Hearthside Selection

When you need cheese to cosy up with on a long winter’s evening, our hearthside selection will warm your heart.

100g Fowler’s Forest Blue – Fowlers are the oldest cheese making family business in England (13 generations) and are continuing the traditions of handcrafted cheeses at the dairy in the leafy pastures of Earlswood Forest Blue is a relatively new cheese, an Un-pressed soft, creamy cheese with a natural rind and a distinct blue aroma, from mild through to ‘picante’ gorgonzola flavour, seasonal colour variation. Fowlers take pride in their environment and animal welfare standards. Made with pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet.

100g Quickes Vintage Cheddar – The Quicke family of Devon has been in dairy on the same farm just north of Exeter for over 450 years. All their cheddar is matured slowly on wooden shelves (this one for around 24 months), wrapped in muslin cloth, giving a real depth and complexity of flavour. The old fashioned rind that develops using this method is the hallmark of a well-matured traditional cheddar. Unusually, the cheese is made with pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet. Using vegetarian rennet in a cheese of this age can often result in a bitter edge. Mary Quicke tries to avoid this by selecting from 18 month old cheddars, the ones she feels will mature well for a further 6 months.

100g Reblochon – Reblochon derives from the word ‘reblocher’ which when literally translated means ‘to pinch a cow’s udder again’. This refers to the practice of holding back some of the milk from the first milking. During the 14th century, the landowners would tax the mountain farmers according to the amount of milk their herds produced. The farmers would therefore not fully milk the cows until after the landowner had measured the yield. The milk that remains is much richer. Reblochon is traditionally made from the mild of three breeds of cattle, the Abondance, Montbéliarde and the Tarine and is made in the Savoie region of France. It has a beautiful, mild milky flavour and a glorious alpine smell. Made with unpasteurised milk and traditional rennet.

100g Wensleydale with Ginger – Wensleydale is a traditional, hard cheese made from pasteurised cows milk and vegetarian rennet. This cheese is made at the Hawes dairy in Wensleydale. It has a supple, crumbly moist texture. The flavour suggests wild honey balanced with fresh acidity. It blends well with the warming stem ginger in this one.

100g Sykes Fell Ewe – Made by Peter and Grace Proctor at Greenfields dairy in Goosnargh, Lancashire. The Proctors have been winning awards for their cheeses since the 1930s. Sykes Fell is made with the milk of sheep which graze locally in the Trough of Bowland. It has a semi-hard texture and a good tangy flavour. Made with pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet.

Accompanied by a fruity Lakeland chutney and a packet of biscuits.
Note: Contains Milk,