Cheesy Lover
10 September 2009
The cheese: soft raw goats cheese, made in Co Clare, Ireland
Bought from: Neals Yard Dairy
St Tola comes in big logs, and a slice of about a half-inch thickness makes my lunch. It’s got a soft yellow wrinkled rind, underneath which the cheese is almost liquid and oozes out onto the paper it came wrapped in. Further in there’s a clean white fluffy centre. St Tola is two cheeses in one; soft and squishy liquid around the edges, light and fluffy on the inside. more »
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 1 Comment
14 September 2009
Two cheeses from the same maker, both blue, one made with cows milk and the other with goat. They might have everything but the milk in common, but these are very different cheeses. The first is strong and tangy and tasty, the second sent me croaking for a glass of water.
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25 September 2009
I met up with Katie for a cheesy Friday Borough Market lunch-and-review the other week.
This is our lunch! Clockwise from the top left you have salty ricotta, Raschera, St Denis and Roquefort.
Raschera
Mostly cow, with a bit of sheep, Italian, from Gastronomica
This is a soft pale elasticy wedge of cheese, scattered with little holes. It’s initially very creamy, and melts in the mouth, leading to both a sharp fruity bite – think gooseberries, and a contrasting sweet milkiness that reminds me of those pink and white milk-teeth sweets
Katie’s verdict: ‘Delicious – a bit like dairylea for grownups.’
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29 September 2009
Cheese stats: Raw cow’s milk, semi-hard cheese from Switzerland, bought from KäseSwiss
This cheese has a dark, crumbly, dusty grey rind, and contrasting pale creamy yellow interior.
The inside of this cheese is BEEFY – a huge blast of umami dominates the taste initially; lots of bovrilly, marmiteish intenseness – it reminds me of beef broth. This fades into a creamy yoghurtyness as the cheese melts. (It melts surprisingly easily for a semi-hard cheese.) There’s a fruitiness skirting the edges of the beef; cheese-eating chum is reminded of sour green apples, and I am tasting a hint of pineapple and a smidge of grass. The impressively pitted rind tastes musty; undergrowth, compost bins and leaf mould. I really like it, but this might be an acquired taste. It comes partially wrapped in cloth (which I do not eat, not being a goat), so maybe this rind isn’t really meant for eating.
Conclusion: Really meaty! This is a pretty tasty cheese. It feels like a winter cheese; intense and hearty. I’d like to try melting it on top of French onion soup, or making it into warming cheese toast
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 4 Comments
1 October 2009
Swallet: a raw soft ewe’s milk cheese from Cumbria, bought from Neal’s Yard Dairy
The swallet has a wrinkled rind, and is a rich cream colour underneath a faint white bloom. Tiny patches of blue-gray mould are scattered across it. Directly under the rind there’s a melted liquid layer. Inside it’s a paler cream – almost white – and very light and fluffy.
It tastes deceptively mild and intensely creamy. It feels like eating rich thick yellow cream with a spoon straight from the tub. (I am a greedy pig and love to eat cream by the spoon.) It’s very full and rounded and mouth-filling, and also light and fluffy, almost moussey. Subtle flavours of fudge, grass, hazelnut and pepper ping about my mouth.
Cardo: a washed rind, raw milk goats cheese from Somerset, also bought Neal’s Yard Dairy
Cardo has a biscuit-coloured wrinkled rind – fairly hard and dry – and a creamy yellow moist paste.
My little slice of cardo is soft and melts out of its rind as soon as I try to cut a piece. In my mouth, it feels like silk; soft and smooth and slightly slippery. And it’s intensely salty, especially eaten after the mellow mild swallet. It tastes of gentle washed rind savoury sockiness, and rich dark plummy fruit flavours. There are undertones of herbs and flowers and nuts, and of goaty tang.
Cheesy continuity:
It’s a Geotrichum candidum moulded rind that gives the swallet its velvety wrinkled appearance and liquid layer – just like St Tola.
Cardo’s so called because it uses the cardoon thistle as rennet, like Torta de Barros.
Conclusion: These two made a fine cheesy double act; the creamy gentle swallet and salty fruity cardo were great contrasts. The cardo is a very gentle washed rind – none of the unfortunate people who share an office with me (and my cheese) were moved to complain about the smell – so not a scary cheese at all. The swallet is absurdly creamy, and has a wonderful soft fluffy texture. I think that the swallet just about wins it, if I’m forced to choose a favourite, but they were both quite delicious.
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 1 Comment
8 October 2009
Stawley
Cheese stats: Small round of goats cheese, bought from Neals Yard Dairy[1]
The stawley has a creamy yellow and white white wrinkled rind. A sticky, translucent layer lies just below the rind, and the cheese becomes a denser, opaque white towards the centre. It’s thick, and solidly sticky, and the texture reminds me of putty or plasticine. (I didn’t test this by attempting to sculpt anything from my lunch.)
The rind tastes bright and acidic and fruity – predominantly pineappley. (Q. for Food Science; Why does my cheese keep tasting pineapppley? This is the fourth pineapple-flavoured cheese.) The white paste tastes creamy and goaty. It’s dense and thick and melts slowly in my mouth. It rewards patience; the taste opens out as it melts into this bright excited lemony explosion.
1. I forgot to write down any detail for this cheese, and it is TOO NEW to be mentioned on the internet.
Harbourne Blue
Cheese stats: Blue goats cheese, also from Neals Yard Dairy. This is the goaty sibling cheese of Beenleigh Blue.
The last goats blue I tried had me running for water, and gasping for breath, but this one couldn’t be more different. Harbourne blue is white, firm and crumbly, with scattered specks of blue-green moulding. There’s no rind. In my mouth it feels slightly waxy – almost a plastic texture, and crumbles and melts quite easily.
It’s surprisingly well-mannered; mild, creamy and nutty (walnuts and hazelnuts), fruity with hints of flowers. And more than any of this, it’s sweet; a milky, fudgey sweetshop-ness that the cheese pusher seller and I narrow down to the taste of the icing on a coffee cake. This goes well with the walnuttishness. Even the patches of blue are restrained in their spiciness, although they do give the cheese some bite. There’s a touch of sharper grassy goaty tang, but that’s kept very much in check by the sweet milkiness.
Cheesy conclusion: I really enjoyed the way the Stawley opened out from a dense creamy cheese to a huge burst of lemon; it felt like I was discovering secrets. The Harbourne Blue was a tad too sweet for me, though; I prefer my cheeses with a bit more bite. But it wasn’t a bad cheese! Just not the right cheese for me.
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 2 Comments
9 October 2009
Cheese stats: Soft-ish raw cows milk cheese from the alpine patches of Franch
Bought from: Mons
This rind’s ochre, orange and white, bumpy and mottled, with specks of a bright yellow mould. Inside the cheese is a pale cream colour – crumbling slightly towards the centre, moist and squishy further out.
The centre tastes sharp and tart, juicy and rich and full of fruity flavours; apples and apricots. It’s smooth and creamy, with a buttery texture, and it melts away to nothing in my mouth. Towards the rind it turns mushroomy – still with that creamy richness. The rind itself has a pungent grassy, earthy tang; straw (like the smell of freshly mixed henna), wet composty earth, and a touch of cowpat. All of it’s suffused with a gentle herbal taste, and the varying flavours and textures work really well together.
Conclusion: I wish I’d bought a bigger wedge of this!
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 4 Comments
20 October 2009
St Felicien
Soft raw cow’s cheese from France, bought from Mons
St. Felicien comes in a shallow round wooden box. It has a wrinkled white and cream coloured, softly bloomy rind. When I cut into it I see exactly why it’s sold whole, in a box; it’s entirely liquid, and the creamy cheese puddles out of the rind. It’s the colour and texture of double cream. I fetch a spoon.
Creamy probably goes without saying, but this cheese is also surprisingly sour and bitter. It’s got both a lemonishness and a taste of soured milk. It’s also got a bit of herbal astringency, reminding me of thyme. It’s bitter in the aftertaste, and it leaves my mouth tingling. The rind (I have to fish a lump out of my sea of cheesy ooze) is creamier, if that’s possible, and softer and sweeter; it has nutty fudgey notes. The St Felicien is so oozy and liquid that I was rather expecting a slightly tart and funky cream, but it’s more complex than that, with a big contrast between the sweet creaminess and the bitter and sour ends of the cheese. It’s good!
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marna in FT • 6 Comments
12 November 2009
Lex joined me for this cheesy lunch.
Knockalara
A soft pasturised sheep’s milk cheese, from Ireland, bought from Neal’s Yard Dairy
This is a wedge of pale yellow rindless cheese, with a buttery rich texture.
I think it’s yoghurty; almost like eating a block of yoghurt, in fact. There’s a hint of raisin sweetness underneath. This would be an excellent cheesecake-cheese, and I have a hankering to make a lemon cheesecake with this in the title role.
Lex reports that it’s tangy, the flavour lingers, and the texture’s interesting; solid yet spreadable.
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marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • No Comments
17 November 2009
Introducing CHEESY WOOFER! Finlay the dog has very generously agreed to help me review these cheeses.
Selles sur Cher
A French raw goats cheese, bought from Mons
This little flat round cheese has a greeny-grey charcoal rind, speckled with a white bloom. There’s a soft squishy translucent layer directly underneath the rind, and a putty-like dense bright white layer in the center. The clean white paste inside contrasts really prettily with the dark rind.
The rind tastes prickly and peppery and medicinal; hints of TCP. Inside it’s soft and smooth, and melts in my mouth. It’s very creamy, for a goat’s cheese and has small bursts of thyme and rosemary flavours and a gentle sweet nuttiness.
Cheesy Woofer: Finn eats this cheese after some persuasion. He doesn’t recommend it. (However, I do! It’s very tasty.) more »
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