Past Newsletters

Vol. 6 No. 4

Celebrate the Start of Spring with the Best of England’s Cheeses!

Well thank goodness—the cold winds of Winter are finally behind us! Now comes the time of year when we can begin to smell the enchanting wild flowers that are starting to bloom. In keeping step with the many changing colors of the season, your dependable cheese aficionados at In Pursuit Of Cheese bring forth three stately cheese selections from Great Britain. All three of your savory selections this month were made in the U.K. where one or more of their histories can be traced back as far as Roman times, perhaps earlier! Not only are all these cheeses from the same country, they’re all semi-hard cheeses made from cow’s milk. So, you may be asking yourself, “where’s the variety in that?” But have patience friends, you’ll soon see that despite their common origins, these are three very different cheeses, in taste and appearance. They also happen to be very accessible to palates of varying sophistication, making them a great ensemble with which to create a sumptuous Springtime cheese tray. And of course, another element common to all of our featured cheeses this month is that they’re all truly delicious. Enjoy!

William the Conqueror’s Favorite Cheese

Your first selection this month is an artisanal Farmhouse Cheshire (pronounced: CHESH-ur), hailing from the county of Cheshire. True Farmhouse Cheshire is difficult to find—there are but a few dairies in Britain that produce it. Consequently, the bulk of it is bought up by the locals and very little ends up being exported. This rare variety is usually aged 3 to 9 months, giving it a richer, fuller-bodied, fresh flavor and a firmer, silkier texture, although it may be slightly crumbly. Unlike Farmhouse Cheshire, all other Cheshire cheeses are young, found at an average age of about 8 weeks.
This cheese, one of England’s oldest, is thought to predate Roman times. When England was a province of Rome, the city of Cheshire was widely known for its fine cheeses. So remarkable were these cheeses that the Romans built a wall around the town to protect them. This may sound a bit drastic, but just wait until your family members start storming your supply! You just might have to build a security wall around your refrigerator!

Cheshire cheese has a rich history. It was renowned during the Medieval Ages and Norman women who made Cheshire Cheese were mentioned the Doomsday Book, 1086 A.D.. It is said to be a favorite of William the Conqueror’s. We’re confident that he and the warriors who survived the Battle of Hastings ate a lot of Cheshire cheese and considering how little it has changed over the past 900+ years, it must have tasted quite like the cheese you are about to sample! Five hundred years after William the Conqueror, the sixteenth century historian, John Speed, declared that Cheshire was the very best cheese in all of Europe. A cheese that has maintained its prominence for a millennium? Now that’s a cheese with some serious history!

The county of Cheshire was originally made famous for its sheep’s milk cheeses, but Cheshire cheese has always been made from cow’s milk, as are most of the cheeses made in northern England. This area of the country is fortunate to be naturally irrigated by the River Dee, and the minerals it has deposited for centuries are critical to the dynamics leading to Cheshire’s distinct flavor. Cheshire cheese has a slightly salty flavor, owing to the characteristics of the area’s soil, which has a high concentration of underlying bedrock salt. The salt and minerals make their way into the cheese via the grass eaten by the cherished cows which graze the region.

In order to meet the standards that define Cheshire cheese, a cheese must be made solely from milk derived from pastures in the county of Cheshire and it must be created there as well. Use of a very specific cheese-making process is also required, and the aging of this cheese is also carefully regulated. Cheshire cheese comes in three varieties: White (which is actually pale yellow), Red (cantaloupe or apricot colored), and Blue. The Red Cheshire is organically dyed with annatto, a flavorless coloring agent derived from the pulp of Annatto trees grown in the tropics. It actually tastes the same as the White variety, but since most English cheeses are similarly colored, it really steals the show at the cheese shop! Blue Cheshire boasts a beautiful golden interior veined with blue and it is just as rich as Stilton, but milder in flavor.

A Piece of the Moon?

It has been said that the moon is made of green cheese… we’re not sure where the expression comes from, but it sounds realistic enough, right? Seeing this month’s 2nd featured cheese then, one might presume it could be of lunar origins. Better keep us on Earth if that’s the case—because if we make it to the lunar surface, we’re bringing our appetites. Well, as it turns out, this unique looking cheese is not from the moon (surprised?)—it’s from England (and incidentally, we lied, we do know where the term “the moon is made of green cheese” comes from. It’s a phrase coined in the sixteenth century, attributed to John Heywood in his Proverbes (1546), in which “green” refers not to the color of the moon, but to “new” (a.k.a. green) or immature rounded cheeses with a mottled surface and color similar to that of the moon.)

The first Sage Derby was made in England sometime during the 17th Century and it was one of the many favorite cheeses found as part of a ploughman’s lunch. Many cheese connoisseurs believe its origin to be based on an age-old recipe for Derby cheese that originated in Derbyshire, which is still well known for its farming and lush green pastures. Regular Derby is a yellow cheese with a firm texture similar to Cheddar. Sage Derby used to be made only at harvest time and for Holidays and special celebrations, but these days, thanks to its popularity, it is available year round.
Popularity often begets imitation and when it comes to Sage Derby, there are quite a few imposters. Fortunately, the well-honed palettes at In Pursuit Of Cheese found a traditionally made Sage Derby (pronounced “darby”) for you to relish. This interesting cheese is made by blending fresh garden sage into traditional Derby cheese curd during the production process. Adding sage at this stage in the cheese-making process permits the herb’s flavor to develop during the time the cheese matures, usually about 1 to 3 months.

The addition of sage leaves to Derby curd was not done for looks, or even taste. During the 17th Century this ancient evergreen perennial herb was believed to have powerful therapeutic properties that could cure a variety of ailments. And since the English loved their cheese, they must have figured they were making a tasty, health-imbuing creation. In truth, sage carries many medicinal properties. English Sage can be made into tea and taken to counteract sweating and to aid in digestion. Infusions of Sage can be used to treat depression, nervous anxiety, and liver disorders—no wonder it was popular! Since the leaves are also antiseptic, the infusion makes a great gargle for laryngitis and tonsillitis, and can also be used as a mouth freshener.

Because it is so unusual looking and has a mild, pleasing taste, Sage Derby makes a unique addition to any cheese board. Count on a fresh flavor like no other. It has a subtle but distinctive flavor, and it develops attractive and unique green marbling. But the sage is not the only ingredient contributing to the green color—spinach juice is also added to this vegetarian cheese to color it, though spinach flavors are extremely subtle, often completely undetectable.

Double Gloucester, Pressure Tested!

There is documentation that suggests Double Gloucester was made as early as the 8th century. Our research leads us to believe that Double Gloucester was the first colored cheese, originally using carrot, beet or saffron, dating back to the 17th century. The hand-crafted version we’ve found for you has been made in the County of Gloucestershire, in the area of the Cotswolds, since the sixteenth century! The city of Gloucester has always been legendary for its cheese fairs. For hundreds of years, all of the region’s farmers competed for prizes. Today, many English shires host agricultural fairs where cheesemakers gather to reconnoiter, and as in Centuries past, to compete.

Double Gloucester is traditionally made in large wheels using the cream from the night’s milking and the following day’s milk. (Its sister cheese, Single Gloucester, uses milk from the same day and is pale yellow.) You may spot the distinctive gray-blue moulds on its hard and thick natural rind, and also the marks from the cloth that surrounded it during its maturation. Like all original, traditional cheeses, Double Gloucester is made with unpasteurized milk.

There’s a reason for the thick rind on this cheese. Make that two reasons… First of all, these cheeses needed to withstand annual cheese rolling ceremonies, where Double Gloucester would be rolled down the hills of Gloucestershire to demarcate areas where grazing rights were held. But the second, more demanding reason is that old tradition dictated that Cheese merchants jump on their Double Gloucester with both feet as a test to see if the wheel had matured enough so that it could be shipped. The cheese would pass inspection if the rind didn’t crack. But what a tasty mess to clean up when it did!

Store and Serve Your Cheeses at the Right Temperature

Since all of your cheeses this month fall in the same category, that is, semi-hard cheeses, you can keep them all in the same storage conditions and serve them all at the same temperature. It is best to store hard, semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses at 35°F to 40°F, but remove them from cold storage about 1 to 2 hours before serving in order to let them warm to room temperature, where their tastes and smells will be enhanced. Like most cheeses, these will taste best when eaten at room temperature.

Tasting Notes

Cheshire: Describing the flavor of this cheese is a bit challenging—its uniqueness makes it easier to contrast its flavors with other similar varieties; it is neither nutty like Comte, or fruity like Mahon, nor sharp like Cheddar. It is slightly salty with a mild, rustic, tangy flavor. A popular table cheese, the Cheshire we’ve selected for you has a modest 48% fat content. Fruits like grapes and pear & apple slices make excellent pairings. Cheshire is a great addition to any cheese tray and goes nicely with Riesling or Cabernet Sauvignon or perhaps a nice British ESB beer. Just be sure to let it come to room temperature before enjoying.

Sage Derby: Regular Derby is cheddar-like with a mild, buttery flavor. The robust creamy aftertaste of our featured Sage Derby cheese is masterfully complemented by the gentle herbal flavors of sage leaves. It is texturally similar to cheddar with a firm, compressed body, and a fat content of about 45%. Sage Derby is a great Party Cheese—it looks great on a cheese board (and tastes even better)! We recommend melting this semi-hard cheese on fresh rye bread and topping it with an egg for breakfast. This green-veined beauty is also a great breakfast cheese because it goes well with various fruit juices, or, if you’re enjoying later in the day, a glass of Plum wine or Shiraz.

Double Gloucester: This cheese is firm, but with a subtle, closed texture. Note the full, imposing flavor with notes of nuttiness, citrus and hints of onion. The full-cream used to make Double Gloucester gives it characteristic, rich, buttery taste and flaky texture. It is firm and bitable, like hard chocolate. Not as firm as Cheddar, it has a mellow, nutty character with an orange-zest tang. Double Gloucester melts well, making it perfect for cooking. Serve it with fruit and a fine wine such as a Rioja or a Riesling. Or, try partnering your Double Gloucester with a microbrewed English pub ale. To read about other creative beer pairings, visit us at www.beermonthclub.com.