of forgetfullness, experimentation and poking the cheese, we ended up leaving it in the dairy section of the fridge for a full month until early April before we got around to eating it.  In fact we tackled this cheese a few days after the labelled best before date, which in my experience is usually when many cheeses are at their best anyway.

This cheese was packaged in a tiny wooden cup/box, which looks great compared to many of the cheese packages we see in New Zealand.  There was a light, white geotrichum mould around the edges of the cheese.  Although St Marcellin is not a washed rind cheese, there was a gentle aroma typical of washed rind cheeses, mixed with the sweetness of the geotrichum.  When cut, the cheese had a smooth, unctuous centre with a thin tender rind that held cheese in shape.  The flavour was sweet, milky, nutty, slightly sour and with a hint of animal notes - but nothing in excess - it was beautifully balanced.

We absolutely loved this cheese and devoured it pretty quickly.  We had left the cheese out of the fridge for about 30 minutes, which was enough to soften it nicely but not so warm that it ran across the plate.    

Thought about putting it back in the fridge... but not for long.  Also thought about eating this half in one mouthful. In the end we shared and savored it.

#32 - Berkswell cheese

Image taken from www.cartmelcheeses.co.uk

Berkswell cheese is made at Ram Hall near the village of Berkswell in Warwickshire.  Sheila and Peter Fletcher milk a flock of Friesian and Dorset sheep, and the cheese is made by Linda Dutch and her team at the 16^th century farmhouse.  Berkswell cheese is made from unpasteurised ewe’s milk, and using traditional animal rennet, both of which contribute to its depth of flavour.  The curd is drained in basket moulds (although modern plastic versions are used now) which gives it a distinctive UFO shape.

The cheeses are aged for around 6 months, but good batches can be aged for longer and can develop an amazing depth of flavour.  It has a medium firm texture when younger but becomes firmer as it matures.  The rind is firm but thin, and can vary from smooth to rough/crusty and varying in colour in older cheeses.  It can even become pitted from mites as it ages, a bit like mimolette.

The flavour is rich and often complex - savoury and fruity and a little sweet (reminiscent of parmesan style cheese) and sometimes nutty, but with an extra flavour contribution and waxy texture from the sheeps milk.  This was one of my favourites in the short time I worked at NYD.

Further information:

A good info sheet can be found on the Neal’s Yard Dairy website:  here

And a detailed article on the Fletchers' farm and Berkswell cheese production can be found here

Specially selected Berkswell maturing at the Neal's Yard Dairy maturing arches.

#31 Stichelton

While we were working at Neal's Yard Dairy at the end of last year, we were invited to a number of staff cheese tastings where we met with NYD suppliers, tasted their cheeses, and heard what drove them to create their unique cheeses.  We were lucky enough to attend a session with Joe Schneider, who makes Stichelton - one of the stars at NYD.

Stichelton is a blue cheese made from unpasteurised, organic milk from the Collingthwaite Farm on the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire.

Many people have said that Stichelton is "a raw milk Stilton" but this is not strictly true - first of all Stilton cannot be made using unpasteurised milk according to it's PDO designation.  Stichelton is a cheese in it's own right.  Although the original recipe was based on traditional methods used to make Stilton long before it's PDO status was granted, the current process will have been tweaked and modified to create the best product possible at the Collingthwaite Farm factory.  For example, traditional calf rennet is used and the curd is hand ladled from the vat to the draining table, but instead of piercing the cheeses by hand they are pierced by machines to ensure more uniform ripening and distribution of blueing.  It could be said that Stichelton gives one an idea of what a Stilton could be like if it was still made using the old traditional methods before pasteurisation was common.  Interestingly, the only Stilton that is still made using the traditional hand ladling technique is made specifically for Neal's Yard Dairy, to meet their high standards.

A good Stichelton has an orange/golden/brown crust that is not too dry, with a creamy smooth mouthfeel, even blueing throughout the paste, and loads of flavour.  The flavour can be slightly sweet with savoury notes, and some aromatic blue flavours.  Many more slight variations in flavour can be seen between different batches or individual rounds of the cheese.

Stichelton we took home from the tasting session, and then devoured.

The tasting session was set up as a blind tasting.  We tasted 8 cheeses in two groups of four, with nothing to identify them (except our expertise - many of the cheesemongers attending were able to identify the cheeses sold by NYD).  The cheese samples included Stilton purchased at supermarkets (made with vegetarian rennet), Colston Basset Stilton from NYD, and samples of Stichelton.

Whilst a lot of variation can be expected when tasting these types of small volume blue cheeses, everyone agreed that the supermarket Stiltons were below the level of the Stilton and Stichelton made using traditional methods.  Part of this is due to the extra care and handling the cheeses receive through a proper cheesemonger.  Partly it is due to the cheese makers and their attention to detail to make the best cheese possible for a customer with high demands.  Opinion varied between those of us at the tasting session about which sample was best out of a couple of Sticheltons and the traditional  Colston Basset Stilton. Some pieces of cheese tasted slightly different due to difference amounts of blueing, some people have different preferences or can detect tastes (e.g.bitterness) more or less strongly than others.  Nevertheless, we were picking fine details between some very delicious cheeses!

Some people claim they prefer Stichelton over Stilton purely because it is made with unpasteurised milk.  In my opinion, Stichelton is not automatically better than Stilton, but it has the potential to be better because of the unpasteurised milk and the careful cheesemaking methods used.  Because of variability caused by many things, sometimes a traditional Colston Basset Stilton is going to be better, but when Joe and the team get it right the resulting Stichelton has a complexity and flavour that the Stilton will probably not achieve.   The best way to make sure you get the best cheese is to buy it from a cheesemonger, who knows how to look after the cheese properly and will hopefully have selected the batch to meet their standards.

Stichelton maturing on the shelves at Neal's Yard Dairy's Bermondsey maturing facility. 

#30 Cuor di Fassa

Back in January we went on a skiing trip to the Val di Fassa in the Italian Dolomites.  We stayed in the town of Canazei near the head of the valley.  What a beautiful and picturesque place!  I have seen photos from a summer trip my mother came on to the same region, and we'd love to come back here in summer to walk around the high passes and valleys, visiting the rifugios and seeing the cows grazing on the alpine pastures.

Apart from skiing, drinking hot chocolate on the slopes, and plenty of red wine back in the chalet every day, we also went on a search for some local cheese.  In the centre of Canazei we found a shop selling a small selection of local and regional cheeses.  We selected the most local of all - Cuor di Fassa, made right in the valley we were staying.

In actual fact, Cuor di Fassa is made locally by Caseificio Sociale Val di Fassa, which is one of the co-operatives that make up the Gruppo Formaggi del Trentino, a consortium that has developed over the years to market the cheeses of the Trentino region.  Probably the most well known cheese they sell is Trentingrana - a DOP protected Grana style cheese made in the region.   The website http://www.trentingrana.it has all the information on the regional cheeses.

Anyway, back to Val di Fassa, where the local co-op also makes a variety of other cheeses, including another famous one called Puzzone di Moena, which we shall have to try one day when we return!  Cuor di Fassa itself was traditionally produced in the cow-herders' huts or in barns at mid-mountain level, or in the community dairies down in the valley floor. It is characterized by the contribution of mountain herbs and flowers.  In times of poverty, it was a staple of the diet along with polenta or boiled potatoes.  These days it is still made from raw cows milk obtained from pastures in the Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme.  It has 28-29% fat.  The cheese is made into 10 kg wheels and is generally matured for 2-8 months, although there appear to be examples available that have been aged for longer.

In the shop we found, Cuor di Fassa was available in a variety of ages.  We chose to take home a piece of the stagionato (aged) version which we think was about 6-8 months old - although there was an older looking wheel available. 

It had a complex aroma, with floral and animal notes dominating, and a slight sense of acetic acid as well as a not quite so pleasant fecal/animal-type aroma.

The rind was firm, even and pale brown in colour, with evidence of brine salting and some rind washing.  The body was very open, perhaps up to 20% of the volume, from gas producing cultures which had produced rough and uneven "eyes".  The texture of the body was springy and elastic.  

When we tasted it, the first things we noticed were acidity and an amino acid/histamine type heat, which then gave way to a sweet and complex flavour with floral, pasture and animal notes (think of the smell of a lovely mountain pasture), .  The finish was slightly dirty tasting - not in a bad way, as it was in balance with the rest of the flavours and gave a sense of being connected to the local "terroir".  We described this in our notes as having a "long flavour" i.e. it just kept going as one flavour gave way to another.

Overall, while this was not a perfect cheese, it had loads of flavour and complexity - each time we tasted a piece we found something new - and was a great way to feel linked to the local food culture.  This cheese would be great on a cracker with some condiments or a slice of Italian salami.  

Nothing like a bit of local pride - the Val di Fassa regional logo used on the wax paper.

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.