Searching for a cheese to produce, Graham discovered a recipe for Bath (Soft) Cheese in an old grocer’s recipe book. It stipulates that the cheese must be made with full cream milk, that salt be sprinkled on the young cheeses (with the aid of a feather), and that the cheese should be soft and covered with white mould.

Bath Cheese was once well known, and in its heyday was recommended to Admiral Lord Nelson in a letter from his father (dated 1801).

Bath Soft Cheese is not stocked by any supermarkets but is available right across the UK from independent delis and cheese shops and is served in many prestigious restaurants.

http://www.nealsyardcreamery.co.uk

And the winner of the Cheese Lovers’ Trophy sponsored by Cotswold Life is…

‘Isis’, produced by the Oxford Cheese Company

Made from pasteurised cow’s milk and traditional rennet, Oxford Isis is a pale soft cheese encased in a slightly darker yellow rind.  The rind is sprayed with mead wine and ripened with Oxfordshire honey which allows the fresh cheese inside to mature into a creamy consistency.  This understandably results in a highly distinctive smell and taste, which really wowed the judges!

The Oxford Cheese Company has been making Isis since 2003 after a desire to compete with the abundance of French cheese on the market, including Epoisses, Soumaintrain and Affidelice. After being sampled by local restaurants and the students of Oxford University, demand soared and it can now be found in some of the country’s top eateries as well as a host of first-class British Airways and Virgin flights.  Incidentally the name was inspired by the locals’ nickname for the River Thames as it flows through the city.

The judges were also very impressed with the numerous other cheeses put forward in this category and highly commended Quickes Goat Cheddar, Yarg and Wild Yarg Cornish Cheeses, Jonathan Crump’s Single Gloucester PDO, the Traditional Cheese Dairy Company’s Lord of the Hundreds, Traditional Creamy Lancashire by Dew-Lay Products Ltd, Adelstrop by Daylesford Creamery, Lincolnshire Poacher, Neustift Seville, Hafod from Holden Farm Dairy, Pant-ys-gawn farm with Ash by Abergavenny Fine Foods and Snodsbury by Anstey’s of Worcester.

Listening to Harley Pouget talk about his cheese is like listening to a proud parent: a parent whose offspring has just come top of the form.  Oxford Isis, the cheese he dreamed up with his father, Robert , in 2003 has won this year’s Cheese Lovers’ Trophy.  And it’s a reward that’s long overdue, for strangely (and unjustly) this superb cheese has all-too-often been overlooked in the past.

“It was my birthday weekend, and I was in bed about 9.30pm, reading – absolutely exhausted – and my father phoned me and said ‘We’ve won an award!” Harley says, “As far as I’m concerned, that was the icing on the cake.  To some people, a trophy is a funny sort of reward; but for me, cheese-making is real creativity.  Any money is just a by-product.”

Indeed, Harley eschewed city life 20 years ago in favour of a spot of culture.  That’s milk-based culture, of course.  Since then, he’s worked alongside his father, Baron Robert Pouget, at the Oxford Cheese Company: “I do a lot of the duck’s feet bit – the frantic paddling under the surface,” he says.

Oxford Isis was his concept.  So how do you go about ‘inventing’ a new cheese? “It’s a lot of tinkering and experimentation.  And a lot of problem-solving, too: maturing temperatures; ripening processes, coliforms…” Pretty technical stuff.

But for the layperson – in other words, those of us who just enjoy eating it - all you need to know is that there are secrets in the making.  Some Harley will give away (that it’s washed with five-year-old full-flavoured local mead that continues to mature in the bottle); and some that he keeps close to his chest (the exact process by which the cheese is lightly washed).

The closest you’ll get to it is Stinking Bishop, but that’s made in a very English sort of way, whereas Harley uses a French method.  As a result, Oxford Isis is easy to handle and has admirably filled a gap in the market.  The Pougets did the same thing some 15 of more years ago when they spotted an opening for a soft English blue cheese after the demise of Limeswold.  The highly successful Oxford Blue was born as a result.

Its younger brother, Oxford Isis, can now be doted on with equal pride.

Farming and cheesemaking have been a way of life for the Appleby family since Appleby’s cheese was first made at Hawkstone Abbey Farm in 1952.

The combination of fine pastures, quality unpasteurised milk, the skill of the cheesemaker and the art of maturing gives Appleby’s cheese its unique texture and flavour.

The calico bound cheese are stored in on-farm maturing rooms until they are carefully selected for distribution.

Appleby’s milk travels from pasture to parlour to cheese dairy. Only this unpasteurised milk from the farm herd is used to make cheese; this ensures total quality control. This on-farm link between the herdsman and cheesemaker is crucial in the making of Appleby’s cheese.

Hawkstone Abbey Farm is located in Shropshire on the edge of the Cheshire plain. The salt deposits in the Cheshire Plain help to produce the milk needed to make this true Appleby’s Cheshire cheese.

Appleby’s milk is used to make Appleby’s cheese on the Appleby’s farm. Appleby’s produce Appleby’s Cheshire, Appleby’s Smoked and Appleby’s Double Gloucester.

Oxford Cheese Co Ltd Cheeses

Oxford Cheese Co Non Cheese Products

Tel:- 01844 338 055

Her life with the world of cheese began when she was offered a part time job. This was helping with the launch of Curworthy Cheese back in 1985 when it was decided by Farmers Weekly to make cheese at Curworthy Farm using the milk produced by the farms cows. She took over the business in 1987 and eventually moved it to her own farm Stockbeare Farm in 1990 so that she could use her own milk. The farm is a 90 acre farm based in the heart of Devon overlooking the Tors of Dartmoor with the ideal weather for growing grass for the dairy herd.

She only uses milk from the cows there on the farm and doesn’t buy any in. The cheese recipe is based on a Gouda style with a distinctive creamy texture but with quite a mature flavour.  Devon Oke is her most popular and well known cheese.  During her time as cheese maker there has been an influx of farm cheese businesses start directly as a result of the low milk price that farmers are receiving. This has been good news for the consumer and probably the range of cheese now made in this country rivals France!

Over the past decade, Philip has been a regular exhibitor of his cheese at county shows though out the country.  His perseverance and application in improving and refining his cheese has been justly rewarded this year when Cornish blue won supreme champion at the World Cheese Awards.

Harley joined the Oxford Cheese Company after a stint in the city.  He had decided that commuting 4 hours a day and sitting in an office was not for him.

When his father suggested producing a washed rind cheese, using Oxfordshire honey mead, Harley began the process of creating a new cheese. After a lot of perseverance he has been successful in producing a real winner: the Oxford Isis Cheese.

Very popular with chefs and restaurateurs, Oxford Isis is presented in a wooden box and matures to a style similar to Epoisses, but with a distinctive sweetness, the result of the mead wash.  In 2009 Oxford Isis won the Cheese Lovers Trophy at the British Cheese Awards.

At the time (1972) this ancient Gloucestershire breed numbered just 68 head worldwide – mostly in Gloucestershire. Determined not to watch the breed becoming extinct he bought a farm, half a dozen cows and a bull and put his small herd to doing what Gloucester cows do best which is producing milk for the making of Double Gloucester cheese. And since the making of Single Gloucester cheese had died out he re-established that variety also. Over the last 40 years his farm has become a hot destination for press and television which in turn has caused his small farm cheesemaking business thrive. He has introduced a number of new cheese varieties including Slack-ma-Girdle, sheep milk Nuns of Caen, and Stinking Bishop. This cheese is washed in perry from Charles’s collection of perry pear trees – which is another story in itself.

The cheese is made 7 days a week to ensure the freshness of the milk and Jamie uses the same strains of starter culture as his grandfather did over 100 years ago.

About 120 cheeses are made each week with the milk produced by the farm’s 200 Friesian cows.  Matured for 12 months, wrapped in muslin cloths on wooden shelves, these cheddars are highly prized and sought after.

The farm stands close to Cadbury Castle, an Iron-age hill fort where an “Arthur figure” is believed to have defended Wessex from Saxon invaders around 450 ad.

There are stunning views from the top of this hill which is well worth the visit, as is the Camalot Pub in South Cadbury where good food and good beer is available.

Visit www.thecamalotpub.com for further info.

Peter has developed a very good selection of goats cheeses which are rapidly gaining a reputation for their excellence and flavour.

Probably his most well known cheese is Rachel but there is another version of Rachel called Katherine which is washed with Somerset Cider Brandy.  Driftwood is a goat log covered in ash which is great for slicing and grilling.  Tor is a goat ash pyramid in the French tradition, it has a lemony flavour and a very smooth texture.