Each month we choose four of the cheeses which we think are tasting best. We particularly like to feature cheeses which are in season, as well as batches of cheese which are tasting especially delicious in a particular month. If you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in British cheese making, this is also a good choice. Frequently we have limited quantities of new or experimental cheeses which we introduce to our customers through this selection.

Minimum weight: 1.2 kg

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Our September Cheese of the Month contains:

Mature Sparkenhoe Red Leicester

Made by David and Jo Clarke, near Nuneaton Warwickshire. Raw cow’s milk, animal rennet.

Clara from our Export team was responsible for the inception of the mature version of Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. She felt passionately that there was a space on her customer’s counters for a Red Leicester with a larger, more upfront flavour than the profile we enjoy closer to home. She also relished the opportunity to escape her desk for a few hours each week and take on a maturing experiment. Seeking support and advice from our maturing team, she set about hand turning and cleaning the cheeses every week. We’ve now been through a few iterations of this process to get them just right. They are especially popular in Scandinavia and France. We find that the cheese is naturally drier than its younger counterpart, with deep, long, toffee flavours.

Whin Yeats Wensleydale

Made by Tom and Clare Noblet, near Carnforth, Cumbria. Raw cow’s milk, animal rennet.

The Noblets live with their four young children on a 250-acre farm. Here they have 80 Friesian cows, and 200 sheep. Whin Yeats Wensleydale (known locally as Fellstone), is made by Clare twice a week. We visit the Noblets every month to offer feedback and taste and select the batches of cheeses we want to mature and sell. Current batches are tasting sweetly milky with an almost vinegary acidity, and a soft, warm texture.

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Tunworth

Made by Stacey Hedges near Basingstoke, Hampshire.Pasteurised cow’s milk, animal rennet.

Hampshire Cheeses came into being after much research, and many experimental cheeses made at Stacey’s kitchen table. The recipe is modelled on Camembert, but uses whole milk, giving an even more unctuous texture. Despite how the business has developed over the past fifteen years, every aspect of the make is still done entirely by hand.

Burr

Made by Joe Bennett and Aimee Lawn, near Tamworth, Staffordshire. Raw goat’s milk, animal rennet.

This cheese was first developed in early 2017, as an extra mature version of an Innes Log. We identified a gap in our range of cheeses for a firmer, denser goat’s cheese with plenty of punch. Burr is made by aggressively drying out halves of young Innes Log on arrival and maturing them for four months. They are turned and patted each week, to discourage excessive mould growth. The flavour is upfront and spicy, with a densely fudgey texture.

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