Speciality Food January 2024

CHEESE UNCUT @specialityfood 26 New retail perspectives from industry experts “I can’t thank our people enough. It’s been a massive undertaking to come together and get the ranges out to customers,” saidMatthewHall of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses, which is rebuilding following a fire that devastated its office and packing site at Longridge in Lancashire last November. Just two hours after the fire struck, Butlers’ separate dairy premises whipped into production. “We have a responsibility to keep taking milk from our local farmers,” Matthew said. “It’s important to keep that community going. They want to send their milk into us, and we’ve got to be able to take that milk, make it into products, and put it out the door.” A significant amount of cheese was lost in what Matthew called the most “brutal” way. While some of these losses will take time to recover from (chiefly stocks of longer aged cheeses such as the 18-month aged Sunday Best), he said they are pushing forward, consolidating the business’s long-termplans to make an impact in the British soft cheese market. “We’ve increased our capacity significantly, and post-fire this has been an important lever for us,” he explained. “This means we’ve really been able to keep up that production andmeet everyone’s increased demands. We’ve also seen an opportunity with retailers and independent customers, who are pivoting into taking different soft cheeses fromus. It’s a great trial bed to see howwell British soft cheese can do in the marketplace, and howmuch of a powerhouse we can make it here in Lancashire.” The range includes Kidderton Ash (an ash-rolled goats’ cheese log), ButtonMill (a soft, creamy brie-style cheese), and Parlick Brie (produced with sheep’s milk). “We expect Blacksticks to be next back into supply, and hard cheeses after that.” Butlers has an up-to-date portal on its website with the latest available stock, as well a ‘Next Chapter’ blog with updates and news on the Longridge site. Butlers drives forward with soft cheese vision Golden Hooves expands regenerative cheese range Appleby Creamery, in the Eden Valley, has recently brought to market a premium grilling cheese, made using high protein milk from a single herd of Ayshire cows. The cheese, produced in the style of a Greek or Cypriot Halloumi, has been designed to help consumers and retailers reduce food miles, while performing just as they might expect traditional varieties to in the kitchen. Retail packs of 250g are available, alongside 700g logs, ideal for foodservice and catering. A chutney and preserves maker who branched out into cheesemaking two years ago is celebrating the success of his new red-blue cheese. Steve Reid, who’s operated Friar’s Farm for a decade, has long had an interest in cheese, setting up the Northampton Cheese Company, “rather than retiring”. Each cheese (made with local milk) has a name relating to Northampton’s shoemaking industry – the first being a Cheddar-style called Clickers. With its distinctive red colour, and blue veining from Roquefort cultures, Hobnail is unique to the Northampton area, said Steve. “It’s a semi-soft blue that’s quite gentle – it’s not overly blue. We lightly press it, and when we pierce it, the marks make it look like a hobnail’s gone through it.” Interestingly, the cheese is aged in historic tunnels deep beneath the surface of the dairy, left behind by the brewery which formerly occupied the premises. “It’s high humidity, 13C, and that makes a difference,” Steve explained. “The atmosphere gives the cheese a slightly different, more intense flavour.” Hobnail is available for retail and wholesale now. Appleby launches new grilling cheese Try new tunnel-aged red-blue cheese British farmer-owned dairy co-operative, First Milk, has added to its range of regenerative cheeses with the launch of Golden Hooves Vintage Cheddar. Made to the same award-winning recipe as Golden Hooves Mature Cheddar, using fully traceable milk, the cheese is aged for 18 to 24 months by expert graders, resulting in a firm- bodied, complex and well-balanced Cheddar with strong savoury and caramel notes. The Golden Hooves range helps wave the flag for First Milk’s 700 UK farms, which are united by a shared commitment to five principles – livestock integration, minimising soil disturbance, protecting the soil surface, encouraging plant diversity, and maintaining living roots. With the help of grazing cows, which work the land with their ‘magic hooves’, these measures are known to remove carbon from the atmosphere by sequestering it into the soil. Golden Hooves Vintage Cheddar is available for retail in pre-packed 200g wedges via Longman’s, and for food service via Castell Howell. Production of a new soft blue cheese, crafted in Yorkshire, has ramped up thanks to investment in a larger, refurbished dairy. Andrew Foley, who founded Yorkshire Organic Cheesemakers New Yorkshire cheese is back on the market two years ago, said he’s overjoyed to be able to make more of his Shorthorn Blue, which has been very well received by cheesemongers and delis in the county. When he started his cheesemaking journey, Andrewwas only able to produce 10 to 12 cheeses at a time. Now, with a 2,000lt vat, he’s managed to hugely scale up, taking on award- winning affineur Emmanuelle Metz to help him continue this journey (with new cheeses, perhaps a Cheddar- style, on the horizon for 2024). Milk for Shorthorn Blue is sourcedmainly from a single herd of Shorthorns at Acorn Dairy in Darlington. “Theymake great cheese,” Andrew explained. “They’re hardy cows, and because they are very low yield the milk is so rich, which is what I thinkmakes Shorthorn Blue such a fantastic product. Everyone says it’s a bit like a cream-enriched cheese. It’s really nice working with a single herd, withmilk I know, and with a family I like!” Andrew and Emmanuelle have spent a long time perfecting the recipe and ripening of the cheese. “The flavour is almost sweet, with caramel, which is unusual,” Andrew said. “It tends to be verymild. I call it a ‘session’ cheese because it’s just so moreish. Some blues, you taste them and think ‘I couldn’t eat a lot of that’, but this one, even people who say they don’t like blues are loving it. It’s gentle, but gives that little tang in your cheeks, that little sensation of a blue bite.” The dairy is now open to direct orders from independent retailers and wholesalers. Extensive investment has been made at the Mill Farm dairy site in Longridge, following its acquisition by Carron Lodge at the end of 2022. Carron Lodge, which purchased the dairy to save the Singletons brand (production of which has moved to their main site), has spent several months modernising the premises, predominantly to serve the business’s extensive export arm. “It’s taken the best part of a year to get all the facilities ready,” said Carron Lodge’s Michael Harrison. “There were a lot of things we Carron Lodge regenerates its Longridge site changed around, purely to have everything running how we liked it, including putting in a new dairy, and production has just started again.” There are lots of plans in the pipeline for the Mill Farm site. “Because we can do such large volumes there. We’ve got large volumes of different milks going through, being produced into different cheeses. There’s a lot of scope for export and plenty of new blends and new products we’re now capable of making.”