Tower of whole and various sized cut pieces of Beenleigh Blue vegetarian sheep’s cheese with delicate blueing and moist but crumbly texture

Beenleigh Blue

A delicately blue sheep’s milk cheese from Devon, with a lemony sweetness and moist, crumbly texture that belies its Roquefort-inspired recipe.

PORTION

Sixteenth

MINIMUM 175 g

Eighth

MINIMUM 350 g

Quarter

MINIMUM 705 g

Half

MINIMUM 1410 g

Whole

MINIMUM 2825 g

Regular price £9.85 Sale

Quantity

- +

Spend over £29.50 to receive free delivery (England, Wales & Central Scotland)

Delivery Information

Standard delivery is free to most postcodes in the UK for orders over £29.50. Click here for a list of postcodes where additional delivery charges apply.

For orders under £29.50, standard delivery is £6.00.

Collection from our London shops is free - choose Shop Collection at checkout.

Choose your preferred delivery date at checkout. As we use third party couriers (typically DPD) we cannot guarantee the arrival day of your order but we will do our best to ensure that it arrives as close as possible to your chosen date. To be sure it arrives in time, we recommend choosing a date a couple of days ahead of when you would like to eat your cheese.

Download Crib Sheet

milk type
Sheep

ingredients
MILK, salt, rennet

coagulant
Vegetarian Coagulant

milk treatment
Pasteurised

location
Totnes, Devon

milk source
Bought-in

season
All year

average age
6-12 Months

cheesemakers
Ben Harris

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Beenleigh Blue was the first blue cheese created by pioneering cheesemaker Robin Congdon, who utilised similar techniques to those used to make Roquefort, though the resulting cheese is quite different in taste.

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Beenleigh Blue is one of three cheeses created by Robin Congdon and now made by Ben Harris and his team at Ticklemore Cheese Dairy in Totnes, Devon. The milk comes from Tom and Helen Garland at Burton Dairy Farm in nearby Somerset, whose ewes graze outside by day and where possible have fresh grass in their barns. Before the dairy began sourcing milk from the Garlands, the flavour of the Beenleigh Blue would vary seasonally, but since switching supplier in 2011 Ben has found it to be far more consistent. After being moulded and pierced to allow the blue mould to form, the cheese is wrapped in foil to prevent the development of a rind.

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our work with this cheese

Randolph Hodgson started Neal's Yard Dairy at the same time as Robin Congdon started Ticklemore Cheese Dairy, and we've worked closely together from the beginning – first with Robin and then with Ben Harris when he took over in the early 2000s. We visit twice a year to taste and select cheese with Ben, and twice a year he comes to visit us at our Bermondsey arches. This dialogue is essential, as both Beenleigh Blue and Devon Blue are matured on the farm and delivered to Neal's Yard Dairy ready to sell. Recently, though, the Dairy has been keeping some of Ben's younger Beenleigh Blues and maturing them in our maturing rooms for 10 weeks to create Brunswick Blue: a creamier, more mushroomy blue cheese with a rind.

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Accompaniments

Biscuit Selection
£7.50

Rosebud Spiced Plum Chutney
£4.85

Tracklements Fig Relish
£4.20

Serving Suggestions

After pan frying a steak, melt some Beenleigh Blue into the juices for a delicious and simple sauce.

FAQs

How much cheese to buy?

As a general rule of thumb, we would recommend roughly between 100 and 150 grams per person for after dinner, and a bit more if cheese is the focus of the meal. If you are buying cheese to serve over a couple of days or as part of a buffet, it is advisable to buy a few larger pieces. This will both look better and keep better than many small bits. To help visualise weights, a good tip is to consider that a regular supermarket pat of butter weighs between 200 and 250 grams. If you are at all unsure please give us a call for some advice.

How should I store my cheese?

The best option is to keep your cheese wrapped in its paper within a box in the fridge. This will prevent the cheese from drying out and absorbing other flavours. Your cheese will arrive wrapped in waxed cheese paper, which achieves the best possible balance between maintaining humidity around the cheese and allowing it to breathe. We are happy to provide some free extra cheese paper, just search for "cheese paper" and add it to your basket. We don't recommend cling film or foil as it can cause the cheese to sweat which will negatively affect the flavour.