#7 Milawa Chèvre with Cajun spices

Chevre is  a real multicultural package - the style and name is French, who were bequeathed the goat by the Moors way way back in the 1st millennium.
Then the makers at Milawa here in Victoria went all Cajun on us, and produced a cheese that was mellow up front with some slight sourness, but then, a spicy sting kicks in with the aftertaste. This cheese was ruthlessly devoured by our table.
Regrettably it will be one of the few Milawa cheeses I can sample due to the frequent flyer points we've racked up over the years dropping into Milawa.
A delicious contributor to the Australia Day Platter.






Is cheese is good

#6 GrandvEwe Cheeses Primavera

GrandvEwe cheeses (I warned readers of puns but I expected to make them mysellf) are made just south of Hobart in Tasmania and their speciality is sheep cheeses - didn't see that coming.
Primavera is made in the style of  manchego. The cheese was pale yellow with a thin hard brown rind - the rind was all that was left of this cheese which proved to be a winner -with a mellow, creamy taste.
It's the second manchego cheese sampled so far in this quest - the style originated in Spain in the La Mancha region - so if you're looking to tilt at windmills - this is the cheese for you.
I'm looking forward to sampling a few more cheeses from GrandvEwe - partly for the pun, partly for the quality of the Primevera, but mostly because they have a bunch of other fine looking cheeses on their website check it out - http://grandvewe.com.au/product-category/sheep-cheese/
This was one of four cheeses we had on the Australia Day platter - all home grown and all sourced from the very helpful Chrissy at Milawa Cheese Shop in North Carlton - http://www.thecheeseshop.com.au/







Is cheese is good

Burning Goat Cheese Closes Norwegian Tunnel

No new cheeses since my last post, (actually I had some very nice Taleggio with lunch on Monday but it was the same type as the one I had on the weekend) but this important, breaking story just had to be passed on.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21141244


Is cheese is good

#5 Mauri Cave Ripened Taleggio

#5 gets an italian cheese on to the scoreboard. Taleggio, a washed rind. Reddish/orangey on the outside with a pale yellow inner.

The flavour was delicious, slightly salty with a very smooth creamy texture. Bill's Farm (my regular cheese monger of choice)  claimed the cheese was cave ripened so I was hoping also for a slight underground nuttiness, but if it was there then it escaped my taste buds.  

According to the great authority of Wikipedia - Taleggio is made from milk produced when the cows are tired. I'm now looking for recommendations for cheeses made from milk produced when the cows are feeling a little bit feisty.

Unfortunately I neglected to photograph the cave ripened Taleggio before it was vacuumed up at the table - Here's a photo of Nick Cave instead.

#4 The Vikings are coming

#4 - Danablu Danish Blue Cheese was a sharp, creamy and acidic blue, with fine blue veins marbled throughout. This cheese was labelled as a cracker fucker at the table for its ability to snap crackers in half while being spread. If only the Vikings did that little damage.

The Danablu is (unsurprisingly) the blue vein in the foreground below. 

#2 Fruit Cheese is an abomination!!!

Cheese no. 2 was wrong. It wasn't my choice - it was foisted upon me - a Wensleydale Cranberry Fruit Cheese.

I first heard of Wensleydale when Wallace and Gromit flew to the moon. Had some in England last year. Nice stuff.

But this stuff was not nice - it was gut wrenchingly crapulous - weirdly sweet with freaky chewy bits like fruity rabbit droppings embedded within.

It counts to the ton - but if it walks in front of your car then do the world a favour, don't brake!

#3 Maese Miguel - Queso Manchego

#3 was a fine recovery from the first two of the ton. A waxy Spanish Queso Manchego from Maese Miguel. Pale in colour and slightly flaky with that slight sheepish taste - went down a treat. A crowd pleaser - not a  crumb was left at the table.

 

 The plated Manchego is in the backgound sitting behind cheese #4

#1 Timboon Extravagant Triple Brie

The Timboon Triple Brie we sampled was an ugly big fat slab of a cheese with an over developed, menacing rind, rippled brown with age and giving off a slight whiff of ammonia. A week (maybe two) beyond its prime, it kind of dared us to eat it.




Once cut, the inside has the pale look of whipped Butter.



The taste is bipolar - buttery, creamy goodness from the soft inner. But the sharp ammoniac rind slashes through the taste buds like a Friday night, pub glassing.

Alas the dark side of the Timboon proved to be too much for many (but not all) at the table.

"Is cheese is good"

A Ton of Cheese - the challenge

I will eat 100 new cheeses in 2013.

The cricketing or football equivalent of a ton.

You see I really love cheese - quite a  lot really - its a little disturbing and unexpected.

There wasn't a big variety of cheeses in my childhood - some kraft singles in plastic wrapping, that weird stuff sealed in foil kept on supermarket shelves and the powder on the jar that is labelled Parmesan and smells like vomit.

Then at at some stage, I'm not sure when, things changed and I discovered brie, roquefort, washed rind and spiced gouda.

And now I've set myself a challenge - a ton of cheese in 356 days.

So here are the three simple ground rules

1. The cheese must be new to me (to the best of my knowledge I have not eaten the cheese before)*
2. I will eat no less than 100 by 31 December 2013 -  a strike rate of 1.92 new cheeses a week
3. I will record each cheese on this blog (often including ill-advised puns)

It will be tough but I relish a challenge- especially with a nice aged cheddar.

Is cheese is good

JD


*A bit more on the meaning of new - I've eaten more brie than I should have in the past but that doesn't preclude it from counting towards the ton - it will count if its new - from a new cheesemaker for example, or a new variety frm an old cheesemaker that I haven't sampled before - the same applies for any other group of cheese - blue, washed rind, cheddar pecorino etc. And this challenge doesn't mean I can't eat old favourites - but they won't count towards the ton.