Cheese Fest

Archive for the ‘2 Stars – OK’ Category

Pyrénée Noir

Also know as Tomme des Pyrénées, this is a visually striking cheese, covered in a black plasticky wax. The very pale yellow, almost white, pate is soft, flexible and oily looking.

It has a sweet buttermilk smell, a soft bite with a pleasing texture. The flavour is, as expected, delicate, milky and sweet. Typically cheesy, but not strong.

This is the sort of cheese that would be suitable for children and  those who don’t like strong cheeses and would normally choose Edam or Port Salut.

Unexciting for the hardened cheese buff, but pleasant and inoffensive.

Purchased from the cheese stall outside Brighton Station

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)

Cote Hill Blue

This cheese can be a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. When young, with it’s innocent, pure white rind, it is mild and creamy, but as it ages, it starts to turn to the dark side. Cote Hill Blue This is a semi-soft blue cow’s milk cheese, made in Lincolnshire. When in its young and innocent phase, It resembles a blue brie or Castello blue. Very mild and creamy, almost buttery, but possibly a little “raw”. However, as it ages, it develops a grey mould on its rind (pictured). This is the sign that it has learned to bite back. Initially, it remains similar to its earlier form, slightly stronger in flavour, but still mild and creamy… then it retaliates with a slight Cabrales like burn and bitter, lingering aftertaste. This is a cheese that changes character whilst it matures. It is therefore advisable to eat it when it is at the right level of maturity for your taste.

Purchased from Cheese Please, Lewes.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia.

Immature (1/5)

Mature (2.5/5)

Saint Vernier

Saint Vernier is a small round, washed rind cheese beautifully presented in a  little wooden flower shaped bowl.Washed in savagnin wine, this semi-soft cheese has a thick gooey interior with a lovely creamy texture. The presentation, colour and consistency are highly attractive, but it’s smell and flavour are very mild and somewhat indistinct, which, in our opinion makes it a bit of a non-entity.

Purchased from Waitrose.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012.

(2/5)

Chaumes

Chaumes is a traditional Trappist monk style cheese. It has a soft, waxy, bright orange washed rind. It’s paste is pale cream in colour, soft and rubbery in texture.

It’s washed rind smell promises more than it delivers. It has a mild taste, with a slight tang. Of a similar ilk to that of Port Salut, slightly tastier, but unexciting.

Purchased from Bakers & Larners, Holt.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)

 

Wookie Hole Cave Aged Farmhouse Cheddar

When we tried this in the souvenir shop at Wookie Hole, the cheese had a very strong and distinct “old damp stone” flavour. However, the piece we purchased and took home, had none of this quality.

It was somewhat dissappointing. It tasted like cheddar, good cheddar, but with not a trace of that cave aged taste we had been expecting. The cheese also came with no rind or the usually expected colour variation through the slice that one would normally expect from a “real” cheddar. Though it tasted strong, but not acid with a slight trace of lactic acid crystals, it just did not seem to be authentic.

We suspect that the samples handed out in the shop are not from the same source as the cheese on the shelves.

Reviewed by Nick & Olympia 2012

(2/5)