Beenleigh Blue
milk type
Sheep
ingredients
MILK, salt, rennet
coagulant
Vegetarian Coagulant
milk treatment
Pasteurised
location
Totnes, Devon
milk source
Bought-in
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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.
Accompaniments
Biscuit Selection
£7.95
Rosebud Spiced Plum Chutney
£6.00
Tracklements Fig Relish
£4.30
Serving Suggestions
After pan frying a steak, melt some Beenleigh Blue into the juices for a delicious and simple sauce.
FAQs
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.
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.
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
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.
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
background
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 excessively, 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.
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, we have 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 natural rind.
pairing suggestion
After pan frying a steak, melt some Beenleigh Blue into the juices for a delicious and simple sauce.
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