Welcome to the new Cheese of the month segment!
We would like to introduce you to the newest feature on the blog with the help from Andy at the Courtyard Dairy we bring you the first of many ‘cheese of the month features’. This is a way of bringing you artisan cheeses from field to screen that hopefully you haven’t heard of before but may wish to try. The cheeses can be bought through links available on the posts.
We hope you enjoy this feature and it helps you discover cheeses!
The Cheesy1 & Andy Swinsoce
St Andrew’s Cheddar – Made by Jane Stewart in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland.
We are starting with the delicious and unique Scottish Cheddar called St Andrew’s. It has a smoky, strong & burnt caramel flavour, but it also has a bite to it with a sharpness that hits the tongue & the top of the mouth. It is a wonderfully complex cheese that desires to be enjoyed on a finer cheese board.
For over 50 years Jane Stewart and her partner Robert have been farming in Fife. In 2007 they decided to make cheese with the high-quality unpasteurised milk given by their homebred herd of Holstein-Friesian cows, so they created the St. Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company. Jane crafted a recipe to make a crumbly, lactic, fresh cheese, using cheese-making techniques of the North of England (Cheshire and Wensleydale for example). After a cheese-making course at Reading University, Jane carried out a Fact-finding trip in the South West of England and Wales (with the renowned expert Leon Downey). Returning to the farm, she and Robert created ‘Anster’ cheese, named after the nickname for the fishing village of Anstruther.
But upon doing local farmers markets she found she struggled to get people to approach her stall if she only had one product. Cheddar-making uses the small scale equipment and moulds so Jane set about developing a second cheese. Using traditional techniques to the South of England (traditional bacteria ferments to make the cheese, ‘cheddaring’ and making by hand, cloth-binding) Jane has created a cheddar to rival the best of the West Country Aged for 14 months it retains the Scottish cheddar style: powerful, strong and tangy – a real sharp complex Cheddar.
To see more about the way the cheese is made check out this video from the Courtyard Dairy:
It’s so interesting to see how this cheese is made and to buy this cheese just click here. We hope that you enjoy this feature and the next ‘Cheese Of The Month’ will be available in July. If you have any questions just head over to Cheesy1.uk and click the ‘Chat’ button where we are more than happy to help.
Have a lovely weekend & enjoy the sunshine!
The Cheesy1 & Andy
🧀 