Close up of a cut piece of Baron Bigod Brie-style cheese with a crumbly texture at the core, and a silky, unctuous breakdown at the rind

Baby Baron Bigod

The smaller sister to one of our most popular cheeses, perfect as a centrepiece to a cheeseboard. Silky at its rind but crumbly at its core, this Suffolk-born, traditional Brie-style cheese balances a clean lactic brightness with mushroomy, vegetal notes.

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
Cow

coagulant
Animal Rennet

milk treatment
Raw

location
Bungay, Suffolk

milk source
Own herd

breed
Montbeliarde; Holstein

season
All year

average age
2 Months

cheesemakers
Jonny Crickmore

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In the early days of Neal's Yard Dairy, the only Brie we sold was imported from across the Channel. Today, the only Brie we sell is Baron Bigod, and for the past few years French retailers have been buying this cheese from us.

background

Baron Bigod was the creation of Jonny Crickmore at Fen Farm dairy. Made in small batches to a Brie de Meaux recipe passed on by a French cheesemaker, it is the only traditional Brie-style cheese currently being produced in the UK. In fact, it is arguably more authentic than the majority of French Brie in that it's made on a farm as opposed to a creamery, using the very freshest of raw milk from Jonny's own herd of Montbéliarde cows. The curds are hand ladled into large moulds using traditional pelle-à-brie ladles, and the young cheeses are salted, wrapped in paper and aged for up to eight weeks in cave-like conditions, first at Fen Farm, then at our Bermondsey arches.

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our work with this cheese

We keep the cheeses in our cold room at the arches, and turn them regularly. The goal is to prevent the rind from growing too thick and to keep breakdown of the paste even – without over-ripening it to the point where it's running away. We've continued to work closely with Jonny and his team over the years, and every three months they visit us to taste the cheese and evaluate its progress. The conversations that result help to inform their selection for us back at their farm.

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Accompaniments

Orkney Oatcakes, Thick
£1.00

Rosebud Red Onion Port Marmalade
£4.10

Serving Suggestions

Slice Baron Bigod over warm, roasted vegetables.

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.