Tomme Crayeuse
June 16, 2009
Country and region of origin: Savoie, France
Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk···
Age: aged over 6 weeks
Rind: natural brushed rind
Creamery: Schmidhauser
Creamery website: Schmidhauser Website
Properties: Creamy, pale paste. When ripe this cheese is spreadable. Surprisingly rich for a single cream, especially one made with pasteurized milk.
Uses: This is such an extravagantly good table cheese it’s hard to imagine other uses for it. But it would melt beautifully. It would be fine with fruit or with crackers – or spread on baguette.
Wine Pairings: A big, spicy red would be nice. Perhaps a Syrah. I can also imagine having this with Champagne or Cava.
Production Notes: First created by Max Schmidhauser in 1995, this was intended as a tomme alternative to the Tommes de Savoie of its region. In this, of course, it is successful. It is richer, creamier and more luxurious than most Tommes de Savoie.
Nutrition Data
Testimonials:
Shropshire Blue
February 15, 2008
Country and region of origin: England – Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk
Age: 2 – 3 Months
Rind: Edible natural rind
Creamery: Cropwell Bishop
Creamery website: Cropwell Bishop Stilton
Properties: This cheese comes in cylinders about 7 inches in diameter and 10 inches tall. Shropshire Blue is, essentially, an orange Stilton. It’s made for the most part by the same creameries that make Stilton, but is slightly younger. It is not quite unique as an orange blue, but orange blues are rare enough that it makes a startling presentation at table. Shropshire Blue is denser than Stilton and tangier.
Uses: As with Stilton, Shropshire Blue cooks well and pairs well with fruit.
Wine Pairings: As with Stilton, it goes nicely with any full-flavored red. Really big Ports and Sherries work very well.
Production Notes:This is a younger Stilton, colored with annatto. Most sources date the creation of Shropshire Blue in the early 1970s – in Inverness, Scotland. It was made there by a former Stilton cheesemaker. When his creamery closed, Shropshire Blue was taken up by many of the same creameries that still make Stilton in England. Shropshire Blue is made with non-animal rennet. It’s vegetarian.
Testimonials:
Max McCalman – Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best:
In comparison to Stilton, Shropshire Blue is closer textured, more fudgy and most, warm flavored, less meaty, and slightly more tangy.
Steven Jenkins – Cheese Primer
Its rustic qualities make it delicious to eat and gorgeous to behold… Shropshire Blue offers all of Stilton’s virtues and then some.
Stilton
February 14, 2008
Country and region of origin: England – Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk
Age: 2 – 3 months
Rind: Edible, natural
Creamery: Cropwell Bishop
Creamery website: www.cropwellbishopstilton.com
Properties: About 10″ tall and 8 1/2″ in diameter, Stilton is a hefty wheel with a brownish-red mold rind and a creamy, richly veined paste.
Uses: You know how people are always talking about how wonderful cheeses are with fruit? Stilton is perfect with fruit (apples and pears, for instance). Stilton is also a fine cooking cheese – making a big impact in savory tarts and quiches, in sauces or in pastries. Try melting a bit of Stilton on a well-aged steak fresh off the grill.
Wine Pairings: Any big red wine. Port and sherry are classic pairings.
Production notes: The process for making Stilton is protected by British legislation (Stilton being the only cheese for which this is true). The standards are exacting and so there are only a handful of creameries making it. Quoting from the Stilton Cheese Makers website:
Only cheese produced in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and made according to a strict code may be called Stilton. There are just six dairies licensed to make Stilton. They are subject to regular audit by an independent inspection agency accredited to European Standard EN 45011.
- To be called Stilton, each cheese must:
- Be made only in the three counties from local milk which is pasteurized before use
- Be made only in a traditional cylindrical shape
- Be allowed to form its own crust or coat
- Be un-pressed
- Have delicate blue veins radiating from the centre
- Have a taste profile typical of Stilton.
Stilton is innoculated using penicillium roqueforti.
Testimonials:
Steven Jenkins – Cheese Primer:
The flavor of a great Stilton cheese is full, rich, and creamy, as complex as that of any other great blue. It reveals layers and folds of the flavors of honey, leather, tobacco, and molasses…. Stilton’s aroma is huge and spicy at room temperature… Many lovers of Stilton voraciously devour the natural crust.
Max McCallman – Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best:
It would be hard to argue with the assertion that Stilton is Great Britain’s number one cheese… It’s style may not be as ancient as other traditional blues, but a good Stilton remains one of the most requested cheeses on the planet.
