Do you know there are greater than 1,800 named cheeses on the planet? Within the UK alone, there are over 700 varieties – extra, some argue, than France. And, that’s to not point out the handfuls of latest cheeses being created by the artisan neighborhood yearly – all of it, by the best way, produced from simply 4 substances: milk, starter tradition, rennet and salt.
No marvel then that irrespective of how hooked we’re on the arduous stuff (and the comfortable, washed, smelly and blue), we draw back from journey and as an alternative default to the blocky, pre-cut, shrink-wrapped cheeses accessible within the grocery store. In spite of everything, life’s too traumatic so as to add but extra decision-making to your plate.
That will help you take that first step over the edge into a complete new world of fromage fantasia, Perry Wakeman solutions the highest 10 questions he’s requested in his job as boss of Rennet & Rind in Stamford, Lincolnshire. He actually is aware of his stuff. Not solely is he a decide at numerous cheese awards – together with a coveted place on the Tremendous Jury on the 2025 World Cheese Awards in Bern, Switzerland, the place he championed the profitable gruyère – he’s additionally a three-time winner of the trade’s most prestigious accolade, Affineur of the Yr.
So, over to Perry:
“An incredible cheesemonger is without doubt one of the most underused assets in British meals tradition,” says Perry. “So, don’t waste their experience – use it. Listed below are the questions you need to ask to get the perfect out of your cheesemonger.”
What’s tasting finest proper now?
“That is the query each cheesemonger needs you to ask. The sincere reply modifications weekly, generally day by day. Proper now, it’s the Wigmore: the summer season milk has sweetened it up and it’s consuming in addition to I’ve ever identified it. Ask this each time you stroll in – a very good cheesemonger’s reply won’t ever be the identical twice.”
Can I strive it earlier than I purchase?
“All the time. Any cheesemonger who hesitates is within the incorrect job. Tasting is the way you study and uncover, and the way you find yourself shopping for one thing you’d by no means have picked off the counter your self. Don’t be shy about it both: strive two or three issues. That’s what we’re right here for.”
How ought to I retailer this?
“A lidded plastic container is your finest good friend. Each time somebody opens the fridge door to seize the milk for his or her tea, the humidity fluctuates. A container stops all of that and retains situations secure. Should you’re planning to maintain cheese for some time – unlikely if you happen to’re any sort of cheese fiend – open the lid each on occasion to let it breathe.”
What’s new that I most likely haven’t heard of?
“Shameless self-promotion: Dillon, which must be prepared in just a few months. That is the cheese that gained Affineur of the Yr 2025. It’s a cheddar made utilizing extremely experimental maturation strategies that draw out moisture progressively all through the ageing course of, creating an awfully dense paste with an epic savoury depth. Watch this house.”
I’m cooking [dish] – what would work?
“My secret weapon for nearly something: a microplane and a bit of Sparkenhoe purple leicester. The second that cheese hits a bit of warmth, it virtually disappears into the dish, abandoning this lingering funk and savoury end. I end scrambled eggs with a light-weight dusting. Attempt it as soon as and also you’ll by no means cease.”
Is that this made with pasteurised or unpasteurised milk?
“Uncooked milk cheeses will provide you with extra seasonal variation, as a result of the cheesemaker is working straight with regardless of the cows have been consuming and the way they have been feeling that week. However, the larger dialog is about dedication to conventional apply: selecting to handle the pure variability in your milk, slightly than standardising it right into a constant established order. That’s a basically totally different philosophy, and it exhibits within the cheese.”
How lengthy ought to I age this at dwelling?
“Actually? Go to a very good impartial cheesemonger and belief them to offer you cheese at precisely the best profile to eat now. As soon as a cheese is reduce, it’s going downhill. It’ll dry out and the feel will transfer in a route you most likely didn’t ask for, except you particularly like that sort of desiccated, claggy chew. Most individuals don’t.”
What would you pair this with?
“The simple rule: what grows collectively, goes collectively. Discover one thing from the identical area because the cheese, and eight instances out of 10, it would work. For a extra technical pairing, take into consideration balancing the essential flavours: fats in opposition to acid, salt in opposition to candy.”
What’s your private favorite proper now?
“For me, proper now, it’s Dillon, which I’ve been maturing for the final yr utilizing strategies I’ve by no means seen utilized to a cheddar earlier than. It gained Affineur of the Yr 2025 and it’s virtually prepared. However, ask your cheesemonger this query each go to. The reply tells you extra about what’s value shopping for than the rest on the counter.”
Can you narrow me a smaller piece?
“100 per cent, that’s what us cheesemongers are right here for. We don’t thoughts how a lot you’re taking, offering you’re taking it.”
My favorite summer season cheese proper now
Perry picks six cheeses value looking for out this season…
Templegall, Hegarty’s Cheese, County Cork
“Dan Hegarty and his French cheesemaker Jean-Baptiste Enjelvin make this in Whitechurch, Cork, and it’s one of the thrilling issues to have occurred to Irish cheesemaking in a era. JB grew up within the Jura, and it exhibits: Templegall is an Alpine-style cheese within the custom of comté and gruyère, made solely from summer season milk when the cows’ pasture-rich eating regimen is at its peak. Uncooked milk, 42kg wheels, brushed and turned and aged for at least 9 months. The result’s candy, nutty, deeply savoury, with a slight crystalline crunch that tells you one thing severe has occurred within the cave. It gained Supreme Champion on the Artisan Cheese Awards, and it deserved it.”
Wigmore, Village Maid Dairy, Berkshire
“Anne Wigmore’s washed-curd sheep’s milk wheel is without doubt one of the most underrated cheeses in Britain, and was one of many high 16 cheeses on the planet on the 2023 World Cheese Awards. Mild, buttery, faintly floral – it’s the cheese I give to individuals who suppose they don’t like sheep’s milk. In summer season, the milk sweetens and the paste softens to one thing virtually yielding. It disappears from the counter quicker than virtually the rest we inventory, and rightly so.”
Pyghtle, Broughton Corridor Dairy, Suffolk
“Emily Tydeman solely began making this in 2024, and it’s already certainly one of my favorite issues to place in entrance of a buyer. A small, log-shaped, lactic sheep’s milk cheese from Lleyn-cross ewes in Suffolk, with a pale, wrinkled rind and fluffy white paste, opening with yogurt, heat milk and meadow. Sit with it and citrus begins to emerge, then a quiet nuttiness, then, with a bit extra age, a whisper of spice and smoke. Pastoral on the floor, however extra fascinating than it appears to be like. It’s a seasonal cheese – get it whereas it’s right here.”
Graceburn, Blackwoods Cheese Firm, Kent
“David Holton’s background tells you every little thing: Neal’s Yard Dairy, Mons Affineurs, Mary Holbrook at Sleight Farm. Then, he primarily based his dairy on a regenerative natural farm in Kent and constructed one thing totally his personal. Graceburn is impressed by a Persian feta recipe that David first encountered in Australia – uncooked cow’s milk, brined, then damaged by hand into items and steeped in a mix of British cold-pressed rapeseed oil and additional virgin olive oil, thyme, garlic, bay and pepper. The oil it is available in is value utilizing, too. Probably the most summery factor on this record and probably essentially the most versatile.”
Yoredale wensleydale, Curlew Dairy, North Yorkshire
“Ben and Sam Spence left careers in finance to restart one thing that hadn’t been accomplished within the dale since 1957: clothbound, farm-produced wensleydale, made on web site utilizing their very own uncooked milk and a gradual pre-war recipe. The outcome has nothing in frequent with the grocery store block – it’s easy and buttery, slightly than crumbly, with a clear, lemon yogurt acidity and mineral, earthy notes as you’re employed in direction of the rind. In summer season, that is the cheese I attain for when serving stone fruit – ripe apricots, just a few walnuts and a glass of one thing calmly chilled.”
Barkham blue, Village Maid Cheese, Berkshire
“Village Maid acquired Barkham blue from Two Hoots Cheese in 2024, when founders Sandy and Andy Rose retired, and it’s stored every little thing that made it nice: the identical Guernsey milk from Laceys Household Farm that the cheese has at all times been made with, the identical ammonite-shaped spherical, the identical measured method to the blue. The paste is wealthy and buttery, the veining mild slightly than aggressive and the flavour extra cream than spike. It gained Greatest Blue Cheese on the 2024 Artisan Cheese Awards, and it’s the blue for summer season: approachable sufficient for the nervous, complicated sufficient for the transformed. A spoonful of honey and also you’re accomplished.”
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