The cafe space at the back of Love Cheese has been subject to significant improvement over the last 18 months and has now become a comforting bolt-hole in which to pass time in the company of some top notch, cheese-based treats. When not being pressed into service for events, “The Speakcheesey” offers toasties, drinks and cheese platters in cosy surroundings, tonight though it very much had its event clothes on with low lighting and a blues band setting up in the corner as we arrived. The “All about the Blues” Blues & Blue Cheese evening kicked off with biodynamic prosecco livened up by a dash of sloe gin paired with Montagnolo Affine, a creamy German blue cheese whose hit of salt went up against the fizz nicely.

Normally one might expect an evening like this to have a compere who talks you through each pairing as they’re presented but with a blues band getting into their stride in the background, that was impractical. Instead each table had comprehensive tasting notes to which they were directed as the next pairing was delivered, along with a selection of honey, chutney, nuts and bread to freshen up the palate as desired. Next up was a favourite of mine, Gorgonzola Piccante, served with a Portuguese white to bring the cheese to its best. The next hour or so saw four more blue cheese and wine tasting arrive at the table, along with more bread and accompaniments as Bleu d’Auvergne, Hebridean Blue and Cropwell Bishop Stilton all were paired variously with more wines and a port. Amongst those, an English Pinot Noir was unusual and compelling when combined with the Bleu d’Auvergne and a particularly punchy 20% 2015 port that was a pleasingly bold finish to enjoy as the blues band really hit their stride.

I’ve had a long association with Love Cheese, which was originally opened by a former colleague of mine and subsequently supplied cheese for a cheese tower in place of a wedding cake on my special day. It’s really satisfying to see their cafe turn into the Speakcheesey and get the chance to show its full potential, both as a place to chill in the day and as an events space in the evening. As far as this event, I’m very fond of blue cheese and red wine so was always going to be easy to win over but the format that leant toward casual rather than curated while still informative where required worked a treat.

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Courtyard Dairy won’t be a new name to many people who’ve an interest in the food scene across the North of the country thanks to its role as supplier to many of the region’s best restaurants. Its reputation as a supplier is unimpeachable but with a lack of restaurants to supply, the business has been driven in a different direction, with the consumer market a new priority. While their shop has been a fixture near to beautiful Malham for some time, direct to consumer has become a larger channel for obvious reasons over the last 12 months and has led to the creation of the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tastings. These regular events take the form of a Zoom call with co-owner Andy Swinscoe who talks you through a selection of cheeses over an hour with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and get involved while working your way through the selection of cheese forming the basis of learning.

We’d arranged to be (virtually) joined by a friend for the event, with one of the perks of a virtual event being the ability to call in geographically distant friends, which kicked off right at the moment we’d normally be putting Baby Fork to bed but we told her as a treat (it was her birthday…) she was allowed to stay up for the duration with as many bribes as we needed to be able to properly enjoy the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tasting. The event kicked off right on time, remaining punctual and sticking to schedule throughout and we were soon tucking into our cheese and the wine pairing that we’d added on.

The depth of knowledge that Andy was able to impart throughout the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tasting was quite remarkable, going into as much detail as we could stomach for each cheese both regarding production techniques and ingredients as well as tasting notes. The six cheeses we went through were all outstanding, as you would expect from Courtyard Dairy, and we learnt something new about those new to us and those familiar. The event went on for an hour, packing in plenty of information without feeling rushed or starting to feel like too reminiscent of school days. It’s fair to say that on a repeat booking we’d miss off the wine pairing to keep the cost down; while the wines supplied were very nice and did a good job of matching up to the cheeses they simply weren’t the focus here so my instinct would be to book more frequently and just focus on the cheese.

The story of the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Cheese tasting is representative of the journey of so many businesses in the hospitality ecosystem over the last 12 months, from stability to disaster and back to some form of stability thanks to reinvention. While staying near to Courtyard Dairy last year, we popped in to pick up some treats for our break but the opportunity to enjoy their product at a distance while in the company of a good friend who’s sitting 190 miles away is curiously emblematic of early 2021. While hopefully before long the restaurant supply side of Courtyard Dairy’s business will thriving again, virtual tastings look set to be another string to their bow that broadens their reach greatly.

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Homage 2 Fromage are now delivering themed boxes of cheese that let you replicate their experience at home, with the added bonus of the element of competition thanks to the addition of a board game! The set includes everything you need to make an evening of your cheese, with a playing mat, counters, dice and reward badges to heighten the stakes along with crackers chutneys, plates, tasting notes and flags to number all of your six cheeses. This is necessary as the cheeses are presented anonymously for you to attempt identify. It’s that identification that forms the basis of a rudimentary, but no less fun for it, game as you roll the dice and work your way around the board to earn the opportunity to match a cheese to the description/region.

We made sure that the cheeses had ample opportunity to breathe and enjoyed the heady aroma of six strong French cheeses filling the house before diving into the game. That said, I was more proud of our feat of correctly identifying all of the cheeses at the first attempt. Incidentally, these were Munster, Bleu de Saint-Flour, Tommy de Savoie, Mimolette, Camembert and Ossau Iraty.

As far as I’m concerned, cheeses should be, by and large, sinus-rattlingly strong and this sextet included a good few to fit that billing. The Mimolette was perfectly nice but a touch mild for my taste while the Bleu from Auvergne was quite intimidatingly plonked at the other end of that spectrum, super salty and wonderfully pungent. The remainder sat between those extremities and all impressed with varying textures, strengths and flavours. Whether or not the amount provided is “all you can eat” depends on your appetite/extent of your gluttony, but two days later we still had a couple of tiny morsels left in the fridge.

The game element could have been a little forced but it worked perfectly to encourage discussion and repeated sampling while thankfully remaining good natured (I can’t promise that will also be the case in your house!). I shall certainly wear my “Curd Nerd” badge with pride for sometime. This is a significant amount of entertainment and more cheese than we could eat in one sitting for the very reasonable sum of £40, an absolute bargain as far as I’m concerned.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this package. Opinions are impartial.

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Love Cheese has been serving top quality cheese to the people of York for over half a decade now and has earned a place in the heart of many of the city’s residents thanks to a sharp combination of service, quality and a friendly cafe. In common with many other York businesses though the current situation calls for a a good chunk of lateral thinking, so they’ve taken to the internet to start delivering wine & cheese evenings that pair the comfort of your own home with their quality produce against a back drop of knowledge from Harry, the self styled Love Cheese “Big Cheese”.

We signed up without hesitation, thinking that £40 for a couple seemed perfectly reasonable for a selection of 5 paired cheeses and wines delivered to the front door. These arrived as promised the day before the event was due to take place, giving me plenty of time to figure out if I could come up with 10 presentable wine glasses and what constituted essentials to augment the cheese in as far as our permitted shopping sorties allowed.

It’s relatively easy to find time for indulgence in this lock down but little in the way of a sense of occasion to match, so I was very happy to make this an evening staring at the laptop with a more productive outcome than the usual aimless browsing. I lined up some cured meats, olives, crackers and a Tommy Banks chicory & onion jam to go with the cheeses and wines, leaving us ready to join the webcast in anticipation of getting stuck into our evening’s treats. I must confess that, while compulsive, Ritz crackers perhaps weren’t the most appropriate accompaniment to such good produce but that’s all I could find in the cupboard and I didn’t want to push the definition of ‘essential’ far enough to justify a trip for crackers.

Harry broadcast his tasting instructions across Facebook, a platform that gives the opportunity to get interactive and chat via text with both the Big Cheese himself and fellow participants, something I was very happy to take advantage of with a number of friends also joining. The five pairings showed off bubbles, white wine, rosé, red wine and port against cheeses ranging from Pecorino to Baron Bigod and Bleu D’auveurgne. The opening cheese of the evening was a very soft Baron Bigod that in my case was ripe to the point of making a (very literal) run for it. With a quality Prosecco to enjoy alongside it, the scene was set for an hour or so’s cheese related indulgence. Richard III Wensleydale with a light, white Bacchus came next before a Rosé gave pecorino a chance to shine before a finish of soft blue against a Cotes Du Rhone. Breaking those up was a penultimate pairing of a cheddar like Doddington with a Tawny Port that rivalled the opening Bigod/fizz delight for appreciative noises.

Aside from a brief hiccup with the webcast at the start of the event, the evening went without a hitch, doing exactly what it set out to do in providing a convincing impression of socialising in hard times. I’d expected nothing other than top quality from Love Cheese and Harry didn’t let us down, delivering a series of great cheeses and wines that set us up for a tremendous evening and demonstrated that we can still enjoy great food and drink with company in these strange days.

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The venue for this launch event was Lendal Cellars, somewhere that I’ve not been for a good while. Since its refurb a few years ago, it’s notably more salubrious and less damp smelling than previously so was a nicely subterranean way to block out as many external stimuli as possible and focus what really matters: cheese.

The evening started promptly, within a few minutes of the advertised time, with a brief introduction to Homage 2 Fromage and explanation of how the evening would run. Unexpectedly, we weren’t given any detailed information about the cheeses before we got stuck in further than direction about which rinds were to be avoided. With those formalities completed, we were directed to get our elbows sharpened in time for the shout of “Cheese!” that would inspire a free for all.

The eight cheeses chosen were pitched as a “Greatest Hits” selection that would include plenty of crowd pleasers as in introduction to the format before, presumably, future events feature more challenging and esoteric selections. There was certainly no shortage of cheese, with a correspondingly tiny chance of missing out. We were directed to take a thumb sized piece from each of the cheeses and this turned out to be sound advice… though some of our fellow diners must struggle to use cutlery if their thumbs really were that disproportionally large.

After roughly an hour of cheese based debate, the identity of the eight cheeses was revealed. We had at least identified the style, if not creamery of most of the cheese. Amongst my favourites were an aggressively scented soft Munster and Montafino Affine, billed as a triple cream blue. Charcoal Cheddar was a striking addition and it’d take a particularly cheerless sort to be disappointed by Colston Basset Stilton or Montgomery Cheddar. A light brie (not as feisty as I prefer) and a Sao Miguel from The Azores also featured along with a Kit Calvert Wensleydale. We were told that this is the only unpasteurised Wensledale available and it was certainly distinctive, its bolder flavour leading to our failure to identify it without direction.

With the explanations out of the way we were left to our own devices to work through as much or little of the generous stocks of cheese available. To facilitate the cheeses were generous quantities of crackers, bread and chutneys. You could spot the repeat visitors by virtue of their supplementing these with a few of their own treats. Next time I’d certainly bring along a few olives, sun-dried tomatoes and so on to cut through the fat content.

With tickets to these events coming in at roughly £15, it’s a very easy experience to recommend. That’s not a large amount of money for a large quantity of good quality cheeses; this certainly isn’t a formal selection of meagre tasting portions. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for opportunities to explore more cheeses with these guys and strongly suggest you do too.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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The new cheddar is aged 15 months and draws on the expertise gathered by the Creamery over its celebrated life. I was invited over to Leeds to try the new cheese over a launch event and tasting menu at Shears Yard. The event consisted of a tasting of the new cheese before Yorkshire chef Steph Moon was to put on a tasting menu based around the product. With Steph taking over the kitchen, there wasn’t an opportunity for Shears Yard to showcase its own chefs’ skills, but I noted the menu looked good and will try to get back when I have some time spare in Leeds.

We started off with a chat about the cheese aimed at reinforcing their commitment to producing a quality product. While there’s an understandable desire to tap into a lucrative market, it’d be counter-productive to rush out a product that doesn’t do justice to the business’s reputation. So many mass market cheddars are bland, interchangeable blocks of yellow with little to distinguish one from the other, but there’s not a hint of that here. Before getting into a full five courses designed to showcase the product, I was as restrained as possible with the tastings, but worked through enough cheese to ensure it hit the standards it was aiming for. Yorkshire Cheddar is very characterful, packing plenty of distinctive flavour and a good amount of strength with no hint of the own brand anonymity that can deaden so many cheese experiences.

Having tried the product in its normal state, it was time to let Steph show what she could do with it. It was going to take a bit of finesse to turn out five different courses showcasing the same ingredient without repetition but, as always, Steph was up to the challenge. We started with cheese straws that came with a melted cheese dip to provide adhesion when dipped in a bowl of seeds . This was followed by a delicate cheddar and white onion soup with cheddar croutons, accented with cream swirls and chopped herbs, which drew admiring noises from everyone around the table.

Cheese Straws

Cheese & white onion soup

Yorkshire Cheddar and spring onion cakes

The next target at which Steph aimed the cheese was cheddar and spring onion cakes with tomato relish. Discs of radish gave crunch to the plate before we moved quickly onto the next course which showcased fish. Beautifully trimmed asparagus accompanied cod with spinach and lemon to bring out the best of the fish which had a crispy cheddar crust. Finally we satisfied any remaining appetite through cheddar and apple scones with Yorkshire butter, supported by rhubarb, apple and clotted cream. By this point my ability to eat more was moderately well impaired, but Steph had done her usual great job in putting together a lovely sequence of dishes.

Cod bake with Yorkshire Cheddar crust

It was a nice touch to leave with recipe cards for everything we’d been served along with further samples. I made good use of both a couple of days later, putting together a pleasingly similar soup to that served to us. I really enjoyed the Yorkshire Cheddar, both as it comes from its packet and as an ingredient in each dish we were served. It’ll definitely find a place on my shopping list in future.

Yorkshire Cheddar and apple scone

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend as a guest of Wensleydale Creamery. No charge was made, opinions remain impartial.

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I received three cheese to play about with: Hebridean Blue, Summerfields Alpine and Brie with Black Pepper. As one would expect from Love Cheese, they were all superb to sample, my only frustration being that I needed to resist temptation and leave enough of each to cook with! I was eager to come up with a few ideas that, while not wilfully odd, were a little more left wing than just melting cheese onto something. While that’s generally good advice for life, I wanted to let the cheeses speak for themselves and maintain their personalities. I thought I’d have a go at one recipe per cheese, my favourite ending up being the Alpine soup so that’s the one you can consider my entry for the Love Cheese challenge!

Summerfields Alpine Soup
This cheese came from the Botton Creamery not too far from York. I’ve sampled their cheeses a few times and they’ve always been superb. This was a nutty alpine style cheese that made me think of a long lost recipe for “Alpine soup” I used to enjoy. A little research took me right back to it and gave me the approximation of a recipe to follow. I used:

A chunk of good butter for frying
1 finely chopped large onion
2 diced large carrots
1 finely chopped leek
500ml good vegetable stock
A pint of milk
2 small potatoes, peeled and grated
A couple of balls of frozen spinach
Around 200g Summerfields Alpine cheese, grated
150ml double cream
Salt & pepper

In a large pan I melted the butter and softened the onion for a few minutes before adding the carrot and leek and letting them sweat for about 7 or 8 minutes (how finely you chop the veg will affect how long it needs). I then added the stock and let it come to a simmer before adding the milk and grated potato, covering it and letting it simmer for about 25 minutes. I then popped in the frozen balls of spinach and, after that had defrosted and distributed itself through the pan, added the cheese. After the cheese had melted I popped in the cream and seasoned to taste before serving with bread. As I’d made sure to use gluten free stock, this was suitable for my coeliac mother too (substituting the bread for gluten free of course!) who agreed it was delicious.

Black Pepper Brie Scones
The black pepper in this brie from Godminster cheese was thankfully not strong enough to overpower the cheese itself, as is so often the risk when adding a strong flavour to a cheese. I thought that the pepper would make a really interesting way to season some scones so looked up a few generic scone recipes and resolved to add cheese. The first batch also included a load of berries and were less successful, so I’ll refrain from sharing the pictures on here.

250g plain flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
Good pinch of salt
75g cubed, cold butter
120ml milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
120g diced Black Pepper Brie

I mixed together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt before massaging through the cubes of butter until I had large breadcrumb sized bits ready to add the egg and milk to. I’d combined the egg and milk prior to adding to the mixture as advised by a couple of recipes, but I’ve not had the time to check the advantage this approach adds. After mixing that lot into a dough, I added the pieces of brie and formed into patties to pop into the oven. This is what came out!

Hebridean Blue
I’ve visited the Isle of Mull and tried cheeses from there, but this is my first encounter with this blue, which impressed me greatly. I wanted to soften the flavours in this hard cheese without destroying them so I decided that a soufflé would be a good approach. While a soufflé looked like the right vehicle to convey this cheese, it’s not something I’ve attempted before or was willing to sacrifice precious cheese to practising. With that in mind, I took a pragmatic approach and used this recipe as a guide. https://fromagehomage.co.uk/2015/02/03/twice-baked-hebridean-blue-souffles/
I opted to serve the soufflés from the ramekins they took their first bake in, rather than taking them out and turning them, and was pleased with the results. In fact, there’s one left in the fridge!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my cheesy ideas for the Love Cheese challenge. I’ll be contemplating further adventures while I give that leftover soufflé its second bake.

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Luckily York has some cracking places to fulfil these cravings: Rick Stein endorses York Beer and Wine shop while delis such as The Good Food Shop and Henshelwoods cater the centre of York and Bishopthorpe Road. A more recent entrant to York’s cheese market is Love Cheese on Gillygate. Opened a couple of years ago to notable acclaim, but recently under new stewardship, the offer of a relaunch party didn’t take long to accept.

We arrived promptly as things were getting underway and were pretty much the first people through the doors ready to get cracking on the cheese quiz (I’m not hopeful of our chances) and start sampling the cheese, wine and prosecco on offer. The prosecco was as friendly as the hostess and the environment equally welcoming, but unsurprisingly the cheese was the star. In particular the Reblochon was stunning, if a little dividing of opinion… perhaps not one for those with a more intimidated palate.

Austins Wine Merchant were on hand to offer some wines that matched a few of the cheeses. The highlight was a Chilean Sauvignon that brought out a goats cheese superbly while Blue Wensleydale was as wonderful as one would expect and (though memory may be failed me here) matched to a Beaujolais that perhaps needed a bit more punch. There was also a superb Tempranillo, rich with soft flavours, which rounded out the reds, while a sulphite-free white was a pleasant surprise.

The produce on offer here is beyond reproach. You could argue that the York Beer & Wine shop do similar things cheaper, but there’s no view of the walls there. That shop on Fishergate has my affections, but Love Cheese is a great addition to the centre of town, with a cafe that I’m eager to get to. Luckily I’ve an excuse: the cheese towers they offer sound just the thing for my upcoming nuptials… I feel a tasting coming on.

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