cheese

  1. The Fine Cheese Co. visit Hafod Cheese-makers

    The Fine Cheese Co. visit Hafod CheesemakersBeing 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

  2. Classic Valentine’s Day Cheeses : the story

    January is always a quiet time in the cheese business, as waistlines expand and belts tighten.  For those of us  who haven’t started a fad diet, or are still working our way through the remains of the, Stilton we can start to turn our heads to the next ‘cheesey’ event: Valentine’s Day.
    Cheese may not be your first thought when it comes to Valentine’s Day but lovers have been giving cheese as a gift for over 500 years.

    It all started during England’s occupation of France during the Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453).  In the region of Neufchatel, French dairy maids, enamoured by their English occupiers, started to make the local cheese into a heart shape.  And so the ubiquitous and original heart-shaped cheese was born - all  soft, white, bloomy rind and creamy interior.
    Since then cheese-makers across the globe have taken to making heart-shaped cheeses for Valentine’s Day.  
    At The Fine