St Cera

St Cera is the washed-rind sister cheese of St Jude, a small, soft cheese originally produced in Hampshire by cheesemaker Julie Cheyney. She now makes it at Jonny Crickmore's Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk, home of Baron Bigod. The milk comes from Fen Farm's herd of Montbéliarde cows: a French breed whose rich, high-protein milk is well suited for making cheese. St Cera is the product of a collaboration between Neal's Yard Dairy's maturation team and Julie Cheyney. Julie makes her own version of St Cera which she washes with different cultures leaving a slightly different flavour and texture profile. 

For the first week St Cera is matured in the same way as we mature St Jude with some drying and encouragement of rind growth. After a week at our Maturation Arches, each cheese is then placed in a small wooden box, and washed four times over the course of a week with a brine solution. It is then moved into the cold room to slow its development until it is ready to be sold. The older the cheese the more barnyardy and punchy the flavour can become with a texture that becomes more oozy.