This Cheese Doesn't Suck: Cornish Yarg

    Yep.  Cornish Yarg.  That's it's actual name.  I prefer to draw out the "arrrrr!" when talking to my customers about it.  Makes me feel a wee bit like a pirate.  Plus, you know, "yarg" is just a fun word to say.  Even if it's only "gray" spelled backwards.  Clever since this cheese has it's characteristic dusty gray/green rind.  
    A cows milk cheese developed in Cornwall, England in the 1970's it's a nice riff on a semi firm cheese.  The outside is wrapped and then subsequently aged in nettle leaves that grow wild in the Cornish countryside.  The nettles definitely contribute to the wholly unique (I don't think I've ever had a cheese taste quite like "The Yarg") flavor profiles of the cheese.  Its aroma being moderately strong, singing with moldering leaves (natch), and floral/fruit tones.  The texture is springy with a bit of a wet, sponge-y feel that is not unpleasant. 

    However the flavor, oh the flavor, is like a bushel of overripe peaches and nectarines without the sweet burst onto the palate.  With well balanced salt and a bit of nettle like bite to the finish this is certainly a new favorite to my ever growing list of knock-out cheeses.  

Neal's Yard Dairy

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a class about one  of our cheese providers, Neal's Yard Dairy(NYD).  Being able to hear first hand all about the cheese they offer made me a little giddy. That's right. Giddy.  I had flashbacks to the thrill of the Herve Mons class from several years ago.  I had the urge to jump up and find a way to work hands on with cheese everyday.  Oh wait. I already do that! Excellent...

Purveyors or Pushers...hmmm

Neal's Yard is not actually a cheese making company.  Well, not any more.  They essentially take British farmhouse cheese makers under their wing in order to encourage traditional cheese making.  From there NYD promotes and sells the cheeses across the world.  Thus helping to preserve some amazing regional curd from around the British Isles.
Leah Lewis, U.S. export sales, and James Rutter, export and wholesale sales, ran us through a tasting of three diverse and extraordinary NYD offerings.  All together we had Appleby's Cheshire, Quicke's Cheddar (made by the apparently delightful Mary Quicke and her brood), and the shining star of the whole deal the Borough Market Stilton Blue.

I am going to frame my map of British Cheeses

They were all stunning in  flavor though the Stilton Blue jumped out at me the strongest.  Light and creamy on the tongue but packing a wallop of black pepper, sweet cream and delightful bluey-ness.  I cannot wait to pick up yet another hunk of this fine fine cheese to eat as is.   Perhaps I may even dress it up with a little wildflower honey.  You know, just to be fancy.

This is James Rutter.  He led us on our magical cheese tour. c/o Neal's Yard Dairy

This Cheese Doesn't Suck: Cotswold

I know what you're thinking. Cotswold. Really? Sure I could have dedicated this inaugural cheese profile to something more fabulous.  A hulking diva of cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano (always recited in my head with a bad Italian accent.) or a suave Pierre Robert brie.  Nope.  I want to talk about Cotswold.  This my friends is the clear evidence that I really, truly, just want to yammer on about whatever my gullet is currently begging to be crammed with.

This. This is what I want to eat all of the time.

 Cotswold is in all actuality a dressed up Double Gloucester* style cheese.  Heralding from the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England.  A 25 mile by 90 mile patch of country so beautiful it must have been the setting for every PBS costume drama ever.  Gloucester cheese has been made in one tradition or another since the late 15th century.  Once the mover and shaker of commerce in its region, it faded to a pale obscurity by the 19th century.  In recent decades there has been a marked boost in its production and popularity spurred on by a delightful surge of folks taking an interest in traditional dairying.
Though this cheese bears the same general shape and mac-n-cheese hue of a cheddar, don't be fooled.  It is not one by any means. (besides "cheddaring" is an actual process.) It's texture tends to be much less dense than that of cheddar, even the milder varieties.  Because the curds are milled into bits the size of rice the feel of the finished cheese keeps a certain amount of a pleasing moist graininess.  I prefer, for this reason, to eat it very slowly, letting it fall apart between tongue and the roof of my mouth (t.m.i.?).  What can I say? I'm a textural eater.
The addition of chives to this Double Gloucester is really what makes the magic happen. As an old friend of mine once said about Cotswold. "It's like a loaded baked potato...without that pesky potato part." Glor-i-ous.  What more could a person ask for in a party pleasing cheese? (No, don't answer that.) Who could resist the siren call of Cotswold's smushy chive-y zing?  Probably no one.  Though the dedicates of Kraft singles probably wouldn't.  I don't really like to talk about Them.
Cotswold is, at its heart, really a two note cheese.  It belts out its oddly strong aromatic flavor in only the key of Cheddar-like and chive.  This, reader, is not always a bad thing.  Sure, I adore a nicely ripened Tallegio with its beefy whiff.  But sometimes I want to plop down on the sofa, butter knife in hand, and happily stuff my face with a cheese that doen't need to be complicated to be delicious.

*This is also the cheese of "Cheese Rolling at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire" fame.  The last Official event saw 18 injuries.  4 of which were spectators  fainting.  It was considered a light year.