the cheese blog

El petitOt d’Alba

El petitOt d’Alba is an unpasteurized goats milk cheese made by Fromatgeria Mas Alba in Girona, Spain. The milk comes from Mas Alba’s own herd of goats.  The cheese has a natural, bloomy rind with some bluish mold. The interior is bright white. The taste is very fresh, with a slightly aged goat taste. There are some citrus notes as well. This is a pleasant little cheese. Let’s just say this cheese didn’t last very long!

I picked this up from Fromatgeria La Seu in Barcelona (near Barri Gotic). This was an absolutely wonderful cheese shop, with a great selection of regional cheeses.

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Quesos de Galicia

I recently did a quick visit to Madrid and Barcelona. While I didn’t have much time to do serious cheese tasting, where I had the opportunity I took it. This is not the best picture, but I was trying to be discreet. This was the selection of Galician cheeses at Taberna Maceiras in Madrid. The plate included five types of cheeses, which I included Tetilla, Queso de San Simón, and Queso de Ulloa Curado.

The Tetilla is a pasteurized cows milk cheese that takes its name from being breast, or pear, shaped. It has a white interior with a firm exterior, that goes from yellow on the rind to off white in the center. The paste is creamy and typically has air holes dotted throughout. The taste is mild, close to a very young Cheddar, but with a fresher taste, more like a Mozzarella.

The Queso de Ulloa is also a made from cows milk (sometimes pasteurized, sometime not). Since this was a Curado, it means it was aged more than 6 months, compared to standard Ulloa which is a fresh cheese. It tasted similar to the Tetilla, but was more bitter.

Queso de San Simón is also a cows milk cheese (again, sometimes pasteurized). There are two sizes. The one I had looked to come from the top of the smaller size, known as the “dunce’s cap”. The smaller size is aged for a minimum of  30 days. San Simón smoked with birch wood. Due to the smoking, the rind is smooth, but tough, with a shiny brown color. The interior is a deep honey color with a smooth texture and small air holes throughout. It has a semi-firm texture. The flavor is definitely smoky, but it is not overpowering.

I think one of the cheeses was Cebreiro, which would be the fresh cheese at the top of the picture. I honestly didn’t care for it. It was bitter and didn’t have much flavor. The shape is quite unusual though. There is a picture here. Everything else was excellent!

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Davidstow Cheddar

Another in the Marks & Spencer “try me for 99p” cheese selections. A Cheddar made by the Davidstow Creamery in Cornwall. Rated 5 on the M&S cheese strength meter. Some searches on the Internet lead to some interesting descriptions of Davidstow, e.g., The Davidstow Creamery … has been making cheese for over 50 years using the water from St David’s Holy Well which can be found next to the parish church.

First, I have to give credit to M&S for this “try me for 99p” range of cheeses. What a brilliant marketing move. How many people here in the UK are hearing more about British cheeses and they provide an option to try small samples for less than a quid. This is obviously bordering on my holy grail, if only they would expand the selection. Based on recent visits to the local M&S, this seems to be the pattern though.

Back to the Cheddar though. This is a pretty typical medium style-Cheddar. It has a pleasant off-white, bordering on pale butter color. There is little aroma, but it does have a pleasant taste. This isn’t a bad Cheddar. It has some nice dried fruit notes, a slight nuttiness, and a bit of tang. This really would be a good sandwich cheese. It has enough flavor to contribute, but doesn’t dominate the rest of the sandwich.

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Mature Blue Stilton

Adding to the store-bought cheese reviews, this cheese comes from Marks & Spencer. It’s called Mature Blue Stilton made by the Tuxford and Tebbutt Creamery, in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. Tuxford and Tebbutt are one of the eight official Stilton producers in the UK, with a history dating back to 1780.

Stiton is made from pasteurized cows milk (per Stilton regulations the cheese must now be pasteurized) and is aged for three to four months. It has a natural rind with a soft, pale-yellow butter color paste. The veining is slight, but the vein colors range from deep emerald blue to light seaweed green (I was expecting more veining though, maybe it was how the cheese was cut.) The texture is slightly firm, like softening butter. The taste is straight ahead Stilton. It is rich and buttery, with some saltiness followed by a mellow spiciness.

I would have to say that the cheese tasted flat and the surface texture wasn’t quite right (a bit rubbery, which can be seen in the picture). I think this is primarily due to the fact that the cheese is pre-packaged and doesn’t store very well. I guess it’s the trade-off between convenience and having access to better cheese.

Posted in England, Leicestershire | No Comments »

Fior Di Primavera

It took a while of hunting on the Internet, using some hints on the label to identify this second Italian cheese I picked up at Eataly. This Italian cheese is a “pecorino affinato nel fieno,” translated means Pecorino aged in hay, made by Caseificio il Fiorino in the Tuscany region. It appears to be some type of Pecorino stagionato, or aged Pecorino, style cheese, therefore I assume it is made from ewes milk.

The rind is very rustic, with an odd assortment of grey, beige, red, and green colors. It has a hard, flaky interior that varies from off-white to butterscotch near the rind. The aroma is earthy and funky. The taste was quite odd though. I really couldn’t place the flavors, other than very earthy and salty, but there was some permeating funkiness I couldn’t get past. I guess the aging in hay contributes the earthiness and being a Pecorino-style is why it’s so salty. Where the other odd flavors came from, I have no idea.

I’m always up for a challenging cheese, but this cheese just didn’t do it for me. Maybe there are some alternative uses it that I’m missing (grated perhaps), so if anyone has suggestions or comments, I would love to hear them.

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Casutin

While on a recent trip to Italy, I stopped in a local store after work (Eataly) and looked for a couple of regional Italian cheeses to try. Casutin looked interesting, with it’s disc shape and thin, bloomy rind. Casutin is made by Beppiono Occelli in Farigliano, in the Piedmont region of Italy.

Casutin is a fresh cows milk, tomino-style cheese that is typically aged about 1 week, although this version seemed to be a bit firmer and therefore suggested it had been aged longer. The interior is bright white. The paste is quite soft and almost spreadable, similar to a Brie, but doesn’t loose it’s shape very much at room temperature. The flavor is quite mild, with some slight herbal notes. Apparently this cheese can be grilled, similar to Haloumi. The cheese wasn’t remarkable, but I can’t count it out without having an opportunity to grill it, or maybe served over warm polenta.

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Butlers Creamy Lancashire

Third in the store bought cheese reviews is Butlers Creamy Lancashire, this one sold by Marks & Spencer, technically called “Butler’s farmhouse creamy Lancashire.” It has a 2 on M&S’s cheese strength meter. The cheese has won multiple awards, including a World Cheese Award and multiple British Cheese Awards.

Creamy Lancashire is made from cows milk. It is a clothbound and matured for two to three months. It has a pleasant butter color and it has a very smooth and creamy texture. There is little aroma. The taste is like a mild Cheddar, but with a more buttery notes. Nothing amazing about this cheese, just a very solid every day cheese. I can imagine it would be really good in a grilled cheese and tomato, or used in a Welsh rarebit.

Posted in England, Lancashire | No Comments »