#46 Tom by Bruny Island

Cheese disguised as canteloupe. Bruny Island Tom is rich, earthy and caramel in flavour.

It's a firm, yellow cow's milk cheese with an aged grey rind.

Possibly also related to the Tom Tom Club (see earlier posts).




Is cheese is good

#45 Roquefort Carles

There is no doubt in my mind that roquefort is the king of cheeses - definitely no other blue comes close to getting the flavour balance just right - Sharp, robust and salty.

Carles is one of the smaller producers in the region and like all roqufort - its unpasteurised sheep milk.

I was lucky enough to visit the cheese caves roquefort and was shown the secret of the blue mould. Its made by baking bread at a really high heat so it's burnt on the outside and still raw inside. The bread is left in the cave to mould away. Once mouldy it's ground up into magic fairy dust and injected into the cheese wheels. The picture below of the bread and bottled mould was taken on our tour of the caves used by Papillon - probably one of the easier to find roquefort cheeses here in Melbourne.

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#44 Le Duc Vacherin

A cow's milk cheese from France.
Bound by strip of spruce its insanely, runny, buttery contents flooded the plate at first cut.
A buttery mellow lemon taste with just a hint of ammonia bite.



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#43 Blue Shropshire

Blue Shropshire is made using an Instagram hipster filter to produce the rich yellow colour. A cow's milk cheese originally made in Scotland, it has nothing to do with the actual county of Shropshire.

It's a lovely tasting cheese, sharp with a slight lemon flavour.

Serve it with ankle revealing high waisted jeans, matched with a glass of irony.




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#42 Skyla Log Mature by Holy Goat (reviewed in Haiku badly)

Rolled perfection sits
Senses Creamy and Goaty
Is cheese is good - yes





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#41 Seahive by Beehive Cheese

Another one from the Utah chaps who brought us the superbly bizarre espresso-lavender cheese.

This cheese proves you can have sweet and savoury in one mouthful. The Beehive cheese boys have combined honey and salt in the rubbing process (I repeat, not a euphemism).

It's a cows milk cheese, very dry and firm as a result of the salt drawing out the moisture. And the honey gives it a flavour reminiscent of.... honey.

Highly enjoyable. Apparently they also also have a teahive cheese. So far I've been good resisting Big Love references but resistance will be futile if I get a crack at some teahive from Utah. 

Another from bills farm.



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#40 Brie de Nangis

A classic Brie from the French Shop at Vic Market - It's everything you would expect from a ripe cow's milk brie made in France - very runny, buttery and salty with a slight nod to ammonia.








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#39 Le Montagnard des Vosges

A pleasant but forgettable mass produced french washed rind.

Made from cow's milk it has a light orange rind and a smooth, soft and mild centre. 








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#38 C2 by Bruny Island

 Bruny Island Cheese - putting the romance into cheese naming with their sublime C2. Cheesemonger legend has it that it was named after the vat the cheese was made in.

An outstanding cheese - firm, rich, sweet and a little bit nutty. Also one of the most expensive cheeses made here in Australia so its not an everyday food.

I'll hopefully add the Bruny Island Tom to the tally next week.






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#37 Barely buzzed - Beehive Cheese Co.

So far the weirdest cheese I've ever had.

Lavender and coffee.

Who the hell rubs their cheese down (no that's not a euphemism) with lavender and coffee?

The Beehive Cheese Company of Utah that's who!!

But believe me when I say this is one of the most memorable cheeses I've had (despite my loathing of lavender).

Barely buzzed is a firm (but not hard) pale yellow cow's milk cheese. The coffee/lavender rub gives the rind a dark thin crust with a slight caramel taste. The lavender comes through but subtly I couldn't get much coffee flavour except at the end at the back of the palate.

Superb and truly unique.








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#36 Queso Manchego 2

The 2nd Manchego in the tally but it was in a bar and, as so often happens in bars, I didn't quite get its name but still enjoyed the pleasure of its company.

Mild and slightly waxy, it went down faster than Michael Douglas and was beautifully accompanied by a dark ale.


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#35 Horizon by BoatShed Cheese

Wow - BoatShed Cheese are make some truly special cheeses. This is the second so far to make the ton tally and its another beauty.

Horizon (named for the line of ash through the centre??) is a gooey goat cheese. It's well balanced, mild but still lots of flavour with a lovely goat smell and subtle sharpness from the rind.

You can see from the photo that our sample wasn't winning any beauty contests but luckily I'm not superficial enough to go on looks alone.

Bill's Farm have had a few of the BoatShed range in and hopefully will continue to do so because there's a lot more in their range that I'd like to try as the year marches on.




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#34 St Marcellin Brie

It comes in a small brown ceramic dish that would make a fine ashtray for a student household.

St Marcellin Brie French cow milk is a cow milk cheese that rose to prominence when the then King of France had to be rescued by woodcutters after a pre-Jacobite bear of ill temper refused to accept his surrender.  The woodcutters were then forced to feed the King their winter store of fine brie and thus French royalty sowed the seeds of their future destruction.

Petite in size and grande in flavour, the St Marcellin we tried was perfectly ripe and oozy. Its flavour was milky and intense with a mildly acidic aftertaste. Bon!!




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#33 Petit basques

Petit basques is a sheep cheese from the Pyrenees region. There are a lot of especially wanky descriptions of this cheese on the net so I'm keeping mine simple

Its just great texture - firm and creamy in the mouth. The flavour is mellow and it has beautiful after taste

Is a ripper!!



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#32 Clawson Stilton

I really love English village names. Long Clawson in Leicestershire is the home of Long Clawson Dairy - specialist makers of Stilton since 1911. This one was bought from Curds and Whey at Vic Market.

It was sweet and salty and a little bit citrusy, with the typical blue slight metallic almost acidic aftertaste.

There's Mr Stilton is sitting at stage right




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#31 Brebirousse D'argental

Brebirousse d'argental is a French washed rind from Lyons.

A subtle and buttery sheep cheese, its quite Brie-like and offers a gentle entry point for those insane nutbags who find washed rinds a bit in your face.


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#30 Danger Mel's Baked Rouzaire Camembert with red wine, thyme and garlic

Some weeks ago now we dropped in at Danger Mel's house and were greeted with this gem as a starter.

A Rouzaire Camembert baked baked in red wine until it was a totally gorgeous liquid mess.

We dipped in with bread and cornichon to retrieve the runny, yummy goodness. It had a classic Camembert buttery flavour with subtle touches of thyme and garlic.









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#29 Bruny Island Smoked Truckle

What a name eh? A truckle is a small barrel shaped cheese.

This photo is of course more wedge-like than barrel so I guess technically the review is of a wedged truckle.

That may sound painful but rest assured there was nothing but pleasure in eating this smoky little number from legendary Tasmanian cheese makers, Bruny Island. It's a handsome lookin' firm cheese with a subtle apple flavour. If there was a like button - I'd be clicking it now.




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# 28 Edith Ashed Goat Cheese by Woodside Cheesewrights

Woodside Cheesewrights from the Adelaide Hills - they've delivered a very sharp and  flavourful goat milk cheese wrapped in a bloomy, white rind peppered with ash and a salt kick to boot. Almost feathery in texture but creamy too.






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It's catch up time

While I've been slack in updating the blog, I can assure you that I have not shirked from my task and the tally has continued to climb to the magical ton.

Today's wet Melbourne weather is very conducive to catch up time so I've strapped myself in to the PC and will endeavour to get back on track.