Smooth, cheddar-like. Spinach is subtle but very welcoming.
3.5*
Cheese - Ossau Iraty 20061029
Cheese - Yarg 20061028
Cheese - St.Marcellin 20061028
Cheese - Raclette 20061029
Cheese - Picodon 20061107
Cheese - Manchego 20061105
Cheese - Roquefort 20061031
St.Marcellin (Fra).
Bought from Woodstock Road Delicatessen.
Goat's cheese. Very smooth and creamy. Mild but strong smell. Slightly salty.
4*
Yarg (also known as Cornish Yarg, Eng).
Bought from Woodstock Road Delicatessen.
Mild, smotth cheddar-like. Nettle leave covering excellent replacement for mould or wax rind.
4*
Ossau Iraty (Fra).
Bought from Sainsbury's, Witney.
Sheep's cheese. Creamy, similar to Port Salut but slightly drier.
3*
Raclette (Fra)
Bought from Waitrose, Witney.
Incredibly creamy and smooth. Slightly sour (but pleasant) after-taste.
4.5*
Roquefort (Fra).
Bought from Tesco, Cowley.
Smooth and creamy. Unbelievably salty.
3* at first moving to 2* once the salt becomes too much
Picodon (Fra)
Kindly bought for me by Steve from La Ferme des Arèmes, Paris. Goat's cheese. Crusty mould - including lots of green mould (this is a proper cheese!). Ammonia smell not strong but far reaching. Cheese not yet ripe so firm ceding to crumbly in the very centre. Also means taste is not strong but very tasty. Quite creamy.
3.5* - potentially 4* when ripe
Manchego (Spa).
Bought from Sainsbury's, Witney.
Relatively hard, greasy - not creamy.
4*
Cheese - Provolone Valpandana 20061113
Cheese - Morbier 20061113
Cheese - Fourme D'Ambert 20061113
Cheese - Pecorino Romano 20061127
Cheese - Comté 20061120
Cheese - Cantal 20061113
Cheese - Vacherin 20061127
Cheese - Bavarian Blue 20061130
Cheese - Mimolette 20061130
Cheese - Beaufort 20061127
Fourme D'Ambert (Fra).
Bought from Sainsbury's, Witney.
Blue cheese. Subtle, not-overpowering mould.
4*
Cantal (Fra)
Bought from Waitrose, Witney.
3.5*
Provolone Valpandana (Ita)
Bought from Waitrose, Witney.
Dry & crumbly - similar to Parmesan but subtler taste.
3.5*
Morbier (Fra)
Bought from Sainsbury's, Witney.
Very soft and gooey - like a brie (or more like Livarot) as it's going soft. A thin layer of ash through the centre but doesn't affect the taste that much. Medium strength nutty taste.
4*
Vachering du Haut-doubs (Fra).
Bought from Woodstock Road Delicatessen, Oxford.
Incredibly creamy and runny - falling out of the packaging before I'd even opened it. More like a camembert than a brie.
4*
Percorino Romano (Ita).
Bought from Woodstock Road Delicatessen, Oxford.
Pecorino is a generic term for sheep's cheese. Very hard cheese, similar to parmesan.
3.5*
Idiazabal (Spa).
Bought from Taylor's Delicatessen, Woodstock Road.
Hard cheese, with strong "smoky" flavour.
4.5*
Mimolette (Fra)
Bought from Tesco's, Abingdon.
Possibly the hardest cheese in the world - quite well matured.
4*
Beaufort (Fra).
Bought from Taylor's Delicatessen, Oxford.
Lanark Blue (Sco)
Bought from The Oxford Cheese Company, Covered Market, Oxford. Handmade blue cheese. Not that salty (like Roquefort) but unbelievably strong and the mould is quite tangy - verging on painful. This is not the kind of cheese that makes me like blue cheese.
1* - But I don't like blue cheese anyway. Lovers of blue cheese have called it "creamy and quite nice".
(Fiore) Sardo (Ita)
Bought from Palm's Delicatessn, Covered Market, Oxford.
This was bought as "Pecorino Sardo". However, Pecorino is simply a generic term for sheep's cheeses. Fiore is simply a brand name. Very hard cheese, similar to Pecorino Romano or Parmesan.
3.5*
Bavarian Blu (Ger)
Bought from Tesco's, Abingdon.
Labelled as "Bavarian Blue Brie". Smooth and creamy with a mellow tang from the occasional blue.
4*
Cheese - Idiazabal 20061120
Comté (Fra).
Bought from Woodstock Road Delicatessen.
Hard, mature-cheddar-like.
3*
Cheese - Lanark Blue - 20061201
Cheese - (Fiore) Sardo - 20061201
Cheese - Windsor Red 20061204
Cheese - Cathare 20061204
Cheese - Herve 20061211
Cheese - Gouda 20061211
Cathare (Fra)
Kindly bought by Kuba from Harvey Nichols, London. Previously thought to be one of the rarest on the list, Kuba had no problem finding this in London - although it was the last one. Fairly runny goat's cheese with a relatively strong mould on top.
4*
Gouda (Hol)
Bought from Tesco's, Cowley.
3.5*
Windsor Red (Eng)
Kindly bought by Kuba from Harrod's, London.
A mild cheddar, flavoured and coloured by wine and port. The port taste comes through especially but otherwise is not a particularly special cheddar.
3.5*
Reblochon (Fra)
Bought from Tesco's, Cowley
Soft cheese, similar to Camembert but slightly nuttier.
4.5*
Herve (Bel)
Kindly bought for me by Dr Peter Hayes - who I've never met! Wonderful strong smell manages to escape through the cheese packaging, a sandwich bag, a tesco bag and a sealed tupperware tub - all inside a Bio-Hazard sealed envelope. The cheese is very soft and has a yellow/orange mould covering which is very sticky. Very sweet and nutty taste.
4.5*
Cheese - Castelmagno 20061220
Cheese - Reblochon 20061211
Castelmagno (Ita)
Very kindly bought for me by Marco di Gobbi from Italy. Very hard, crumbly cheese. Like the other Italian cheeses, similar taste to parmesan but, in this case, far less salty.
3.5*
Cheese - Abondance 20061220
Cheese - Casciotta d'Urbino 20061220
Abondance (Fra)
Kindly bought for me by Kuba from a farmer's market in London
Hard. Woody smell.
3.5
Casciotta d'Urbino (Ita)
Very kindly bought for me by Marco di Gobbi from Italy. Soft, white cheese - similar to Babybel without the "processed" feel to it. Very creamy.
4.5*
The Great Cheese Challenge
Thirty-Five Cheeses before Christmas!
Junior Church member Henry set himself the task of locating and tasting thirty-five cheeses before Christmas. See if he achieved his challenge by reading down the page. Henry has also given detailed comments on each cheese tasted along with a star rating for each cheese.
Well it's now December 25th and Henry hasn't quite finished his challenge by the deadline he set himself, with thirty-one out of thirty-five cheeses tasted. Despite the fact he spent most of the 23rd December looking for cheeses in London he has still got four varieties to find. However he's made a remarkable effort of which we shoudl all be pround and we hope he will finish the challenge early in 2007. The results will be posted below:
