Cricket Endings and Cheese Tasting

Was anyone else following the cricket Test Match? England V India. What an amazing ending with India winning by 6 runs.  Who says cricket is boring. Of course India would never had won if England hadn't had so many injuries!!

It made the series end 2 each. Although there can't be many (any other?) sports where it's possible for two teams to play over 5 days and still end in a draw!

 Now and again I've been buying cheeses not tried before to see what they are like. Recently I went to the newly re-opened farm shop - thinking they would have lots of interesting cheeses. But they hadn't and this below was the only one that I'd not come across elsewhere.

What a disappointment this was, more rubbery than tasty. It was eaten but I'd not bother again.

Here's a link to the farm company that make it Joseph Heler Cheeses and a little bit copied from their website.

Hidden away in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, near the market town of Nantwich, lies the Joseph Heler family dairy on Laurels Farm. It is here that our team of expert cheese makers produce classic British regional cheese to time-honoured recipes.

Our story dates back over a century, when Joseph Heler’s grandmother started the family tradition by making one whole Cheshire cheese every day in the family’s farmhouse – Laurels Farm.

This cheese-making expertise was passed down through the generations to Joseph Heler himself, who in 1957 set up his own company – Joseph Heler Cheese.

Lots of history which didn't make up for this boring cheese!

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An Easy to Find and Delicious Cheese

 I got this to use in some home made cheese/onion and spinach bakes but tried a piece and decided it was too delicious to hide inside pastry and then had to try another chunk and then remembered it could make a blog post!

This is Red Fox, a vintage Red Leicester - matured for 18 months . Three generations of the Beckett family have been farming and cheese making at Belton Farm, Whitchurch in Shropshire since 1922.

Its a lovely colour with a  strong and nutty taste.

More about Red Fox HERE. My piece came from Aldi but I think it's available in several supermarkets. £2.29 for 220g at Aldi. (£3.15 at Waitrose - that's quite a difference) Much nicer than many very more expensive cheeses I've tried  for the 'Cheese Tasting' blog posts.

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Sue

A Thank you and a Norfolk Cheese

First of all must say thankyou for all the comments yesterday about that little bit of embroidery, you just never know what will be lurking in the boxes on the ground. I loved all the different stitches to make the flowers -  C. Mason certainly had more skill than I've ever had!

 Haven't done a cheese tasting since Christmas. This came from a new farm shop/cafe that has opened not far from home. I hope they survive as that village has no other shop so somewhere that sells fresh fruit and veg. will be good for the people who live there.

This is the cheese I found to try, it's called Wensum White and is a goats cheese made from pasteurised milk.

Produced by Sam Steggles at Fielding Cottage in Honingham, near Norwich. Fielding Cottage began making cheese in 2009 and now has a flock of around 800 goats, mainly Saanen, Alpine, and Toggenburg breeds, which are raised for both meat and milk used in cheese and skincare products.

Indulge in a seriously good cheese that looks like brie but is made with creamy goat's milk. This brie-style goat cheese is rich and creamy, with a deliciously unique flavour that will tantalize your taste buds

No goat taste and actually not much taste at all. It was nice and soft and very white but spread on a plain cracker had no flavour. So I googled for a recipe with brie and found an idea to use it with bacon for a simple spaghetti sauce.

It made a tasty, albeit fairly expensive, meal with the brie making a very rich sauce. I had a piece of my homemade focaccia bread with it.

I was glad to have some fruit afterwards for a refresher. 

  

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Cheese Taste Test

 This came all the way down from my penfriend W who lives on a windy Scottish Island (but not the one on the cheese label). It was in a container and wrapped in Christmas paper with a message that said put in the fridge straight away.

I checked the postmark date and thankfully it had only taken 3 days to get here. (Compared to some Christmas cards that took 9 to 12  days). So I put it in the fridge and opened on Christmas Day.

Oh my goodness, this was a delicious cheese - strong and punchy, thank you so much W. 

I looked up more details of the farm and found they had been farming on Mull for 50 years and making cheese for 40. They are the only dairy farm on Mull and make a few different cheeses.

They even use the whey from the cheesemaking to make a distilled whey spirit. HERE is their website

Our Hebridean Blue is made in 7kg cheeses. It is a semi-soft blue, punchy, wonderfully rich and creamy, with a long lasting taste and many layers of flavour.

It is made with raw cows milk, produces a lovely natural rind and is around 8 weeks old when sold

Thank you W for an interesting cheese to taste and investigate.

Back Monday

Sue 

Summer of Sport 2024 + This Cheese Was Suggested............

.........................by someone for a taste test. I'd not even thought about Aldi having any Artisan cheeses so it was a good bit of information...thank you to whoever. 

Beacon Blue is on their Specially Selected bit of the cheese shelves, along with a couple of others.

It's described as a creamy, mild and sweet blue goats cheese and this is what it says about the cheese and the company making it from Butlers Cheese website.(They also make another very easily available favourite - Blacksticks Blue)

Beacon Blue, our award-winning blue goat's cheese is silvery like the moon, silky smooth, creamy and fresh on the tongue, yet a good helping of peppery tang quickly develops leaving you craving more and more!

One of the reasons that our blue goat's cheese tastes so delicious is the freshness of our milk. The freshest goat's milk makes the best goat's cheese and ours comes every day from Nicola Butler’s herd on our family farm, just down the lane from our dairy.

There is no escaping it, we are a family business est. 1932. That’s what makes things exciting, and these family values are the bedrock of our culture. Richard and Annie started it, Jean and Tom nurtured it. Gill and Colin opened it, and the history page is just turning for Matthew and Daniel 

It was a strong cheese - not mild and creamy as described - and OK but  I thought a bit sort of harsh tasting - people who've had 'goaty flavoured' goats cheese needn't worry. There's no billy goat taint in this thank goodness.

It won't become a regular purchase as there are other blue cheeses I like better.

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The weather on Saturday was dreadfully wet and I didn't go far, lots of water across the road in places and the low tyre pressure light came on in the car so I went home again and after the rain stopped pumped up the tyres and got the warning bleeps turned  off. At Wimbledon the outside courts were covered and uncovered several times . I watched Cam Norrie get knocked out and then Harriet Dart. Heard that Emma Raducano had decided against playing mixed doubles with Andy M after all - something to do with match timings I think. Then I saw a bit of the football and after Switzerland scored, gave up and found a new Midsummer Murders to watch instead. I didn't know until Sunday morning that England had equalized and then won on penalties - glad I didn't see that bit - penalty shoot outs are bad for the heart!

The middle Sunday of Wimbledon used to be a rest day but they've had to use it for playing several times due to rain so changed it to a usual day of play a couple of years ago. Carlos Alcaraz had a battle but won through but the one remaining British singles player - out of the 19 (I think) that started, was Emma Raducanu who got knocked out by a qualifier from New Zealand. Only Brits left were in the men's doubles

I caught the Tour highlights at 8 - a bit rough and dusty there as they were racing partly on gravel which, I discovered, isn't what builders call gravel - and seemed totally pointless- and that was the end of sport for the day.

 Then there was a new crime drama on BBC - The Turkish Detective - interesting - presumably we are running out of locations for crime dramas set  in this country!

Apologies to several people whose comments went to spam, I check regularly but then found 15 there on Saturday, some from a week earlier - weird.

And talking about weird - there have been some annoying weird words on Wordle recently - it's took me all 6 goes to get them. - Spoiler Alert -  yesterdays was a maker of cameras! (of course it had another meaning that wasn't a brand name - but a rarely used word)

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Sue

Another Cheese From Snowdonia

 Will they have to change their name I wondered as I typed the title of this page. The mountain which we have known as Snowdon should really now be called  Yr Wyddfa which it's proper Welsh name.

I wrote about their Black Bomber cheese and the company HERE  and was keen to try another. 

Their website says.................

Red Storm is a cheese of serious vintage credentials, elegantly adorned in deep red wax. Aged for 18 months, it boasts an intense, nutty flavour and a refined texture. This exceptional cheese has been honoured with awards at the Nantwich International Cheese Awards, Global Cheese Awards, and British Cheese Awards. Its rich, complex flavour is perfect for cheese boards and recipes.

This was absolutely delicious! I'll be buying again, but not very often - bit pricey.

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Sue

Another Cheese Taste Test

Exercise group is at a village hall just a few minutes away from the new butchers/deli that's opened in a unit at our hardware/garden/ allsorts place. Makes it simple to pop there for trying their different cheeses.

This is what I found out about the most recent test purchase

Montagnolo Affine is a blue, creamy soft cheese made in the Allgau region of Germany by Kaserei Chamignon . It has a natural grey crust and is marbled with blue veins. Aged at a low temperature it matures slowly and has an aromatic and spicy flavour. It won the supreme champion award at the 2013 International Cheese Awards

Can't say I noticed any spicy flavour but it was extremely delicious.

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Sue

Cheese From The Mountains

 We have a new shop among the units at our local (3 miles from me) hardware and DIY place - a butchers with extras. This is all quite exciting as there hasn't been a butchers locally since the 1980s.

For my first visit I bought some sausages and this cheese.

This isn't a new or unknown cheese and quite widely available and I've probably eaten it before, but not recently. It's really delicious, strong but in a smooth way rather then the Extra Mature Cheddars sold in supermarkets.

The Snowdonia Cheese Company is a family business started in 2001. They say they were inspired by the lush greenery of North Wales to make Red Leicester and Natural Cheddar that "married an extraordinary depth of flavour with extraordinary creaminess".

They produce at least 12 different truckles of waxed cheeses with various flavours - Rock Star, Red Storm, Truffle Trove etc etc . Website HERE if you want to see all the others.

This is what is says about 'Rock Star'

In 2020, our expert cheesemakers set about developing a Cheddar with the exceptional flavour that only cave-ageing can achieve. We discovered the perfect setting – a former slate mine, surrounded by the mountains of Snowdonia National Park and the protected Dark Sky Reserve. Its natural caverns, deep underground, provide an exciting opportunity for us to continue our pursuit of innovation close to Snowdonia Cheese Company’s home.

I won't be sending for any of their many hampers or collections - rather expensive - but a small piece from the new shop now and again will be good.

Back Soon

Sue

Snowdonia Cheese Company is a family business, founded in North Wales in 2001

A Cheese Tasting

 I haven't bought any different cheeses for tasting for many months but when I got a letter from my penfriend with a page included about some different cheeses that her husband had been given for a cheese subscription for Christmas, I was reminded about my plan to try more local cheese.

The Co-op had this which I'd not come across before. The village of Kelsale is only a few miles from where we were at the smallholding but I had no idea this business had been there since 2007.

This is the online blurb.................

The Smokehouse & Deli is a family run business based in Kelsale cum Carlton, near the beautiful Suffolk coast. We were established in 2007 and since then, our list of products has dramatically increased. We originally just sold our smoked cheeses and smoked fish pates at farmers markets; but we were soon picked up by The East of England Co-operative Society. Thanks to their support we have grown and grown. We now also do a range of oak smoked and chili-smoked olives; some traditional pates, but also some more unusual vegetarian ones using 'superfood' ingredients.
We also have a range of smoked & non-smoked condiments using fabulous Pink Himalayan Salt, which we also use to season all our delicious pates.
We supply some lovely local farm shops and regularly attend markets and local food events

.

I was expecting a good smokey taste but what I got was something a bit rubbery and not particularly special at all, smoked in Suffolk but not made in Suffolk. And it was extra expensive - won't be caught like that again!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

N is for Norfolk Cheese

 What on earth to write about for N?

Thankfully I went into the Co-op and chanced upon N for  Norfolk White Lady Cheese!

Norfolk White Lady is a soft white Ewe's milk cheese made by Becky Enefer on her farm at Hockwold near Thetford in Norfolk. Similar to a brie but richer and stronger

The Enefer family have had 4 generations on their farm. First rented in 1930 and bought in 1954. The farm is now run by Nathan and wife Linda and their son Lee and his wife Becky and their sons.

In 2021 they made the decision to diversify further and purchased a small cheese company. Becky gave up her job to begin making cheese on the farm in a barn converted to a modern cheesemaking facility.

I found this online about the original cheese maker Jane Murray

‘Initially, I started milking a handful of Friesland dairy sheep in 1986, which soon increased to a flock of 60. After nearly a year of trying to develop a cheese recipe, with varying success, I eventually started production of Norfolk White Lady in 1999. This was the first cheese produced commercially in Norfolk and the county name was naturally included in the name of the cheese. “White Lady” was chosen because my sheep were my white ladies in the surrounding black fen, the cheese has a bloomy white surface mould & I was one of very few “lady” cheesemakers.

The following year I developed the recipe for the hard, manchego styled Wissington cheese. This name was chosen due to the dominance of the Wissington sugar beet factory on the skyline of the surrounding fens. In 2008 I sold my dairy sheep & relocated the cheese business to Deopham, where I developed the mild & creamy Deopham Blewe. After 23 years of increasing cheese making success, I sold my business at the end of 2021 & looked forward to retirement.’

Wilton Farm now produce two cheeses - the Norfolk White Lady and Wissington - a hard cheese also made from ewes milk . They sell through farm shops in Norfolk and Suffolk and to the wholesaler who supply East of England Co-op.

I'd never tried a cheese made from ewe's milk so this was an interesting taste-test. I found it much firmer than  a Brie - even after being out of the fridge to come to room temperature. It has a lovely flavour when eaten on it's own but on top of one of my home made Suffolk rusks the flavour disappeared. 

My overall view is that it's nice but not really worth the cost.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Another Cheese Taste Test

 From Wyken Hall Farmers Market I bought this to try - Fleet Valley Blue Cheese from S.W. Scotland.

A rich, ripened, semi-hard blue cheese with sweet and savoury characteristics. Fleet Valley Blue has a buttery, mellow and savoury flavour with steely blue vein notes and a faint sweetness. The aroma is earthy and the texture firm and supple with a creamy finish.

Fleet Valley Blue cheese is made from unpasteurised milk from our farm based in the Fleet Valley in south west Scotland. This is an unpressed cheese, ripened over 3-4 months with an evenly spread veining of blue and grey.

The intensification of dairy farming has been a concern of ours for many years, so we’ve been working hard to come up with a different solution. Our big idea? A new method of dairy farming that keeps the calves with their mothers to suckle. Our ethical dairy model is based around treating the animals, the land, our environment and the people who work here with respect and kindness.

Eaten as a meal with a few home made cheese straws and some grapes

I found it to be a very hard, very dry blue cheese not buttery as they described it - and sadly not a lot of flavour. All in all a big disappointment. I think it was old rather than mature!

After looking on their website I found they make several different cheeses including another blue that

is described as being strong flavoured - although I won't be bothering to try it.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

And a PS apology for not getting round to comments yesterday

Baron Bigod

 This is the Suffolk cheese that started all the cheese tasting thing. It happened because of a comment that said it was someone's favourite which they preferred and I said I knew of it as it's made in Suffolk but had  never tasted it as it's quite expensive.  I was doing the Value Range Experiment at the time it didn't exactly fit in!

It's an Artisan Brie type cheese from Fen Farm Dairy on the Norfolk/Suffolk border which I bought from their new mini-shop on the Eye Airfield industrial estate.

I googled to find out more...........

The cheese is named after 12th century Earl of Norfolk, Baron Bigod (pronounced By-god). He was originally from Normandy, where bloomy-rinded cheeses such as Brie and Camembert are well known, but came over to Britain during the Norman invasion.

Baron Bigod is the finest traditional Brie-de-Meaux style cheese produced in the UK and one of only a handful of its type in the world to be made by the farmer on the farm. Beneath the nutty, mushroomy rind, Baron Bigod has a smooth, silky golden breakdown which will often ooze out over a delicate, fresh and citrussy centre. Baron Bigod is made by hand in small batches, very early in the morning so that we can use the fresh milk straight from the cow at the perfect temperature for cheesemaking. The mould cultures are added to the warm morning’s milk and it is gently gravity fed into small vats just a few metres from the milking parlour, where the rennet is added. The curds are carefully hand-ladled into large moulds, using traditional pelle-a-brie ladles and the young cheeses are hand salted and then aged for up to 8 weeks in a cave-like environment. It is a unique expression of the incredible milk of our free-ranging Montbeliarde cows and the diversity of our wildlife-rich grazing marshland.

Despite living among farms for most of my life I'd not heard of Montbeliarde cows - so had to google them too..... They are of Swiss/French origin from the 19th century.............

The animals are red pied with white heads and short horns, and of dairy type. Mature cows weigh 600 to 700 kg (1,300 to 1,500 lb) and stand about 145 cm (57 in) tall at the withers, and mature bulls weigh 900 to 1,200 kg (2,000 to 2,600 lb).The milk is particularly well suited to cheesemaking because of a high frequency of kappa casein BB variants, giving higher yields of cheese. Being of less extreme dairy type than modern Holsteins, the cows have lower milk yields, but better longevity and fertility and lower cell counts in the milk, indicating lower mastitis incidence.

and............. 

Photo courtesy of O.S. Montbéliarde, www.montbeliarde.org

The Montbéliarde is light red and white in colour quite similar to the red and white Holstein. They have a white head with a light muzzle and have lyra-shaped horns. The breed is renowned for tough feet and strong udders.

  

I don't usually visit the cattle area at the Suffolk Show but may have to go and see if they have any on show there this year!

I had my first piece of Baron Bigod as a meal with a pear, grapes and some home made cheese straws and it certainly is delicious.

Much more flavour than the other Brie-type cheeses I've tried.

I definitely preferred it to the Suffolk Brie from my nearest cheese producer and the Yarlington from Somerset.

If I want a brie for a cheese board next Christmas or even as a treat for just me I would choose this. 

(Apologies - yesterday I accidently deleted some comments - sorry - not sure what I was doing - not concentrating for sure) 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

The Final Holiday Post

Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast is a very old small town but everywhere you look there is building work going on. Many of the small 'courts' that would have been fishermen's cottages have been replaced by blocks of flats and holiday homes. The place I was staying had been a semi detached house but by adding a small bit on the side half of it had been turned into 3 holiday let flats, with very small parking spaces. It reminded me of Aldeburgh in Suffolk where holiday homes are built in any small space.

Many of the older buildings feature the local flint pebbles.

One of the surviving small courts, with cottages all modernised

While in Norfolk  I bought some Norfolk Cheese to bring home. A small piece of Norfolk Dapple, which is a hard cheese. Had to google to find out more..............

One of the Norfolk Cheese Company’s most popular cheeses.

Produced by Ferndale Farm at Little Barningham, in Norfolk

The cheese is made using fresh whole raw milk – it gives the cheese a more distinctive, unique flavour; by using unpasteurised milk they are making better use of the natural flavours and properties of the milk

All the milk which goes into the cheese comes from one nearby farm – Abbey Farm in Binham – so that we can be sure that the milk is of a consistent top standard and the cows are kept to excellent welfare standards. If you visit the picturesque village of Binham, it is easy to spot the cows – they graze the land surrounding the 11th century priory.

 

It was very good and definitely had a different flavour to a regular supermarket cheddar.

 I was asked about going on holiday alone. Thanks to the 9 weeks in holiday lets before I was able to move in here I'd got used to the idiosyncrasies of strange homes, key safes, internet codes and odd TVs! I don't mind eating out by myself  and visiting places alone is fine.  It was the furthest I've driven alone and I was glad of the Sat Nav that Son and DiL passed onto me a while back. It helped at odd junctions and in Sheringham town.

What I found most difficult was actually just being on holiday and being so tired, I'm not used to being out and doing something all the time and couldn't always decide what to do and missed a couple of things I should have visited.

I actually like being at home so holidays won't become a regular thing and we've already decided that next year it will be a holiday with Son, DiL and the two grandchildren in the summer to the Isle of Wight.

Thanks to my lovely neighbour B who opened and closed the greenhouse door each day, the plants in the greenhouse were all fine . One of the reasons for going in May rather than later was because I knew it would be OK to be away from the garden for a few days.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Yarlington

 Trying another 'artisan' (that means expensive!) cheese produced from a dairy in Gloucestershire. Although I bought it from a new small  shop on the Eye business park  run by Fen Farm Dairy.

A very soft brie type cheese which is dipped in cider 

I tried my first piece with home made water biscuits ( my version of hard tack!) plus apple and grapes.

Have to say it was pretty tasteless! A disappointment.

This is what I found out about this cheese.

The original idea comes from 2018 when two people got together to discuss the idea. The first Yarlington cheese was made in 2022 and the name comes from the old apples called Yarlington  Mill used to make the cider.

"Yarlington Mill is a traditional cider apple cultivar originating from the village of Yarlington, in the North Cadbury area of Somerset, England". 

Origin: England, c.1898

"Yarlington was born from a collaboration between local skilled artisan. David Jowett, head cheese maker at King Stone Dairy and  Cellarman and cidermaker Tom Oliver. This soft, rich, oozy cheese is washed in a wild fermented cider and brine during maturation. This does allow the cheese to develop a pungent, complex rind but to offer fruity and milky aromas. A farmyardy aftertaste is noticeable, which is reminding us of its French cousin, Reblochon. After all it's where Yarlington inspiration originally comes from."

I didn't notice any cider taste and as for a "farmyardy  aftertaste" that wasn't at all noticeable - which might be a good thing!.

Not a cheese I'll be bothering with again!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Cornish Yarg

The next cheese I tried a couple of weeks ago on my Tour de Cheese was Cornish Yarg. A very tasty semi-hard cheese made in the West Country which is wrapped and matured in nettle leaves.

I got it from the Co-op who as you can see get it from a local wholesaler. 

"The leaves, which attract naturally occurring moulds are brushed onto the cheese in concentric circles"

"Once matured, nettled Yarg is fresh, lemony and creamy under its beautiful rind, with an irresistible crumble in the core."

I googled to find out more.

Cornish Yarg is produced by Lynher Daries in Ponsanooth in Cornwall who also make a Yarg cheese wrapped in wild garlic leaves and a harder cheese called Kern - which is matured for up to two years. Plus a cheese called Stithians, named after another Cornish village which is a softer Yarg but without the nettles.

Yarg got its name from a moment of inspiration. Bodmin Moor farmer Alan Gray first produced it in the 1980s after finding a 17th century recipe for nettle wrapped cheese in his attic. Spell Gray backwards and you have the answer as to how Yarg was named. 

The nettle encrusted rind is supposed to be edible but I tried a piece and didn't like that at all - a very musty/dusty taste. 

I wonder if the Co-op have the one with wild garlic leaves - seems like something I really must try.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

750 Different Cheeses!

 Way back at the beginning of my month of eating meals based on Supermarket Value brands, someone told me they preferred much better quality - and mentioned enjoying Baron Bigod cheese. Now I already knew this is a brie type cheese made in Suffolk near Bungay - on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. I've never tried it - it's very expensive- but had I'd seen it at a Farmers Market. 

We also have cheeses, made more locally, that I have tried, produced  not far from me just a few miles down the A140, 

This got me wondering how many cheeses does the UK produce?  (Sorry I can't get rid of the coloured background without re-typing the whole thing!)

There are over 750 cheeses produced in Britain today, from classic cheddars to more unusual modern varieties.

Another comment about the Value Range Experiment (I do like to remind commenters of the odd things they say!!) said why was I buying rubbish when I'd sold my house and had plenty of money!

So as I have "plenty of money" and there are 750 cheeses to try this struck me as an excellent idea for an occasional  series of posts .......... could this be a first for blogland?!

 I popped into the nearest farm shop and bought two pieces of the four Suffolk Farmhouse cheeses that are made just down the road at a farm and diary we visited with WI a few years ago.

As well as Suffolk Blue and Suffolk Brie they also do Suffolk Gold and Suffolk Blue Brie.

This is what I wrote about our W.I visit in 2019

Jason and Katherine started their business making cheese with milk from their Pedigree Guernsey  cows in 2004 but it was 2009 before they were able to buy this farm and have everything in one place.

We had a look round the farm. Saw the cows and the robotic milking machine - installed in 2017 and Jason told us  about the care of their milking herd, their feeding regime, health checking (Katherine is a vet- handy!) and how the computer chips on collars around their neck works just like a fit-bit relaying information to his phone day and night. (Not a new concept for me because at the smallholding we lived just a mile from one of the first farms in Suffolk to install a robotic milking parlour, although they retired and sold up before we moved away). By using a robot machine the cows can wander out to the fields, in and out of the barn and then through the milking parlour whenever they like day and night. The machine recognises each cow and automatically washes the teats and fits the vacuum pump. If the cow has decided to go through the robot machine too soon after it's last milking then the gates open again, the cow gets no feed and soon wanders off........clever stuff.

They also keep a Hereford bull. Jason uses Artificial Insemination for the dairy herd to get pure bred cows - the females are added to the herd and the males kept for veal. But if A.I. doesn't work on some cows he lets them run with the bull to produce a cross breed calf which can be grown on and sold as beef.
Their first cheese they produced was called Suffolk Gold, quickly followed by Suffolk Blue. Then they started making a Suffolk Brie and just in the last few weeks now also a Suffolk Blue Brie.
As well as the cows he also keeps a few pigs, which are fed partly on the whey left from the cheesemaking and they send them off to a local butcher who makes sausages of all sorts  plus gammon and bacon.
The couple have a farm shop which is open through the week to sell their cheese, pork products, veal and beef but they also have a self-service vending machine to sell their fresh pasteurized milk. So you can go almost any time to buy milk and eggs.
Jason was very excited to tell us that they are in the process of importing butter and cream making machines from Eastern Europe so that very soon they will be adding fresh Guernsey Butter and Cream to the farm shop. They will be one of only 2 farms in East Suffolk making their own butter to sell and he said the other farm's butter is Very Expensive.

 I had tried the cheese before but not recently and I've tried the delicious butter when doing the Eating Local Challenges - but it's expensive for every day use.

When I un-wrapped the Suffolk Blue to eat a piece with my home made cheese straws it didn't look like other blue cheeses and was a mild and creamy blue rather than strong and tangy.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other artisan cheeses from other parts of the country I can find for sale.

Back Tomorrow

Sue