Hit me with your top cheeses

[RealHousewivesOfTaunton]

I'm hosting Christmas Eve this year. We tend to do a really nice cheeseboard. Any suggestions? My favourites are Tor, Smoking Ember, wild garlic Yarg and a mildish Stilton.

Aldi are doing a spiced plum and blackberry chutney this year - it's stunning on goat's cheese!

Vacherin and Mont d'Or are the best out there!

Cornish blue - much milder than Stilton
Kern - won best cheese in the world in 2017. Made by the same dairy as Yarg www.thecornishfoodboxcompany.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=KERN

Comté

Vignotte

Ooh following. I'm very boring with cheese. I love the strongest cheddar so it's crunchy and falls apart, and stilton, also love a very ripe camembert but following suggestions!

What's a really good stilton that can be bought in a supermarket and doesn't cost a fortune?

oh, and what's the best cracker or digestive to go with it?

I need to come and visit you all to try some cheeses. My parents didn’t eat much cheese, first husband was allergic and current Mr Three isn’t fussed.

I don’t know anyone in my circle of friends who puts on cheese board. I
need a cheese intervention! I wouldn’t got to a deli to sample cheeses in case I don’t like them; and have never bought any in case I’m wasting money.

My cheese “adventures” are

1. Mature cheddar
2. Cheddar and onion (Sainsburys)
3. Red Leicester
4. cheddar with cracked black pepper
5. Double Gloucester
6. Cheshire cheese on digestives (but has been years since I bought any).
7. Port Salut - tried once, had horrible nightmares on that one.

So, cheese dealers, what is a gateway cheese? A starter cheese that is a tad more exciting than any of the above but also not too different that my tastebuds will be shocked. I don’t want to go from tobacco to crack on one shop! 😁
What shall I try that I can get from the supermarket or deli counter?

Place marking for cheese adventures 😋😋

Disclaimer - I know very little about 'artisan' cheese or subtle flavour differences and don't like blue cheese at all. But I really love most other cheeses and we always have about 5-10 different types of cheese in the fridge.

If you like Cheshire you might also like Wensleydale as it's similar. You can also get flavoured ones (cranberry, mango, ginger) which are nice and Christmassy.

Have you never had Brie type cheese? A lot of those are quite mild compared to Camembert or some of the other ones that I'm not sure of the names of.

What about something like Emmental or Gouda. They're both like Edam and not scary?

Cheese is probably a lot cheaper in a supermarket than in specialist delis and Morrisons at least have cheese counters where you can buy small pieces so you could just buy a really small piece of a Brie (eg Somerset because that's mild and creamy) and one of the Wensleydales and try those? I don't know if they have Emmental or Gouda on the fresh counters, they're more often in slices in the prepacked section - good for toasties.

If you try the above, it goes well and you're more confident about spending a bit more money, you could go to a proper cheese deli, tell them what you like and see what they suggest. They'll let you try a small piece to see if you like it and it won't matter if you don't.

One of my favourite cheeses.

OP - your original list is a lot like mine already.so I guess we have similar tastes for mild cheeses. I would add Mayfield (fairly hard cheese with holes in it - nutty flavour), Cornish blue (this one is batch dependent but mostly a mild blue that is really good) and Sharpham rustic (with or without chives and garlic) which is a Semi hard cheese.

Tor is amazing but another goats cheese option, really soft and a mixture of goats milk cheese and cows cream and delicious is Sharpham cremet.

enjoy

Celtic promise

I asked DS1 what he wanted as his main present this year. He said: Baron Bigod. He's getting it.

Oh yes, Baron Bigood is incredible! Also loving the large truffle cheddar that Costco are doing at the moment. It went down so well at the Christmas table last year.

Gorgonzola dolce is delicious . My personal long term favourite is reblochon.

Thank you, some really good suggestions. I haven’t tried Brie.

@drspouse try Paxton and Whitfield as a cheese monger. They do regular "weeks of cheese" where they send you smallish bits of seven cheeses which are looking good at that time of year, as well as being able to do specific orders.

I approve.

In the words of the mouse in Muppet Christmas Carol: "Please Sir, can I have more cheese?"

I'd suggest you have one each from different categories, like, a blue, a hard, a soft rindy one, a goat's or sheep's, a wicked-strong cheddar...

I find cambozola always goes down well, also doux de montagne and most people like Edam. Have grapes, olives, pickles, chutneys, mini tomatoes to mix it up. I like the French way of eating bread with cheese rather than crackers.

Oh, and don't serve them cold from the fridge! Open them up and give them some time to breathe for the best flavour.

🧀

Here for tips!!

I do a cheese board every New Year’s Eve. Each cheese is matched to its own wine. I’ve got a 4 year old and a 1 year old so it’s been a while since I made it to midnight 😂

Our favourites
Eppoisses, Baron Bigod, stinking bishop, langres (we love a good sweaty cheese here 😂) Golden Cenarth, Doux de Montagne, Mont D’or, stichelton, double Gloucester (booths do a great one!), manchego, carboncino. We love a role but I tend not to put them on the NYE plate.

I usually plate up a couple of hours before we are going to eat and then leave them to get to room temperature. Cold from the fridge really affects the flavour. Sweaty cheese taste best if they’ve turned into puddles 😂

sides - big plate of cured meats, fruits steeped in liqueur (thank you Nigel Slater!), a spice mix I make for tete de moine, assorted crackers.

Currently stacking up my baskets on Pong Cheese and the Fine Cheese co. Winner will be whoever gives me the best basket for £50.

Drinks are anything from Pedro Ximinez (Sainsbury do a gorgeous one for about a tenner), Sauternes, Ruby and tawny port, a cold dessert Malbec, ice wine, ice cider, Balzac, muscat, and gingerbread liqueur (which tastes brilliant with a strong blue cheese).

I have a feeling I’m going to be looking at cheese instead of working for the next 20 minutes.

@ThreeDoorsDown my local cheesemonger has tasting evenings where you try small bits of different cheeses. They're good fun to go to with a friend.

Chaorce and Neufchâtel for soft
A good goats cheese
Cornish cheddar, the type that hurts your tongue a little
An aged Roquefort

I now want all the cheese!!!

2 of my favourite holiday memories: visiting a Gruyère factory, I was only a teenager but lots of cheese came home with me
And visiting the market in Dieppe, was in fromage heaven! They make Neufchâtel just down the road so sampled many different varieties

Barber’s 1833 -a 2 year matured Cheddar from the oldest farmhouse Cheddar maker in the country- delicious!
Only purchase their milk from farms within a 30 mile radius of their factory and high level welfare -all cows have to be grazing outside for at least 230 days a year - no indoor robotic dairy farms accepted.