This Month's Cheeses
The Neal's Yard Dairy Subscription showcases three different cheeses each month, with each month's selection linked by a location, season or occasion. The June selection celebrates the ability of our cheesemakers to turn classic European-style cheese recipes into British cheeses which are swiftly becoming classics in their own rights. Harbourne Blue takes its inspiration from a Roquefort recipe, Baron Bigod from a Brie de Meaux and Ogleshield is a perfect melting Raclette-style cheese. Each of these delicious cheeses are just at home in a recipe as on a cheeseboard. Your ongoing support of British cheese plays a vital role in helping to support family cheesemaking businesses and preserving time-honoured cheesemaking traditions.
READ MOREA Roquefort-style cheese created with goat’s milk, Harbourne is a clean, bright cheese with light blue veining, a crumbly texture and flavours which are fresh, slightly floral and delicately sweet. Harbourne Blue is one of three cheeses developed by Robin Congdon and now made by Ben Harris and his team at Ticklemore Cheese in Totnes, Devon. The milk comes from the Lewis family in Wellington, Somerset. Though Harbourne Blue is made to a Roquefort recipe, the use of goat's milk – rather than ewe's milk, as per the French tradition – makes for a markedly different flavour and texture profile. Before Covid, Ben would often visit us at our shops and maturation arches - we miss his friendly face and are looking forward to welcoming him back to taste some cheese together again soon!
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READ MOREA Brie-style cheese with a crumbly texture at the core, and a silky breakdown at the rind. The flavour balances a clean lactic brightness with mushroomy, vegetal notes. Baron Bigod is made by Jonny Crickmore and team in Fen Farm, Suffolk from the farm’s herd of Montebeliarde cows. We are so proud of this cheese that we no longer sell its French counterpart! Every three months, Jonny and his team visit us in Bermondsey for a cheese tasting and evaluation of progress. During these visits we are able to directly feed back and communicate with his team, which in turn helps to inform their selection for us back at the farm. We mature the cheeses in our cold room wrapped in paper, which allows them to break down from the outside in at a rate which we think produces the best flavours. It is important that the cheeses are kept wrapped while maturing as the cold conditions are drying.
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READ MOREWith its orange-pink rind, Ogleshield has a gentle but complex flavour: it can be deeply savoury, almost reminiscent of chicken broth and has a sweet and milky aroma. It has a soft and pliant texture and melts beautifully; a perfect cooking cheese. Ogleshield is a washed rind cow’s milk cheese made by Jamie Montgomery and Tim Griffey. It is the result of Jamie’s decision to transform the milk of his herd of Jerseys into cheese, milk which was until then exclusively sold for drinking. Ogleshield is the only cheese made exclusively from Jersey cow’s milk that we sell at Neal’s Yard Dairy. Unlike Montgomery’s Cheddar, Ogleshield is a relatively quick cheese to make, characterised by a low acidity and pliant paste. Initially, the cheese was called ‘Jersey Shield’ and had a natural rind composed of greyish-green moulds. William Oglethorpe, at the time senior cheese-maturer at Neal’s Yard Dairy, subsequently developed a method to mature Ogleshield that suited it better: washing the cheeses with a brine solution. In recognition of William’s help, the name of the cheese was adapted to incorporate his surname.
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An Introduction to the June Selection
Cheesemonger Caitrin introduces each cheese in this month's selection, explaining the style and how they differ in terms of milk, make and flavour.
Information & Inspiration
Recipes, films and blogs that feature the cheeses in this month's selection
Dairy Diaries: Ticklemore Cheese Dairy
Baron Bigod
Ogleshield, Polenta, Courgettes & Herbs by Sam Lowry
From Instagram
Kappacasein Toasties
#BritishCheeseWeekender
Days remaining to order the June selection
About the Subscription Hub
The cheese we work with is strongly founded in a sense of community, from cheesemakers sharing recipes and tips, to the shared efforts of maturation between cheesemaker and affineur, to the departments within Neal's Yard Dairy tasting and talking about cheese together on a daily basis. The NYD subscription hub aims to bring this sense of community to our loyal subscription customers - a place to discover, discuss and delight in the cheeses you receive each month.
