Lifestyle

Fab 40: Artisan Cheese
 

Fab 40: Artisan Cheese

FAB 40: UK

 

For as long as anyone can remember, the reputation of British cheese has had a distinct whiff about it. But more and more the stink is undeserved. While the more celebrated cheese-producing nations sit back on their laurels, a raft of artisanal British cheesemakers are sneaking up behind, producing some of the finest, most innovative of new cures and reviving long-buried recipes, while increasingly sophisticated cheese emporiums around the country are whole-heartedly backing their growing ranks.

Kings Favourite, £5.12 for 250g, from The Fine Cheese Company, www.finecheese.co.uk
Made by relative new-comer, James McCall at Cranborne Chase Cheese, this soft-rind cheese is made with unpasteurised cow’s milk and washed in local cider made from the ‘King’s Favourite’ apple.

Kelston Park Cheese, £14 for 1kg, from Bath Soft Cheese Company, www.parkfarm.co.uk Organic white mould ripened cow’s milk wheel which has won Silver in the British Cheese Awards.

Barkham Blue, £3.10 for 100g, from La Cave à Fromage. www.la-cave.co.uk
A rich, buttery blue cheese from the Two Hoots Dairy, which has consistently shone at the British Cheese Awards over 5 years.

Cerney Goats Cheese, £7.75 (for whole) from Paxton and Whitfield, www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
A goats cheese from the Cotswolds coated with oak ash and sea salt made with unpasteurised milk.

Berkswell, £3.25 for 100g, from La Cave à Fromage
Reminiscent of traditional Pyrenéen offerings, this is a slightly crumbly sheeps milk cheese.

Isle of White Blue Cheese, £7.95 for 200g from Cheese @ Leadenhall Market
A tangy blue cheese made from the milk of Guernsey cows on the Isle of Wight.

12 October 2009 | Lifestyle