Types of Cheese


Fresh Ready to eat within a few days of being made, fresh cheeses are moist, milky and often lemony. No rind.


Soft (or Mould-ripened) Typically have a velvety white crust, grainy texture and wonderful aroma of mushrooms. Think Camembert – or Sharpham.


Semi-Soft These are the smellies! Washed with brine, they often have a sticky orange rind with pungent, farmyardy taste and aroma.


A slice of Cornish Yarg served with fresh bread


named after the hamlet where it was first made. It’s still made by Ben Harris, now Ticklemore’s main cheesemaker (see page 13). Championing the new cheesemakers were enthusiasts such as cheesemonger Patrick Rance and, later, Randolph Hodgson who established Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. The Dairy played, and still


plays, a key role in injecting new life into West Country artisan farmhouse cheeses made with unpasteurised milk for depth of flavour. The flowering of farmer’s markets, availability of EU grants and, in 1989, the creation of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association also helped. As did the founding in 1994 by Juliet Harbutt of the British cheese Awards, held this month (see details on pag 15). It’s all these folk, as well as the beasts who munch on the West Country’s lush pastures and of course the cheesemakers themselves, whom you have to thank next time you nibble a morsel of Harbourne Blue, a slice of creamy Bath Soft Cheese, or a wedge of tangy Somerset cheddar. Pass the cheeseboard would you?


Hard


Cheeses like cheddar, that are made from cow’s, goat’s or ewe’s milk, usually wrapped in cloth, then left to mature.


Blue Range from dense, buttery Stiltons to mild, mellow Gorzonzolas. Blueing is created by adding a penicillin mould to the milk. Usually have a spicy, slightly metallic tang.


Flavour-added Hard or semi-soft cheeses which incorporate other flavours. Yarg, with its nettle rind, is a good example of a rind-flavoured cheese.


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