Speciality Food April 2024

specialityfoodmagazine.com 21 Stinking Bishop, produced by Charles Martell & Son, has undergone a transformation with a new, smaller format now available to increase its accessibility and versatility. The pungent cheese, named after the pear variety used in its production, can now be purchased as a 250g grab-and-go option. Director Sasha Martell, says, “The smaller size enhances its appeal as a shareable appetiser or an accompaniment to a curated cheeseboard. The creamy texture and tangy undertones create a memorable tasting experienced, ensuring that the essence of Stinking Bishop is not compromised in its downsized form.” Sasha adds that the cheese’s “portabilitymakes it an ideal companion for picnics, gatherings, or simply as an indulgent treat on its own, or paired with crusty bread, fruits or nuts.” New format for Stinking Bishop Blackwoods Cheese Company, foundedmore than a decade ago by cheese-loving friends, has not only ramped up production in 2024 as it recovers fromflood damage, but is in the throes of launching a brand-new cheese. Based in Kent, Blackwoods uses only organic milk from regenerative farms in its products, including Graceburn (a unique marinated soft cow’s milk cheese) and Edmund Tew – a Langres style product imagined by co-founder David Holton during his time working in Neal’s Yard Dairy’s maturation rooms. Fans of the product, a winner of many awards, will be glad to hear it’s back in production, following on from the return of Graceburn last summer. Cheesemaking was halted at the dairy in December 2022 when a spate of icy weather caused the plumbing to burst, causingmass destruction. “It flooded the entire building,” recalls David. “What we thought would be 10 weeks out of action just kept dragging on and on, and it turned out to be more like 40 weeks.” The teamwere back doing what they do best in a new and improved dairy at the end of August 2023, though David adds it hasn’t been easy to “relaunch the business after such a tricky time, in what is a trickymarket for any cheesemaker.” Edmund Tew is now available once more. “It’s a washed brine cheese, relying on diverse microbes for its flavour profile, and that changes a lot with age,” says David. “We start selling it at three weeks. At this stage there’s a little bit of funk, and some savoury peanut butter and charcuterie notes, but it’s quite mellowwith a clean, lactic, milky core. As the Tew ages out, those savoury flavours become more and more evident.” A new kid on the block is Blackwoods’ Hever – a lactic, washed- rind cheese in a slightly bigger format than Edmund Tew at 250g. “It’s like Edmund Tew’s naughty cousin,” laughs David. “It’s a bit stronger, a bit feistier and funkier. It really packs a punch. We’ve modelled it after the washed-rind cheeses of Burgundy, like Epoisses.” David says they’re still working on the recipe and tweaking the cheese’s maturity, but that samples are now available for distributors, who should get in touch if they’d like to give it a try. As for the dairy? “We’re not 100% out of the woods yet. But we’ve got a fewmonths under our belt now, and coming into spring and summer things are feeling quite promising.” New product launch fromGraceburn founder Irish goats’ cheese makes a return Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith, owner and director of St Tola Goat Cheese, says she’s delighted St Tola Karst is back in production. “Spring has come around again, and we’re so happy to see our goats kidding again, especially as that means lots more rawmilk here on the farm,” she says. St Tola Karst is an ash-coated variety, made only with rawmilk from Siobhan’s herd on the Atlantic Coast in County Clare. The ash slows down the development and maturation of the cheese, which forms a silvery skin of geotrichum candidum and penicilliummoulds. “The silvery grey rinds reflect the limestone landscape of The Burren, here in County Clare,” says Siobhan. “It’s an area recognised as a UNESCO Geopark, famed for its beauty, and the unique provenance of its food.” Karst is aged for two weeks, and has a fluffy, creamy texture, with note of sweet cocoa. “It makes a stunning addition to any cheeseboard,” Siobhan adds. Boasting three decades of natural cheese smoking experience, the Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, has recently made a significant investment with the addition of a brand-new cheese smokehouse. In response to increasedmarket demand for ‘real’ smoked cheese, the facility allows the business to more than double its current output, at a time when data fromGoogle highlights a 43% increase in search for smoked cheese in the UK in the last quarter alone. Marketing manager, Sandra Bell, says, “Our investment in the business’ smoking capabilities marks a major milestone for us. We’re starting to see increased interest and demand for naturally smoked cheese, and as a category it provides real growth potential for our business. The investment firmly cements our commitment to innovation in this area, and bymore than doubling our capacity allows us to further develop our expertise and grow.” Offering the latest smoking technology, the new smokehouse provides full end-to-end production and has allowed the creamery to increase its range of finished smoke flavours to include oak, beech and hickory, using FSC certified, sustainably sourced wood. The new operation is open to contract, smoking hard pressed cheeses for other makers, with the natural process not requiring any added flavourings, colours or preservatives. Yorkshire dairy opens its own smokehouse