You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
A personal recommendation of M&S truffle cheddar. Quite a strong cheddar with black truffle throughout(actual bits rather than 'truffle flavouring'
£5.50 for 200g.
I only every buy it as a treat to myself, its too nice to waste on toast, or through mash. So just a taster bit to nibble at late in the evening. Goes well with that last coffee.
You should try our Trufflewood 😉
If that's your bag. We're currently exporting about 4 tons a week of truffle cheddar to the US and Australia. Absolutely mental how well it sells. It does stink the factory out when we're making it though!
Anyway Quickes Extra Mature Cheddar is the answer you're looking for.
Go to your local equivalent of these folk for good cheese. A whole different animal (sic) to plastic wrapped supermarket cheese<br /><br /> https://www.georgemewescheese.co.uk/
Go to a proper 'monger as TJ suggests, one who will let you taste before deciding. There is a great pleasure in a strong cheddar but there is so much more out there.
My cheese of choice? It like your favourite tune. Changes constantly depending on what time of the day and what mood I'm in. We're lucky enough to live within striking distance of Bury market with an amazing cheese stall...
Every time I go there I come back laden with the stuff. My opening default is the holy trinity of Tasty Lancs, Creamy Lancs and Crumbly Lancs, then see what takes my fancy. I love a Red Windsor (with port and brandy in), Sage Derby (kind of self-explanatory) , Y Fenni Welsh Chedder with mustard seeds and Garstang Blue
I bloody love cheese! 😀
My go to's
Montgomery cheddar
Stichelton if it's available
Gorwydd Caerphilly
The last was a revelation thanks to Neal's Yard, always thought Caerphilly was kind of bland, but the difference between this and factory made stuff was 😮
+1 for Gorwydd Caerphilly!
Pex tenement blue.
Farmhouse Dunlop.
Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire.
Tebay services sell it, but only the mild. Can't beat the extra strong. I am lucky enough to live within cycling distance.
Maasdam cheese is the king of cheeses for putting a burger or in a toasted sandwich IMO. It's got a low melting point and comes sliced. Very nice.
@MadBillMcMad - Amen to that! You can't beat a really strong, tangy Tasty Lancs!
Grandma Singletons used to be a good'un. They went in to receivership last year, but apparently they're back and it'll be back in shops again soon
Anyone putting non cheese into cheese deserves a slap. If you want to add stuff do it on the plate not in the manufacturing. Let your cheese speak for itself. IMO all those additives like sage or truffle are there to disguise the fact its bland cheese.
Crottin de Chavignol is a fave of mine but very very expensive
This thread is going to descend into a row isn't it? 🙂 2 flounces and 3 bannings?
Anyone putting non cheese into cheese deserves a slap.
Utter nonsense! 😛
It just depends what it is you put in it. Anyone who puts stuff like fruit in cheese should be first against the wall, but there are loads of great cheeses that benefit from additions and are anything but bland
why put those additions in at manufacturing? Why not add them on the plate? That allows you to put as much or as little of the additions in as you want.
and anyway you posted a plastic wrapped cheese above even if it was pretending to be wrapped in waxed paper. So nowt you say has any validity now. You have outed yourself! Checkmate!
Oh - and what do you have with your cheese? Anyone who say crackers is crackers! Cheese needs to be treated with respect not crackers. Personally I like a frozen grape or some membrillo
Oh – and what do you have with your cheese? Anyone who say crackers is crackers!
Of course its crackers with cheese, you freak!
Frozen grapes? Get in the sea! The only grapes you have with cheese are liquid and red 😛
Or as Steven Gerrard famously answered… melted
I'll finish it for you: 'melted cheddar' was the full answer. He'd lost the will to live in that interview if I recall.
He's right though. On toast.
If you must have carbs with your cheese ( and I don't know why you want to spoil it anyway) then rough hand made oatcakes or artisan bread ! also its eaten with a knife. Cut a small chunk with the blade, reverse the knife and stab it. Pop in mouth.
Jeepers Binners - your application to join the middle classes has now been rejected.
I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.
With one exception.
There's something to be said for a lovely creamy young Gouda.
The in laws recently sent over an entire wheel from Amsterdam. Yum.
Abondance is the cows milk cheese of choice whilst Golden Cross is goats milks cheese. Both bloody lovely.
Cheese. Yes please.
WRT grapes or wine, biscuits or not, fruit laced heaven or the devil's own.......
I refer to a learned friend. He was actually talking about whisky and whether you have neat or ice or half as much water again or...etc. But his learnings translate well. Buy decent quality, and don't let anyone turn their nose up at you, as long as YOU enjoy it then that's all that matters.
I generally eat mine neat but I like a strong cheddar toasted bagel, Wensleydale with cranberries at Christmas, and melted* washed rind or soft cheese (or occasionally gooey blue cheese) on a digestive where sweet and tangy work perfect.
* ideally under its own devices, not heated. The kind you get out of the larder to warm up, leave on the side and come back 30 mins later to find it's making its way out of the kitchen under the door.
Larder? larder?
How la di da are you 😉
If you want to add stuff do it on the plate not in the manufacturing.
I'm with you on this one. Stop putting your chutney or whatever in cheese... keep it in a jar! You can't pick it out of the cheese if there's too much... it makes no sense at all.
Favourite cheese changes with the seasons. Feels like blue English cheeses season now to me.
Right, for laughs I tried Blue Monday (2) cheese, expecting nothing much more than a marketing gimmick... actually very good. With homemade quince jelly, on a Doves Farm digestive. So that's my most recent favourite. Will probably be back to Blacksticks or Shropshire Blue (no jam) next though. Port not wine.
Summer favourites this year were Tomme or Comté. Not on anything.
Époisses - the smell is stunning, and once ripe, melted at room temperature.
Though it is a washed rind TJ - is that acceptable on the putting things in cheese debate?
edit -a good nutty Comté, good call
The mice love his storage habits 😉
Right, for laughs I tried Blue Monday (2) cheese,
Something you normally get or was it a new order?
why put those additions in at manufacturing? Why not add them on the plate? That allows you to put as much or as little of the additions in as you want.
Granted this is true of any Marmite-infused cheese. There just isn't enough of it in there, ever.
Designed for the weak-palated masses and amateur Marmiteists.
The Marmite content should make you visibly shudder when eaten.
The thing with cheese, I find, is that one that is amazing on one day will not be as enjoyable on another. I think it's all to do with what you've eaten/drunk before and what you are eating with it on that particular day. But – Époisses – it is great stuff, my father-in-law often brings it around when we are having a family meal. I really enjoy sitting there with him and my 14-year-old daughter who loves cheese, just nibbling away on whatever he's brought on any given day and relaxing with a glass of wine.
Our dog Harold, can hear (or perhaps smell)any cheese being taken from the fridge up to about 3.5 miles away in any weather.
You've only to touch the wrapper and he's there before it leaves the shelf.
I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.
I met one in a gitte in Corsica, to this day I think the staff were having a dull day & spiced it up by betting on what horrors they could get away with serving us, good god it was truly rank almost like they'd got the ewe & the ram mixed up in the milking parlour 🤮
Making the distinction that you don’t keep (good) cheese in the fridge. Mine is in a bag hanging off a rafter in the garage. Not exactly a larder..
Only teasing. You are right that anyone who eats cold cheese deserves to be slapped. I actually tried to create a larder / cold room in my flat for this very purpose but I couldn't get it to work
You’ve only to touch the wrapper and he’s there before it leaves the shelf.
A labrador?
Impossible to have a favourite cheese, there are too many good ones but this is rather lovely
https://burtscheese.co.uk/product/burts-blue/
I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.
I bought some goats cheese from the Pyrenees last year in france. It was virtually inedible as it had the consistency of rubber and virtually no taste. I have never been so disappointed
Munster is very nice but the smell could make you faint
Normal cheeses:
Snowdonia Black Bomber is a cracker
A tangy Lancashire is always great
A mature Comte is hard to beat though
Arenas de Cabrales and Bleu d'Auvergne are amazing
Baron Bigod is probably the nicest UK cheese I've had
If you really like cheese go to The Courtyard Dairy website and buy yourself a mixed selection or book on to a tasting evening - even better with the wine pairings
Our dog Harold, can hear (or perhaps smell)any cheese being taken from the fridge up to about 3.5 miles away in any weather.
Pro level cheesehound Bonnie can sense my synapses firing just thinking about cheese - she knows I'm about to go and have some before I do.
Arenas de Cabrales
Oh yes, stayed there this summer, local bread slathered with this was fantastic.
@DickyBoy - I did the GR20 in 2003 with some friends. We bought lots of random bits of cheese along the way but towards the end we got some from a bergerie that can only be described as looking like a rusty horse's hoof, once scraped the outer bit was like amber and the inner cheese was like parmesan. It was mind-bogglingly strong in a make you cry kind of way.
Before I went a friend took me to a Corsican restaurant in Paris and we finished a great meal with a cheese board. The first pieces were lovely but the last piece was so strong it was just bonkers. We went back to his flat and drank whisky until the wee hours after the meal but I could taste the bloody cheese 2 days later
Winston - you cruel man. want some want some gimmie now!
Cambozola is my current favourite.
We bought this from a random farmer selling local produce from his VW Caddy near Hopfgarten on holiday in September
It was certainly mature!
Roquefort is the best cheese ever.
Cheese is eaten with a nice bread
And red wine is drank with cheese.
@binners I'm the Factory Manager at Carron Lodge (Singletons Dairy), you should be able to get Granny Singletons at Cheese Plus as well as Redmans.
Sad news this morning, Butlers Farmhouse Cheese packing plant across the road burnt down.
I get to eat cheese everyday, which is sometimes nice, but have to eat it at end of shelf life too. Not much fun with the blends to be honest.
We sell in to most (if not all) the places mentioned so far.
Some cheese 10 minutes ago.
1. Goats Cheese
2. Granny singletons Tasty Lancashire santa Hats
3. Beacon Fell Creamy Lancashire PDO
4. Some blends (For @tjagain)
5. A bit of smoked cheddar
Goat's cheese is food of the devil - smells like afghan coats from the 1970s. Tastes even worse
Our local farm shop closed due to COVID but they used to sell an amazing, lightly smoked brie
I've no idea where it was made but we've tried others since then and they're not as good.
Woe is me
Talking of cheese (mis)adventures
When young and unwise to the ways of cheese, me and a group of friends were on a skiing holiday. We went to a local restaurant one evening and opted to share a Raclette among us. The halfwheel of cheese and associated heater was duly served before us and we set about demolishing a lot of meltycheese bread plus various other potatoes, pickles and so on. Every so often the waitress would come over and motion at the racleete and we'd sign back 'delicious' and more bread would arrive. Eventually we could do no more aqnd had to give in. We were absolutely stuffed and between four of us farted with such ferocity all night that I'm surprised the wallpaper didn't peel.
While telling some other older Brits about it the next day, it became apparent that the raclette is recycled and when you're done they take it away. You aren't expected to eat it all, and our attempts to show how delicious it was were entirely in response to a dumbfounded waitress wondering just how many portions we were planning to eat between us.
It was bloody lovely though.
@mrmoofo - I assure you it doesn't this is Mature hard goats cheddar. It's very tasty available under the St Helens Farm brand from some of the retailers.
@elshalimo - Which farm shop? We might ahve supplied them with our smoked brie. I can look up to see if there's anyone nearby.
Go to a proper ‘monger as TJ suggests
Been thjere, tried that.
One of the problems with a cheese monger, at least the one in Glasgow, is price. An example would be the £5.50 for the M&S cheese would be 3 times the cost. And also random customers coming in arent offered the best of choicest parts. Got something, forget what, but it was 50% waxy rind.
Somewhere like M&S will do as good if not better cheeses than a cheese monger as their customer base prefers better quality than what is available at tesco or asda.
@elshalimo - They used to buy our smoked brie. There's Craggies Farm Shop ( https://www.craggiesfarmshop.uk/) who we supply and would be sure to get some in if you asked. Deliveries on a Tuesday 😉
As tj says.
I love cheese but I have two simple rules.
1.never buy a cheese wrapped in wax.
2. Never buy a cheese with bits added like fruit, herbs or green stuff.
Wax wrapped truckles are really handy around about Christmas time, when turning up at other people's houses and wanting to contribute. I agree with you the rest of the time though.
But... no ready added condiments... they just make no sense at all... especially with cheese for sharing... KEEP YOUR CRANBERRIES AND APRICOTS SEPARATE, even, no, especially at Christmas. Only bought by people who are trying to stop other people enjoying their cheese, I reckon. And old people.
must have been a poor cheesemonger. there is no way M&S have the same quality cheese as someone like the cheesemonger I linked to.
While neither of us have any sort of reputation for being argumentative, I don't wish to start that now, but do feel I should point out that a cheesemonger is just a seller specializing in cheese. They are not some magical portal where only the finest cheese from the universe are gathered together. They are no different to a fishmongers or a butchers, which both specialize in their own market.
As to how you came to the conclusion that cheese, especially the artisan specialist cheeses sold in m&s cannot be compared to the artisan specialist cheese sold in a specialist cheese only shop doesnt really say one is better than the other.
My experience show ,to me at least that for example the cheesemonger needs to sell the entire thing, rind and all, whereas for m&s they dont want the rind for the most part so that will be removed before its packaged.
In effect you are getting more actual cheese, and not the other layers, wax and all. Which probably makes the m&s route more economical and of better overall quality.
Keep in mind those that we arent talking about mass produced cheese, but specialist varieties.
The place I visited. Cheese was a dutch cheese, smoked and matured, might have been an Edam type. But either way I was left disappointed.
; https://www.georgemewescheese.co.uk/ <
I cheesemonger that doesn't offer anything beyond what the supermarkets offering (M&S or not) won't stay open long. You do get more plastic and less of other wrappings at the supermarket though... if that's what you like. 🤷🏻
never buy a cheese wrapped in wax.
Erm.... the Snowdonia Cheese Company Black Bomber and Red Storm are bloody lovely and wrapped in wax
https://www.snowdoniacheese.co.uk/product-category/cheese/
Black Bomber is what I buy at Christmas. And it's bloody delicious (the cheese experts will be along to tell us that it's a mass produced mix and not a real cheese).
never buy a cheese wrapped in wax.
Eh? What kind of ludicrously arbitrary criteria is that? You might as well say never buy cheese that has been packaged on a Wednesday or never buy a cheese with an 's' in its name 😂
The aforementioned Granny Singletons tasty and the Beacon Fell Creamy Lancs, that @BenjiM shared with us before, are wrapped in wax and they're absolutely bloody lovely!
While neither of us have any sort of reputation for being argumentative
I missed this.
👏🏼
While neither of us have any sort of reputation for being argumentative, I don’t wish to start that now,
LOLZ
Cheese of choice atm is Cashel's blue. Followed by Blacksticks Blue which is a bit cheaper and we always have a Butler's Secret Cheddar in the fridge.
Also like Boursin , herb and garlic very nice.
Years ago my brother lived in Wensleydale and we used to buy truckles from the farmer at the side of the road, t'was some of the best cheese I've ever tasted.