Cheese Makers
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Stärnächäs, from Swiss affineur Walo von Mühlenen and cheesemaker Marcel Gabriel, won the prestigious Bradbury’s Trophy, also known as Supreme Champion Continental International Cheese, at the International Cheese Awards 2016 in Nantwich.
The Swiss cheese, which we sell exclusively in the UK, rounded out the ceremony by successfully picking up the Interprofession du Gruyère Award for Best Swiss Cheese as well.
Produced at the foot of the Säntis mountain near Appenze
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Blog Cheese Makers
I was recently lucky enough to visit one of the country’s top Stilton producers. I spent two days at the Dairy and during that time was able to observe and take part in each step of the Stilton making process. Cropwell Bishop Creamery takes its name from the small village in which it is found. As a protected cheese, Stilton has to be produced within an area known as the vale of vale of Belvoir, this is the point at which Nottinghamshire Derbyshire and Lincolnshire meet. The local sign post reads like a who’s who of great Stilton makers.
There is a friendly rivalry between the villages of Cropwell bishop and Colsten Bassett, they lie no more than 3 mile apart and both are home to the top two Stilton producers, each year a cricket match is played between the villages, each village is rightly proud of their Stilton and the match provides the opportunity to
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Blog Cheese Makers
Local Bath boy, J.T, can be found most days preparing excellent coffee to the customers of The Fine Cheese Co. shop in Bath. Despite being a devoted employee, J.T. knows very little about artisan cheese. In this series of short films we join J.T. on his journey of discovery, which takes him through the joys and trials of cheese tasting.
J.T’s Cheese Odyssey - Part 1: Texture
In this first episode, J.T. learns about the different textures of cheese. Faced with three cheeses, J.T. must try each one and describe the sensation he experiences.
Featuring: J.T; Jake the Filmmaker; Wigmore, a soft, elegant and creamy ewes' milk cheese; Wyfe of Bath, a sweet, rich, hand-made, single-herd, Gouda-style English cheese; and Von Mühlenen Premier Cru Gruyère, a three times World Champion cheese – deep, powerful and lasting in flavour.Video and Music by Jake Chapman. (You can also find him at our shop in Bath!)
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Blog Cheese Makers
As five relative cheese-newbies, we were sent to find out all that we could about the methods used in artisan cheese making. Oliver, Dorian, Nicola, Ash and I set off with our tutor for the day; Andy Swinscoe to Sleight farm, just south of Bath. We drove up a tiny track, over a very steep hill and arrived at the farm. Immediately it felt like we had stepped back into the past....
The cheese in question was Tymsboro', a pyramid- shaped goats' cheese made in a traditional style by Mary Holbrook.
We were met by Fred who talked us through the processes involved in making the cheese. As novices it was great to see first-hand how it is done.
We first saw the milking room, where the goats are milked daily from spring through to autumn. It is important that they are not milked all year round as Mary believes it leads to happier goats and thus improves the quality of the milk. This practice is not often
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Blog Cheese Makers
The day began with an eventful car journey relying on Flo Neame’s navigational skills. The four of us (Dave – who works with me in the Bath Shop,Flo – who looks after shop customers, Mark – our chief cheese cutter and myself) arrived around 9 O’clock at the dairy. Thankfully Tom Calver had told us we weren’t needed at 5 Am for the morning milking! Tom met us at the entrance of the dairy, whilst dealing with the milk lorry driver (even when giving a tour, Tom’s still working!). We began with a quick hygiene form and into protective wear before entering the “wet room”. The steamy milky air was to greet us and we could see several operations commencing. We started with Cheddar making, watching the robotic giant paddles mixing in the starter culture with the warmed milk. Rob is an excellent Cheddar maker and uses his keen eye to oversee the machine before literally getting “hands on” or elbows deeps in milk. -
Blog Cheese Makers
Being a Somerset cheese company means we’re joined at the hip to our local Cheddar makers: from the mighty Montgomery’s to the wonderful Westcombe.
Because of this, getting my West Country colleagues to take on a Welsh Cheddar was on the impossible side of difficult.
But there it now rests, on our bowing spruce boards and in its rightful place: Hafod (pronounced Havod – meaning summer pasture in Welsh) - one of the finest Cheddars made in the UK.
Having adopted their cheese, I thought it was about time the sales team I and (Ollie, Gabi and Flo) paid our Welsh neighbours a visit to spend a gruelling 12 hours with Sam helping him turn his milk into Hafod. We started bright and early helping milk the cows. Although Ollie wasn’t too impressed when he got on the wrong side of one: his brand new jeans were a little muddied to say the least!
Soon after milking was finished we got hands-on in the cheese-making room helping to set the curd before a exhausting day spent -
Blog Cheese Makers
28th February 2012
Sue LockI arrived at Ram Hall just in time to pull on a very long glove and plunge my arm into the partly separated curds and whey for a gentle stir. Cheese making in Berkswell is very hands-on. Powdered lamb’s rennet is added to the warm raw milk, all of which comes from the farm’s flock of 650 Friesland and Friesland-Devon cross ewes. The milk is heated, stirred and cut before Julie and her team mould the cheese by hand into colanders, giving the cheese its characteristic shape and patterning.
