In praise of British Cheese

Just had a wedge of Skegness Blue, fabulous! Who remembers Lymeswold cheese? This too is similar to Blue Brie but unlike Lymeswold I don't think this Lincolnshire cheese will cure herpes 

Well worth seeking out and consuming with a chilled glass of Somerby Magna Carta dry white wine.

Very  Naughty  of  you  lot  to  have  this  thread  positioned  alongside  one  entitled  "DIETS"  !!

ABM - Cheese doesn't make you fat, it's the crackers you have to cut down on.

Anyway when was the last time you saw a fat mouse?

 1 )  try  getting  that  one  past  the  Practice  Nurse,  WN  !!  Even  the  *Approved*  c-grater  is  under  pressure  from  her.

2 )  3  or  4,  regularly  waiting  by  the  birds  ground  feeder  station  --  even  the  woodpigeons  are  wary  of  them  !

We've been enjoying a nice little Godminster Cheddar, in burgundy coloured wax, just enough for some tasty snack bites (a present at Christmas.) It's creamy but with a bit of a kick.

We love the French cheeses. They have products to suit all palates.  There are some British cheeses, particularly from small producers which almost come up to French standards. Like BB I'm not keen on those "Mucked About With" British cheeses. As we tour around Britain we love to sample the local cheeses, there are a lot of mediocre cheeses around, but thankfully the UK tend to produce high quality "Blue Cheese". 

K 

We had some 'Yorkshire Fettle' (a sheepsmilk cheese) which we bought at the Blubberhouses Smokehouse a couple of weeks ago.  It was delicious.

On Thursday last week we visited the Leventhorpe vineyard near Temple Newsam  - and were chatting to the owner.  He had hosted a visit from a party of wine 'brothers' from St Emilion in France.  With one of his wines he presented some Yorkshire Fettle cheese - which they apparently loved, and now have their own order sent out to France.

Had a lovely piece of Bath Blue, a bit softer than Stilton and more to my taste.

Mrs.WN said the bottle of local Orchard Pig cider really complimented it.

I'm beginning to get cheese envy again tonight, reading this thread.

David 

As a long term buyer of very good cheeses, many of which are British, I think that a significant issue is one of inconsistent quality. Unlike some other countrys we don’t have ‘appellation control’ which means that just a few Stiltons are delicious, amongst a sea of low quality offerings. That’s never a problem with French Roquefort, or Spanish Valdeon. Our own Ribblesdale blue is delicious, very expensive and even harder to find. Unlike one of our posters, I think that adding cranberries, chilli and smoking otherwise unsalable products, does nothing but detract from the cheese (properly smoked quality cheese can be delicious though). The owners of a dairy farm about 3 miles from me, tell me that people don’t want full flavoured cheeses, which their farmers market style offerings, most certainly aren’t. I guess that like many things in life, prices and ultimately tastes are driven down by customer’s cost consciousness making harder work out of the search for cheeses with a good flavour.