Cheese please!

Selections for your cheeseboard

If you love French brie, then you’ll love…

Taleggio - because it has a tangy, soft paste and is a lightly washed rind cheese. From Lombardy in Italy, it’s fabulous after a meal with fresh fruits.

If you love Stilton, then you’ll love…
Blue Monday No. 7 – a deliciously rich and creamy, smooth textured blue, which marries perfectly with craft ales and cider.

If you always have a Cheddar on your cheeseboard…

Barbers Reserve is for you. It is mature, full flavoured yet mellow, with an intriguing crunch from the salt crystals that permeate the body of the cheese.

How to make the most of cheese in your cooking

While it’s tempting to pick up the supermarket-standard Cheddar with your weekly shop, why not perk up your midweek meals with these delicious versions? Using a tasty and complex cheese is an easy win when it comes to adding flavour to your dishes.

1 Trade up to a good melting cheese

Try Vintage Red Fox – a glorious red cheese, similar to a Red Leicester in style. Full, rich flavours with hints of butterscotch. Grate leftovers on toast and grill for a lovely comforting supper. If you are making macaroni cheese this one is a winner too.

2 Stock up on versatile goat’s cheese

A cheese that is equally fabulous in a salad with crispy lardons and toasted walnuts as it is in a satisfying veggie main. We like Chevre Goat’s Log as you can have it as it is or grill it until golden. It’s also pretty special when blended with equal amounts of cream cheese and fresh herbs for a quick cheese toast topping.

3 Buy the best for vegetarians 

Most British blue cheeses are made using vegetarian rennet – so good ones to check out. But if you don’t want a blue look out for Cornish Yarg, it’s one of our favourites. This is a light-textured cow’s milk cheese, not too strong, with a lovely buttery finish and visually stunning. It is hand wrapped in nettle leaves – a must for a cheeseboard but it’s not one to save just for special occasions. Try it in this twist on a toastie.

4 Serve a better cheeseboard

Think carefully about what to serve with your cheese and you’ll make a cheese course that looks as good as it tastes. We enjoy dried and fresh fruits, quince paste, lovely sticky baked fig balls, biscuits and bread. These fig and walnut parmesan crackers are a doddle to make and taste amazing with cheese.

5 Store your cheese – Top tips

Don’t buy too much cheese at once, little and often is best as cheese is a fresh living product. Never keep it in clingfim, a good cheese shop should wrap in a waxed type of paper. Baking parchment is a good alternative. Always keep it in the fridge until about half an hour before enjoying. Modern homes are so much warmer, bringing cheeses up to room temperature does not take very long now days. A quick tip – try to have a separate knife for each cheese, to avoid cross contamination.  

Cooked members can get 10% off their first Cheese Society order with the code COOKED10.