The first five cheeses

I have been using the cheese advent calendar. The cheeses are processed adn wrapped in plastic, I should probably let them breathe a bit before eating and I should have the with a cracker or something but there we are. (Looking around I see that the calendar is offered by some suppliers with chutney or biscuits). No doublers yet. So far we have had

Ilchester Aged Red Leicester

This traditional English cheese has been carefully matured for a minimum of 9 months giving it a distinguishable smooth, tangy and nutty taste.

This traditional English cheese has been carefully matured for a minimum of 9 months giving it a distinguishable smooth, tangy and nutty taste.

llchester Cheddar

Ilchester Double Gloucester

A hard cheese with a savoury, mellow flavour, famous for being the cheese that is rolled down Coopers Hill yearly, in May, for the UK’s most extreme cheese race!

Ilchester Mature Cheddar

This cheddar comes from the West Country, close to where Cheddar originated in the Mendip Hills. Take a bite and let the creaminess melt in your mouth, with its earthy tangy notes.

Ilchester Red Leicester with black peppers

This smooth and nutty traditional English cheese is flecked with cracked black pepper to give a delicious savoury, smooth flavour and a little bite.

Advent Calendar

As a treat for Christmas I have purchased a cheese advent calendar.

Looking forward to enjoying it soon.

Smoked Cerwyn

Caws Cerwyn is a young, creamy cows’ milk cheese made by Pant Mawr in Rosebush, Pembrokeshire in Wales. It is a moderately hard cheese, similar to a Cheddar, which has been matured for a short period to give it a smooth, buttery taste and plenty of bite. The cheese is named after the highest mountain in the Preseli range, which sits behind the family farm.

Caws Cerwyn is beautiful as part of a cheeseboard or eaten with fresh, buttered bread. It has been a Silver award winner at the British Cheese Awards.

Pant Mawr Cheeses is run by David and Cynthia Jennings and their son Jason on their traditional Pembrokeshire hill farm.

The smoked version retains the creamy texture of the original Caws Cerwyn but has a deeply savoury tang, having been cold smoked over oak from sustainable forests.

Mountain Meadow

A hard, Swiss cow's milk cheese (usually unpasteurised) covered with herbs and wild flowers, with a fully edible rind. The Swiss call it bergwiese.

Paneer

Paneer, also known as ponir, is a fresh acid-set cheese common in cuisine of the Indian subcontinent made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice.

The word paneer entered English from the Hindi-Urdu term panīr, which comes from Persian panir 'cheese', which comes from Old Iranian. Armenian panir Azeri pəndir, Bengali ponir, Turkish peynir and Turkmen peýnir, all derived from Persian panir, also refer to cheese of any type.

The origin of paneer is debated. Ancient Indian, Afghan-Iranian and Portuguese origins have been proposed for paneer. One theory is that like the word itself, paneer originated in Persianate lands and spread to the Indian subcontinent under Muslim rule. Paneer, according to this theory, was developed and moulded to suit local tastes under these rulers, and the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire are when paneer as currently known developed. Another theory states that paneer is Afghan in origin and spread to India from the lands that make up Afghanistan

According to others, paneer is indigenous to the north-western part of South Asia and was introduced in India by Afghan and Iranian travellers.

Yet another theory is that the Portuguese may have introduced the technique of "breaking" milk with acid to Bengal in the 17th century.

It is usually fried in apan like halloumi.

Mimolette

Mimolette is a cheese traditionally produced around the city of Lille, France. In France it is also known as Boule de Lille after its city of origin or vieux Hollande because it was originally inspired by the Dutch Edam cheese.

Mimolette has a spherical shape and is similar in appearance to a cantaloupe melon. It normally weighs about 2 kg (app 4.5 pounds) and is made from cow's milk. Its name comes from the French word mi-mou (feminine mi-molle), meaning "semi-soft", which refers to the oily texture of this otherwise hard cheese. The bright orange color of the cheese comes from the natural seasoning, annatto. When used in small amounts, primarily as a food colourant, annatto adds no discernible flavour or aroma. The grey-coloured rind of aged Mimolette is caused by cheese mites that are added to the surface of the cheese. They serve to enhance its flavour.

Mimolette can be consumed at different stages of aging. When younger, its taste resembles that of Parmesan. Many appreciate it most when it is "extra-old" (extra-vieille). At that point, it can become rather hard to chew, and the flesh takes on a hazelnut-like flavour.

It was originally made by the request of Louis XIV, who – in the context of Jean-Baptiste Colbert's mercantilistic policies – was looking for a native French product to replace the then very popular Edam. To make it distinct from Edam, it was first coloured using carrot juice and later seasoned with annatto to give it a distinct orange colour.

The cheese was known to be a favourite of French President Charles de Gaulle.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration in the USA detained about a ton of the cheese, putting further imports to the USA on hold. This was because the cheese mites could cause an allergic reaction if consumed in large quantities. The FDA stated that the cheese was above the standard of six mites per cubic inch. The restriction was lifted in 2014.

Mont des Cats

Mont des Cats was originally produced by Trappist monks. They started producing Mont des Cats cheeses in 1890. The cheese is produced using cows milk from local sources and has a fat content of 50%. While maturing for at least two months the cheese is washed with salted water containing a dye called roucou, made from annatto seeds, which gives the rind its characteristic orange colour. The texture of the cheese is smooth and supple, with occasional tiny holes. The flavour is mild with subtle hints of milk and hay.

Maasdam

Maasdam and Leerdammer are very similar. Maasdam is an Emmental-style Dutch cheeses made from cow's milk. Maasdam is aged for at least four weeks. It ripens faster than other cheeses made in the Netherlands. It has internal voids, holes or eyes that appear during the ripening process and a smooth, yellow rind. Sometimes, it is waxed like Gouda. The cheeses were created to compete with Swiss Emmentaler cheeses by being less expensive and quicker to produce. In the process of making a cheese with the same general components as Swiss cheeses, the Dutch ended up with a cheese that is nutty and sweet but softer than Emmental, due to a higher moisture content. Leerdammer was introduced in 1984 by the Baars company. Leerdammer is now made by other Dutch companies under the name Maasdam or Maasdammer. That name was selected to honour the village of Maasdam in the province of South Holland.

Ossau-Iraty

Ossau-Iraty (or Esquirrou) is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béarn and the Irati Forest in the Basque Country.

It has been recognised as an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) product since 1980. It is one of three sheep's milk cheeses granted AOC status in France (the others are Roquefort and Brocciu). It is of ancient origin, traditionally made by the shepherds in the region.

Production techniques are very much old world methods whereby the sheep still graze mountain pastures and provide the milk, which must be from the breeds Basco-Béarnaise, Red-face Manech or Black-face Manech. This is an uncooked cheese made through pressing. When offered as a farm-produced cheese (known as fromage fermier, fromage de ferme or produit fermier), the AOC regulations stipulate that only raw, unpasteurised milk be used.

Historically, production has been:3,067 tonnes (2003) 60 producers (2003) 8 manufacturers: private industries and cooperatives (1998) 2,045 milk producers (1998)

According to the official description, the cheese crust is yellow-orange to grey and the body color ranges from white to cream depending on how it has been matured. It is smooth, creamy and firm and may have some small "eyes".

Leerdammer

Leerdammer is a Dutch semihard cheese made from cow's milk. It has an ageing time around 3–12 months. It has a creamy white texture and was made to be similar in appearance and flavour to Emmental. Its sweet and somewhat nutty flavour becomes more pronounced with age. It also has distinct holes. Advertising campaigns have used the slogan "De lekkerste kaas tussen de gaten" ("the taste is around the holes").

The cheese is produced exclusively by the Bel Group. The Leerdammer name is a trademark of Bel Leerdammer BV. On 22 March 2021, Bel Group announced it was handing over the brand and its related assets to Lactalis in exchange for the shares Lactalis held in Bel Group, bar a retained 0.9% stake.

Leerdammer cheese is produced in Schoonrewoerd in the municipality of Leerdam, the city which gave Leerdammer its name. Generic Leerdammer-style cheese is sold as Maasdam cheese. Groupe Bel has a second factory producing Leerdammer in Dalfsen, in the eastern province of Overijssel. It is also produced in France.

The cheese was developed by Cees Boterkooper, who had owned a small dairy in Schoonrewoerd since 1914, and Bastiaan Baars, who ran a cheese shop in a nearby village. The two met in 1970, and soon afterwards decided to collaborate. They worked on a cheese that could compete with Gouda and Edam. Leerdammer was launched in 1977. It is available in supermarkets throughout Europe, Russia and the US.

Mayfield

Mayfield is an  a semi hard wax coatedEmmental style cheese that is sweet, nutty and creamy. It is made made with full fat pasteurised cow’s milk and is deliciously creamy yet complex, It is matured for 5-7 months to become a delicious creamy yet complex cheese with naturally developed oval shaped holes in its interior, called eyes. Aparently good for melting in fondues, raclettes or just to make cheese on toast that little bit more special.

Made in the heart of the East Sussex countryside by Arthur Alsop and Nic Walker, both cheese makers are highly skilled chefs and both have a lifelong passion for cheese and cheese making. They have allowed cheese making to completely dominate their lives and have developed some truly unique and distinctive products in a small but modern dairy.

Abaty Glas

I am in Aberystwyth and so a trip to Ultra Comedia is part of the deal. This time round I picked up some Abaty Glas (Blue Abbey). Very creamy. I enjoyed it. It is made with unpasteurised organic cows' milk by Roger Yorke of Caws Penhelyg in a nearby micro-dairy. He apparently developed it after having great success with his raw milk Brie. He is one of very few cheesemakers in the UK currently making unpasteurised soft and blue cheeses. Abaty Glas has won awards, including at the Royal Welsh Show in 2023.

Lord London

Made by Arthur Alsop & Nick Walker in the heart of the East Sussex Countryside, this uniquely-shaped cow's milk cheese is a semi-soft, clean-tasting cheese with a natural creaminess and hint of citrus.