Chabis
A small raw-milk goats cheese, made in Sussex, bought from Neals Yard Dairy.
This is a squat little barrel of cheese. It’s covered with a soft fuzzy white mould on the outside, and is creamy white and crumbly in the middle.
It’s smooth, dense, and sweet, soft and incredibly creamy – much creamier than the average goat cheese, I think. There’s a really subtle fruityness hidden beneath the cream; green apples and a touch of lemon. In the finish there’s a hazelnut sweetness and a very gentle mellow yoghurty tang.
This isn’t a very complicated cheese. It will not pounce on you with its lemony sharpness, or sting your mouth with its prickly moulds. It’s a happy mouthful of mild and creamy goodness – comforting and unalarming and very tasty.
Coolea
A gouda-style cow’s milk cheese, made in Cork, Ireland, and bought from Neals Yard Dairy
Coolea has a bright fruity orange rind. The cheese itself is orangey-yellow, smooth and nearly opaque, with tiny gaps and flecks.
The rind’s made of wax. I try a bit anyway, because I am a bit stupid very concientious about this cheese-eating lark. It is chewy and waxy and not actually food at all. Oops!
Inside, the cheese is much tastier! It’s dense and very sweet and nutty, with lots of fruit (hi, pineapples!), and a smooth cocoa-like silky dark taste. There are bursts of savoury umami-ish marmitey flavour.
This cheese appears quite innocent – smooth yellow cheese, pretty orange rind – and on the first taste it appears to be fairly restrained; sweet and nutty and mellow. But this develops into a bright zestiness that’s almost spicy, and a mouthwatering savouryness – stronger and more intense than the first bite would have you expect. And delicious!
NEXT WEEK! Cheesy Lover International! I have two smuggled American cheddars to test out.