An evening at the W.I Boldre with the Cheesy1

Good Morning Cheesy1’s,

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at a local W.I meeting about my role as a Cheese Specialist & online life as the Cheesy1. I was asked to bring a selection of 8 cheeses which were Wookey Hole, Le Rustique Brie, Cropwell Bishop Beauvale, Rosary Goats Garlic & Herb, Old Winchester, Vacherin Mont D’or, Petit Basque, Vintage Red Fox. I had designed a presentation around the selection I had bought along. I arrived at Boldre Hall at 7pm with cheese in hand. As their meeting had just started I prepared all the necessary pieces for my presentation in the wings and I was a little nervous but confident because as people who know me know that I don’t mind talking! Being asked to come in I was ready for my first presentation to a W.I group and there were a lot of familiar faces of ladies who I serve at Waitrose. I had planned just like my blog to be fun & informative because I know what it can be like watching somebody who isn’t passionate or enthusiastic doing a presentation. The presentation had to run for around 46-60 mins which I kept to and I was to serve the cheese at the end of the evening. I started the presentation with an introduction into my Waitrose & Cheesy1 career. Moving on from there I built upon my Cheesy1 career with talking about Judging at the Royal Bath & West Show with a demonstration on using a cheese iron (A specialist tool that you push into a cheese that takes a cylindrical piece of cheese out the centre. You can then look at colouration and fat content to look at & grade the cheese.).

I then moved to the cheeses which I won’t explain on here but click on the list below to read my blog posts (There are some that will be posted soon but are not available just yet):

After I had explained about the cheeses I moved on to a few little tips about cheese which I realise there are many but theses are some key tips to remember when it comes to keeping/ serving.

Keep cheese wrapped in wax paper to prevent it from sweating.
Take cheese out of the fridge 30/60 minutes before you need it. Cheese doesn’t really need to be refrigerated either.
Smaller pieces of a stronger cheese is better than bigger pieces of milder.
Have a knife for each cheese to avoid cross contamination.

Having finished my presentation to a round of applause we then moved on to the tasting which truth be told we all know is the best bit! With a selection of wine & biscuits provided by the lovely ladies of the W.I the cheese was ready to be eaten by all. I opted for a cup of coffee and a piece of the Wookey Hole because I just couldn’t resist.

Overall it was a brilliant evening and hopefully I will return to do a presentation around Delicatessen products which I would also love to do. I have received great feedback which has boosted my confidence in my ability to talk about the subject. It was a great evening and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and in the future I hope to get myself a projector which will enable me to do more private presentations for groups & parties so if you are interested please send me an email jhb.cheese@gmail.com.

Have a Cheesy day!

The Cheesy1